Psychotherapists first named the drug Adam, but today everybody just calls it Ecstasy.

As is true of many drugs, methylenedioxymethamphetamine was the by-product of an attempt to synthesize another medicinal compound.  In the case of MDMA, the drug synthesized was Hydrastinin, a vasoconstrictive and styptic drug (designed to compress blood vessels and stem blood flow).  This occurred in 1912.  Though not a substance subjected to human trials at the time, MDMA, as part of the synthesizing protocol, was routinely patented two years later by the German drug company Merck.

And routinely ignored until the 50s, when the CIA got into the game, along with the US Army.  The CIA game plan once again sought that elusive truth serum.  The Army just wanted to know if it would kill you.  Rumor has it the CIA, as they did with LSD, found MDMA wanting.  But it would kill you, Army research concluded, though the lethal dose was impractically high, somewhere in the 1500-milligram range.  So for both mental and physical warfare, MDMA seemed of no value.

All this was kept hushed until the early 70s, when the CIA published their research findings.  But it's no secret psychotherapists like to play in the same sandbox with psychoactive drugs, especially those that can't hurt you.  After all, do no harm is the first tenet of the Hippocratic Oath.  Learning of MDMA, psychotherapists soon discovered that ingesting 125 milligrams of pure and unadulterated MDMA made you feel very, very good.  Which was something they felt would be extremely helpful to those with mental trauma, whether self-inflicted or imposed.  Here's why.

Serotonin is the chemical your body produces to make you feel good.  Literally.  Serotonin is made at the base of the brain in the raphe nucleus, and then stored in axons.  Axons are the brain's intrastate system, reaching all the four corners.  And your synapse is the brain's off-ramp leading to your every nerve.  So when the brain sees the need here or there for a little squirt of well-being, delivery is swift and balanced: just enough for most folks to climb out of bed every morning and face the day's music.

So what say we take a trip down memory lane to see just how MDMA came to earn its pariah status.  We know the CIA didn't like it (they wanted to hear secrets, not "I love you, man.... wanna dance?").  And the Army determined consuming a pill the size of a hockey puck was needed to kill you, something even the most gullible enemy would find hard to swallow.  So MDMA was rejected: it can't be any good if it can't be bad.

But what if the reverse – if it ain't bad it might be good – were true?  Perhaps that may well have inspired Alexander Shulgin some thirty years ago to experiment with MDMA.  A respected biochemist by trade, Shulgin wrote and published the first scientific article accrediting the effects of MDMA.  Aside from finding MDMA better than any martini at a cocktail party, Shulgin, now in his 70s, had a strong inkling of the drug's therapeutic value.  And gave samples to you know who: psychotherapists.

And we know they liked it.  So did close to 4,000 of their patients.  One enterprising patient believed Adam might benefit the masses if allowed to step outside the doctor's office.  So he hired a chemist and opened a MDMA lab in Dallas, Texas.  Instincts sensed the name Adam wouldn't do.  Empathy was first considered, as it was the most descriptive, but wasn't very sexy and quickly discarded in favor of ecstasy.  (A bit of overselling, if you ask me, but a stroke of marketing genius.)

With production up and running, our patient/entrepreneur sold batches of ecstasy tablets to all the local hip and trendy watering holes in Dallas.  They in turn sold it to all their hip and trendy patrons for twenty bucks a pop, plus tax.  You could even charge it to your American Express card (and against your expense report?).  Anyway, sales were all above board and legal and very brisk.

And a godsend, it appears, to not only the troubled and the trendy of Dallas but to the onward Christian soldiers attending Southern Methodist University across town.  Prohibited by their religion from drinking alcohol, students were known to find certain salvation in taking ecstasy.  And you can bet more than a few shouts of "Praise the Lord!" were offered up for their ecstasy enthrallments.  Can I get an Amen (and a little drum roll for the irony)?