Editing MDMA (section)

===Shulgin's research===
[[File:Shulgin sasha 2011 hanna jon.jpg|thumb|Alexander and Ann Shulgin in December 2011]]

American chemist and [[psychopharmacologist]] [[Alexander Shulgin]] reported he synthesized MDMA in 1965 while researching methylenedioxy compounds at [[Dow Chemical Company]], but did not test the psychoactivity of the compound at this time. Around 1970, Shulgin sent instructions for N-methylated MDA (MDMA) synthesis to the founder of a Los Angeles chemical company who had requested them. This individual later provided these instructions to a client in the Midwest. Shulgin may have suspected he played a role in the emergence of MDMA in Chicago.<ref name="Shulgin">{{cite journal | vauthors = Benzenhöfer U, Passie T | title = Rediscovering MDMA (ecstasy): the role of the American chemist Alexander T. Shulgin | journal = Addiction | volume = 105 | issue = 8 | pages = 1355–61 | date = August 2010 | pmid = 20653618 | doi = 10.1111/j.1360-0443.2010.02948.x }}</ref>

Shulgin first heard of the psychoactive effects of N-methylated MDA around 1975 from a young student who reported "amphetamine-like content".<ref name="Shulgin"/> Around 30 May 1976, Shulgin again heard about the effects of N-methylated MDA,<ref name="Shulgin"/> this time from a graduate student in a medicinal chemistry group he advised at [[San Francisco State University]]<ref name="Professor X"/><ref>{{cite web |title=Alexander 'Sasha' Shulgin |url=http://www.shulginresearch.org/home/about/alexander-sasha-shulgin/ |publisher=[[Alexander Shulgin Research Institute]]|access-date=8 January 2015|archive-date=20 December 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141220131529/http://www.shulginresearch.org/home/about/alexander-sasha-shulgin/|url-status=dead}}</ref> who directed him to the University of Michigan study.<ref name=PiHKAL/> She and two close friends had consumed 100{{nbsp}}mg of MDMA and reported positive emotional experiences.<ref name=Shulgin/> Following the self-trials of a colleague at the [[University of San Francisco]], Shulgin synthesized MDMA and tried it himself in September and October 1976.<ref name="Shulgin"/><ref name="Professor X"/> Shulgin first reported on MDMA in a presentation at a conference in Bethesda, Maryland in December 1976.<ref name="Shulgin"/> In 1978, he and [[David E. Nichols]] published a report on the drug's psychoactive effect in humans.<ref name="Passie2023" /> They described MDMA as inducing "an easily controlled altered state of consciousness with emotional and sensual overtones" comparable "to marijuana, to [[psilocybin]] devoid of the hallucinatory component, or to low levels of MDA".<ref name="isbn0-08-021938-1">{{cite book |vauthors=Shulgin AT, Nichols DE | veditors = Willette RE, Stillman RJ |title=The Psychopharmacology of Hallucinogens |publisher=Pergamon Press |location=New York |year=1978 |pages=74–83 |chapter=Characterization of Three New Psychotomimetics |isbn=978-0-08-021938-7 |chapter-url=http://www.erowid.org/references/refs_view.php?A=ShowDocPartFrame&ID=961&DocPartID=832 |access-date=4 January 2015 |archive-date=15 May 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130515124653/http://www.erowid.org/references/refs_view.php?A=ShowDocPartFrame&ID=961&DocPartID=832 |url-status=live }}</ref>

While not finding his own experiences with MDMA particularly powerful,<ref name=PiHKAL/><ref name="Dr. Ecstasy"/> Shulgin was impressed with the drug's disinhibiting effects and thought it could be useful in therapy.<ref name="Dr. Ecstasy"/> Believing MDMA allowed users to strip away habits and perceive the world clearly, Shulgin called the drug ''window''.<ref name=PiHKAL/><ref name="rising"/> Shulgin occasionally used MDMA for relaxation, referring to it as "my low-calorie martini", and gave the drug to friends, researchers, and others who he thought could benefit from it.<ref name=PiHKAL>{{cite book| vauthors=Shulgin AT, Shulgin A |author-link1=Alexander Shulgin|author-link2=Ann Shulgin|title=PiHKAL: A Chemical Love Story |date=1991|publisher=Transform Press|location=Berkeley, CA|isbn=978-0-9630096-0-9|edition=7th printing, 1st|chapter= Chapters 12, 22|title-link=PiHKAL}}</ref> One such person was [[Leo Zeff]], a psychotherapist who had been known to use psychedelic substances in his practice. When he tried the drug in 1977, Zeff was impressed with the effects of MDMA and came out of his semi-retirement to promote its use in therapy. Over the following years, Zeff traveled around the United States and occasionally to Europe, eventually training an estimated four thousand psychotherapists in the therapeutic use of MDMA.<ref name="Dr. Ecstasy">{{cite news|vauthors=Bennett D|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2005/01/30/magazine/30ECSTASY.html|title=Dr. Ecstasy|work=The New York Times Magazine|date=30 January 2005|access-date=10 February 2017|archive-date=17 November 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111117063356/http://www.nytimes.com/2005/01/30/magazine/30ECSTASY.html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite book| vauthors=Shulgin A |author1-link=Ann Shulgin |veditors=Doblin R |editor1-link=Rick Doblin |title=The Secret Chief Revealed |date=2004|publisher=Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies|location=Sarasota, Fl|isbn=978-0-9660019-6-9|pages=17–18 |edition=2nd|chapter-url=http://maps.org/images/pdf/books/scr/scr.pdf|access-date=7 January 2015|chapter=Tribute to Jacob|url-status=dead|archive-date=16 September 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180916024833/http://www.maps.org/images/pdf/books/scr/scr.pdf}}</ref> Zeff named the drug ''Adam'', believing it put users in a state of primordial innocence.<ref name="Professor X">{{cite magazine|vauthors=Brown E|title=Professor X|magazine=Wired|date=September 2002|url=http://archive.wired.com/wired/archive/10.09/professorx.html?pg=3&topic=&topic_set=|access-date=4 January 2015|archive-date=25 June 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150625015832/http://archive.wired.com/wired/archive/10.09/professorx.html?pg=3&topic=&topic_set=|url-status=live}}</ref>

Psychotherapists who used MDMA believed the drug eliminated the typical fear response and increased communication. Sessions were usually held in the home of the patient or the therapist. The role of the therapist was minimized in favor of patient self-discovery accompanied by MDMA induced feelings of empathy. Depression, substance use disorders, relationship problems, premenstrual syndrome, and autism were among several psychiatric disorders MDMA assisted therapy was reported to treat.<ref name=exploration/> According to psychiatrist George Greer, therapists who used MDMA in their practice were impressed by the results. Anecdotally, MDMA was said to greatly accelerate therapy.<ref name="Dr. Ecstasy"/> According to [[David Nutt]], MDMA was widely used in the western US in couples counseling, and was called ''empathy''. Only later was the term ''ecstasy'' used for it, coinciding with rising opposition to its use.<ref name=Nutt/><ref name="pmid10450215">{{cite journal |vauthors=Milroy CM |title=Ten years of 'ecstasy' |journal=Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine |volume=92 |issue=2 |pages=68–72 |date=February 1999 |pmid=10450215 |pmc=1297063 |doi=10.1177/014107689909200206}}</ref>