Addiction
August 1, 2010
Udo Benzenhöfer, Torsten Passie
69 citations
Alexander Shulgin is often called the 'father' of MDMA, but a re-assessment of his original publications and laboratory notebook shows he did not synthesize or try MDMA in 1965 as his book PIHKAL suggests. He learned of its special effects in the mid-1970s, re-synthesized it, and first tried it in September 1976. In 1977 he gave MDMA to psychotherapist Leo Zeff, who then introduced it to other therapists. Shulgin also co-authored the first paper on MDMA's pharmacological action in humans in 1978. These contributions explain why he is sometimes erroneously called the 'father' of MDMA, though he was not the first to synthesize it.
Journal of Psychoactive Drugs
March 3, 2016
Torsten Passie, Udo Benzenhöfer
56 citations
MDMA, also known as ecstasy, was first synthesized in 1912 and later resynthesized for pharmaceutical reasons before becoming a popular recreational drug. Drawing on previously overlooked U.S. government documents, this article traces MDMA's early recreational history in the U.S. from 1960 to 1979. MDMA appeared as a street drug in the late 1960s, with the first forensic detection in 1970 in Chicago. Underground chemists likely synthesized it as a legal alternative to MDA, which was scheduled under the Controlled Substances Act in 1970. Until 1974, nearly all seized MDMA street samples came from the U.S. Midwest, the first hot region of use. In Canada, MDMA was first detected in 1974 and scheduled in 1976.
Drug Testing and Analysis
August 29, 2017
Torsten Passie, Udo Benzenhöfer
43 citations
From the 1940s to the 1960s, the United States military explored mescaline and related compounds such as MDA, MDMA, and MDE as potential truth drugs for interrogation and behavior manipulation, following earlier German tests with mescaline. After animal testing, some derivatives were given to patients at the New York State Psychiatric Institute. During tests in 1952–53, an unwitting patient died, a fact kept secret. Subsequent secret animal studies in 1953–54 identified several mescaline derivatives for further human testing. By 1955, military focus shifted to LSD, though interest in mescaline-like compounds persisted for their ability to alter mood and habit without disrupting cognition. Whether any were used operationally remains unclear but probable.