In the mid-1970s, Alexander Shulgin (the father of ecstasy) of the University of California, Berkeley, found that this drug can relieve the symptoms of people who stutter badly. He himself described the feeling after taking the medicine as "a change of consciousness that is closely related to the body and easy to control, accompanied by a little illusion." 1978 Shulgin and Nichols reported the psychological effect of MDMA on human body, which aroused people's interest in this kind of compounds that may be helpful to psychotherapy. Later, some psychiatrists found in clinical research that MDMA can alleviate patients' anxiety, enhance the communication ability between patients and doctors, help patients alleviate the pain caused by mental crisis, increase the effect of psychotherapy, and reduce the dosage of other drugs when combined with other psychotropic drugs. Medical reports on the hallucinogenic effect of MDMA led medical experts to use it as a tool to treat alcohol dependence and depression, and called it an excellent drug in mental health care. Therefore, it was once used as an auxiliary drug in psychotherapy in the 1980s, so that some people claimed that "MDMA is penicillin for the treatment of the soul, and once you see its therapeutic effect, you can't give it up".
In the process of using MDMA to treat mental illness, users found that MDMA had psychedelic and pleasant effects, so it quickly appeared in the streets and became a favorite drug for drug addicts. In the late 1980s, under the influence of news media, ecstasy spread in society. At that time, MDMA became an entertainment drug to replace cocaine in some university campuses in the western United States. Psychotherapists call it "Adam" to show the "state of pure harmony with everyone" after taking the medicine. In order to facilitate sales, drug dealers quickly dubbed it "ecstasy" (also translated as hallucinogen, ecstasy), which has been used ever since. Since 1983, MDMA has become a very popular new drug in the United States, especially on university campuses. According to the statistics of the United States Drug Control Agency, at least 2 1 states in the United States have abused MDMA. MDMA is more popular with students and young staff on Canadian campuses.
Due to the increasing use of MDMA among college students, media publicity, and the toxicity and abuse potential of MDMA, the US government has formulated control measures against MDMA, and the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) held a hearing in 1985. The media reported two opposite views. Enthusiastic supporters demand MDMA, while opponents worry that the drug will harm the younger generation. 1986 MDMA is classified as the first kind of unconventional drug by the United States Drug Enforcement Administration, which has great abuse potential and cannot be used for medical treatment. This means that MDMA cannot be used as a medical drug in the United States, and the application for clinical trial of this drug has not been approved. However, ecstasy is still popular in the illegal drug market, and the abuse of non-medical purposes by teenagers is gradually escalating. Various monitoring by the American Institute of Drug Abuse found that many middle school students and college students abused so-called prom drugs such as MDMA. More seriously, MDMA not only appears in nightclubs and crazy dances, but also spreads in the campuses of middle schools and universities and other social places, and the abuse targets are mainly teenagers. At this time, MDEA, a derivative of ecstasy, appeared in the pharmaceutical market. MDEA and MDMA have the same function and utility, and are called "Eve" by drug addicts, but they are not listed as controlled drugs by the US Drug Administration.
1In the late 1980s, the abuse of ecstasy spread from the United States to Europe. In the "marathon" dance in Europe (called "Raves"), this drug has become the first choice for recreation. Especially stereo music clubs, rock (roaring) parties and all-night dances. 1995, there were 1 girls taking ecstasy and drinking a lot of water under the influence of drugs in the United States, which caused a sensation in the United States. The United States began to strengthen the control of such drugs.
In the 1990s, the abuse of ecstasy increased. 199 1 year, there were only 1 underground processing plants in the United States, while in 1992, there were 9 underground processing plants. In the same year, Germany seized 3 tons of ecstasy from a pharmaceutical company in Latvia, and prepared to transport it to Belgium and the Netherlands through international cooperation. According to the statistics of UNCP, the use of ecstasy in various countries has greatly increased in the past two decades, with the largest "net increase" in Asia, followed by Europe and the United States.
MDMA entered Hong Kong on 1992, and then quickly spread among drug users. 1993, the Hong Kong police seized only six ecstasy tablets, but in 1996, it soared to 1 1076 tablets. 1996 was introduced into the mainland of China. 1996165438+1On October 25th, the United Nations Drug Control Programme held a meeting in Shanghai and agreed that amphetamine-type stimulants will gradually replace opium, heroin, cocaine, marijuana and other popular traditional drugs and become the most widely abused drugs in the world in the 2nd/10th century.