ECSTASY

noun Also written ecstasy or XTC (Drugs) In the slang of drug users, the hallucinogenic designer drug methylenedioxymethamphetamine or MDMA, also known as Adam. Sometimes abbreviated to E (and used as a verb, in the sense 'to freak out on Ecstasy'). Etymology: The name refers to the extreme feelings of euphoria and general well-being which the drug induces in its users. The word ecstasy has been used in the sense of 'rapturous delight' since the sixteenth century; 'street chemists' in the eighties have simply applied it in a more specialized and concrete sense. History and Usage: It has been claimed that the drug was first made in the early years of this century as an appetite suppressant and patented in 1914 by the pharmaceutical company Merck; according to the chemical literature it was first synthesized in 1960 and did not become known as MDMA until the seventies. It was not until 1984, though, that it was made as a designer drug; by 1985 it had appeared on the streets in the US and was being called Ecstasy or Adam. It soon acquired a reputation as a drug of the smart, wealthy set; it was Ecstasy that the media most associated with the introduction of acid house culture to the UK in 1988, claiming that the drug, in the form of small tablets, could easily be sold at crowded acid house parties, and lent itself to being 'pumped' down with fizzy drinks and the energetic style of dancing practised there. Despite claims by psychotherapists that it had a legitimate therapeutic use in releasing the inhibitions of some psychiatric patients, research showed that prolonged use could do irreversible damage to nerve cells in the brain, and it was banned in both the US and the UK. It remains one of the most popular illicit drugs of the eighties and early nineties; its users are sometimes known as Ecstatics. If cocaine and angel dust were the drugs of the 70s, Ecstasy may be the escape of the 80s. Courier-Mail (Brisbane) 31 May 1985, p. 4 It is 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine, MDMA, ADAM, Decadence, Essence, XTC, Ecstasy. Ecstasy! Paradise induced. And as of July, by emergency order of the Drug Enforcement Administration, illegal. Washington Post 1 June 1985, section D, p. 1 Police fear Acid House parties...provide an ideal opportunity for professional criminals to sell drugs, particularly the 'designer' drug Ecstasy favoured in the Acid house culture. Independent 7 Nov. 1988, p. 2 The really great thing was three years ago, the Ecstasy explosion, when everybody started E'ing all over the place, there was all these different sorts of music getting mixed up. Melody Maker 23-30 Dec. 1989, p. 38