MDMA and the Quest for Connection
All drugs start off life as a form of medicine and MDMA is no different. It was first synthesised in 1912 by German scientists at Merck who were researching chemicals to stop bleeding. They discovered that 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine or MDMA had unique psychoactive properties and it was patented in 1913. It would be several decades later before further drug development would take place, as the CIA during the cold war, investigated its potential as a hallucinogenic weapon. MK-Ultra, a CIA project started in the 1950s, worked on the application of psychedelics for mind control. The project became notorious for testing psychoactive drugs on unwitting subjects.
As far as we know nothing much came of this and very little was heard of MDMA until the 1970s where it was picked up by biochemist and pharmacologist Alexander Shulgin. Shulgin repurposed the drug and recognised its potential as an aid to psychiatry. Many psychotherapists began to use it with their clients as it made them more willing to communicate and participate in the psychotherapy process. They called the drug “Adam,” because they felt it returned patients to a more innocent state.
It was only during the 1980s that MDMA began to be used as a party drug and earned the nickname Ecstasy due to the intense high it can generate. It’s a cross between a hallucinogen and an amphetamine and gives the user a sense of love and wellbeing as well as lots of boundless energy – a perfect combination for a rave.
As a teenager growing up around Glastonbury in the 90s Ecstasy was the freshest drug around. I remember fondly the first time I took it, dancing the night away in Longleat woods with hundreds of strangers, who by sunrise were my new best friends. For this is what MDMA does best. It is called an ‘empathogen’ as it creates a sense of euphoric comradery and connection, the likes of which mankind has sought and experienced throughout history. The ecstatic dance is one of our oldest and most enduring rituals dating back to antiquity. Dancing to a trance, around a fire in the woods certainly felt like tapping in to something ancient, albeit through the guise of a modern drug. That being said, serotonin, the neurotransmitter that is stimulated by MDMA, has always been within us.
From a Chinese medicine perspective, Ecstasy opens up the Heart. This can be seen in the feelings of love and empathy that are stimulated and experienced. The Heart is associated with the fire element whose energetic direction is to expand outward and it is this that creates the sense of connection and understanding to the people around us. So powerful is this sensation that the decline in English football hooliganism during the 1990s has largely been attributed, by those involved, to the use of MDMA in the terraces. After all, who wants to fight when you are loved up to the eyeballs?
All energetic movements have consequences and all drugs have side effects and MDMA is no different. The over-stimulation of the Hearts fire drains the water energy of the Kidneys via the five element cycle, as the body seeks to re-balance itself. This can create the sadness and depression that is sometimes experienced during the week after an ecstasy session. This is usually short lived but can become problematic with chronic use. Another common side effect is the clenching of the jaw and grinding of teeth. This is due to too much fire energy entering in to the stomach meridian that encircles the mouth. An understanding of these energetic principles means that a much more effective treatment can be employed.
I said at the beginning that all drugs start off as a medicine and it appears that ecstasy has gone full circle and may be returning as one as well. Recent scientific studies have confirmed that when MDMA is administered alongside psychotherapy in a clinical setting, it is highly effective in treating PTSD. If, as it appears likely, MDMA is once again prescribed by Western Doctors, then it might be worth bearing in mind the energetic effects of the drug and not just the chemical ones.