Editing MDMA (section)

===Rising recreational use===
In the late 1970s and early 1980s, "Adam" spread through personal networks of psychotherapists, psychiatrists, users of psychedelics, and [[yuppies]]. Hoping MDMA could avoid criminalization like LSD and mescaline, psychotherapists and experimenters attempted to limit the spread of MDMA and information about it while conducting informal research.<ref name="exploration">{{cite journal | vauthors = Pentney AR | title = An exploration of the history and controversies surrounding MDMA and MDA | journal = Journal of Psychoactive Drugs | volume = 33 | issue = 3 | pages = 213–21 | date = 2001 | pmid = 11718314 | doi = 10.1080/02791072.2001.10400568 | s2cid = 31142434 }}</ref><ref name=Eisner/> Early MDMA distributors were deterred from large scale operations by the threat of possible legislation.<ref name="Beck & Rosenbaum">{{cite book| vauthors = Beck J, Rosenbaum M |title=Pursuit of Ecstasy : The MDMA Experience|date=1994|publisher=State Univ. of New York Press|location=Albany|isbn=978-0-7914-1817-8|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SwdedK36bVMC|chapter=The Distribution of Ecstasy|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/pursuitofecstasy0000beck}}</ref> Between the 1970s and the mid-1980s, this network of MDMA users consumed an estimated 500,000 doses.<ref name=Current2013/><ref name="isbn0803936788">{{cite book| vauthors = Doblin R, Rosenbaum M | veditors = Inciardi JA |author-link1=Rick Doblin|title=The Drug Legalization Debate|date=1991|publisher=[[SAGE Publications]], Inc.|location=London|isbn=978-0-8039-3678-2|edition=2nd|chapter-url=http://www.drugtext.org/pdf/Dance/party-drugs-clubbing/why-mdma-should-not-have-been-made-illegal.pdf|access-date=10 August 2015|chapter=Chapter 6: Why MDMA Should Not Have Been Made Illegal|url=https://archive.org/details/druglegalization00inci}}</ref>

A small recreational market for MDMA developed by the late 1970s,<ref name="isbn9781847656414">{{cite book| vauthors = Collin M, Godfrey J |title=Altered State: The Story of Ecstasy Culture and Acid House.|date=2010|publisher=[[Profile Books]]|location=London|isbn=978-1-84765-641-4|edition=Updated new|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fc8x9qeCekQC|chapter=The Technologies of Pleasure}}</ref> consuming perhaps 10,000 doses in 1976.<ref name="Beck 1987"/> By the early 1980s MDMA was being used in Boston and New York City nightclubs such as [[Studio 54]] and [[Paradise Garage]].<ref>{{cite news|vauthors=Savlov M|title=Countdown to Ecstasy: A New Drug for a New Millennium|url=http://www.weeklywire.com/ww/06-12-00/austin_music_feature.html|access-date=6 August 2015|work=The Austin Chronicle|publisher=Weekly Wire|date=12 June 2000|archive-date=21 January 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160121022839/http://weeklywire.com/ww/06-12-00/austin_music_feature.html|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine| vauthors = Owen F, Gavin L |title=Molly Isn't Who You Think She Is: A Deeper Look at MDMA|url=http://www.playboy.com/articles/molly-party-drug-ecstasy|access-date=6 August 2015|magazine=Playboy|date=20 October 2013|archive-date=27 July 2015|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20150727080003/http://www.playboy.com/articles/molly-party-drug-ecstasy |url-status=dead}}</ref> Into the early 1980s, as the recreational market slowly expanded, production of MDMA was dominated by a small group of therapeutically minded [[Boston]] chemists. Having commenced production in 1976, this "Boston Group" did not keep up with growing demand and shortages frequently occurred.<ref name="Beck & Rosenbaum"/>

Perceiving a business opportunity, Michael Clegg, the Southwest distributor for the Boston Group, started his own "Texas Group" backed financially by Texas friends.<ref name="Beck & Rosenbaum"/><ref>{{cite book| vauthors = Sylvan R |title=Trance Formation: The Spiritual and Religious Dimensions of Global Rave Culture|date=2005|publisher=Routledge|location=New York, NY|isbn=978-0-415-97090-7|pages=21–22|chapter=A Brief History of the Rave Scene}}</ref> In 1981,<ref name="Beck & Rosenbaum"/> Clegg had coined "Ecstasy" as a slang term for MDMA to increase its marketability.<ref name=rising/><ref name=Eisner>{{cite book|vauthors=Eisner B|author-link1=Bruce Eisner|title=Ecstasy : The MDMA Story|date=1994|publisher=[[Ronin Publishing]]|location=Berkeley, CA|isbn=978-0-914171-68-3|edition=Expanded 2nd|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8aqUu5M6UpwC|access-date=1 February 2016|archive-date=13 January 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230113000538/https://books.google.com/books?id=8aqUu5M6UpwC|url-status=live}}</ref> Starting in 1983,<ref name="Beck & Rosenbaum"/> the Texas Group mass-produced MDMA in a Texas lab<ref name=Eisner/> or imported it from California<ref name="rising"/> and marketed tablets using pyramid sales structures and toll-free numbers.<ref name="isbn0803936788"/> MDMA could be purchased via credit card and taxes were paid on sales.<ref name="Beck & Rosenbaum"/> Under the brand name "Sassyfras", MDMA tablets were sold in brown bottles.<ref name=Eisner/> The Texas Group advertised "Ecstasy parties" at bars and discos, describing MDMA as a "fun drug" and "good to dance to".<ref name="Beck & Rosenbaum"/> MDMA was openly distributed in [[Austin, Texas|Austin]] and [[Dallas–Fort Worth]] area bars and nightclubs, becoming popular with yuppies, college students, and gays.<ref name="Foderaro 1988" /><ref name="Beck & Rosenbaum"/><ref name="isbn0803936788"/>

Recreational use also increased after several cocaine dealers switched to distributing MDMA following experiences with the drug.<ref name="isbn0803936788"/> A California laboratory that analyzed confidentially submitted drug samples first detected MDMA in 1975. Over the following years the number of MDMA samples increased, eventually exceeding the number of MDA samples in the early 1980s.<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Parrott AC | title = Is ecstasy MDMA? A review of the proportion of ecstasy tablets containing MDMA, their dosage levels, and the changing perceptions of purity | journal = Psychopharmacology | volume = 173 | issue = 3–4 | pages = 234–41 | date = May 2004 | pmid = 15007594 | doi = 10.1007/s00213-003-1712-7 | s2cid = 3347303 | url = http://psy.swansea.ac.uk/staff/parrott/p-IsEcstasyMDMA-Psychopharm-2004.pdf | access-date = 7 August 2015 | archive-date = 18 September 2015 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20150918181517/http://psy.swansea.ac.uk/staff/parrott/p-IsEcstasyMDMA-Psychopharm-2004.pdf | url-status = live }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Renfroe CL | title = MDMA on the street: Analysis Anonymous | journal = Journal of Psychoactive Drugs | volume = 18 | issue = 4 | pages = 363–9 | date = October 1986 | pmid = 2880953 | doi = 10.1080/02791072.1986.10472371 }}</ref> By the mid-1980s, MDMA use had spread to colleges around the United States.<ref name="Beck & Rosenbaum"/>{{rp|33}}