1 The intention was apparently to market MDMA as an appetite inhibitor, but it was also never marketed and is now used only nonmedically. 3 MDA was patented as a cough suppressant in 1956, as a tranquillizer in 1960 and as an appetite inhibitor in 1961, but was not marketed for any of these uses. All 3 were first synthesized many decades ago: amphetamine in 1885, 2 MDA in 1910 and MDMA in 1912. Like amphetamine, MDA and MDMA are completely synthetic substances that do not exist in nature. Arrows do not represent pathways of synthesis or metabolism they merely indicate the closest resemblances of structure. 1: Chemical structures of MDMA, MDEA and related drugs compared with those of the monoamine neurotransmitters. 1), and most of their biological actions and effects resemble those of epinephrine, dopamine and serotonin.įig. 1 All of these substances resemble the natural neurotransmitters epinephrine (adrenaline) and dopamine ( Fig. This group of substances is frequently referred to as “designer drugs,” because, when illicit laboratories began to produce them for nonmedical use, the blend of amphetamine-like and mescaline-like effects was intentionally sought and could be achieved reliably by the appropriate design of the drug molecule. As a result, the pharmacological effects of MDMA (and MDEA) are a blend of those of the amphetamines and mescaline, as will be described in later sections of this review. In this respect, it resembles the structure of the hallucinogenic material mescaline. 1, it has a methylenedioxy (-O-CH 2-O-) group attached to positions 3 and 4 of the aromatic ring of the amphetamine molecule (i.e., it is “ring-substituted”). The 3 compounds are closely similar in their chemistry and in their biological effects, so that the description of MDMA in the rest of this review also applies in the main to MDEA, and to a considerable extent to MDA.Įcstasy differs from amphetamine and methamphetamine in one important respect. MDEA is also sometimes called ecstasy by its vendors and users, but is more often referred to as Eve. In earlier years, the name was applied to 3,4-methylenedioxyamphetamine (MDA). The name “ecstasy” is in fact used somewhat unselectively.
A closely related compound, N-ethyl-3,4-methylene-dioxyamphetamine or MDEA, differs from MDMA only in having a 2-carbon ethyl group, rather than a 1-carbon methyl group, attached to the nitrogen atom of the amphetamine structure. As the name implies, MDMA is a derivative of methamphetamine (known by such street names as “speed,” “crystal” and “meth” among others) and its parent compound amphetamine. The initial letters of the major portions of the latter name (Methylene dioxy-Meth amphetamine) give rise to the acronym MDMA, by which this substance is commonly designated in the clinical and research literature. The available evidence does not yet permit an accurate assessment of the size of the problem presented by the use of these drugs.Įcstasy is the popular or “street” name for a substance identified chemically as N-methyl-3,4-methylenedioxy-amphetamine or 3,4-methylenedioxy-methamphetamine.
The toxic or even fatal dose range overlaps the range of recreational dosage. A detailed review of the literature has revealed over 87 "ecstasy"-related fatalities, caused by hyperpyrexia, rhabdomyolysis, intravascular coagulopathy, hepatic necrosis, cardiac arrhythmias, cerebrovascular accidents, and drug-related accidents or suicide. Neurotoxicity to the serotonergic system in the brain can also cause permanent physical and psychiatric problems. But these drugs also have serious toxic effects, both acute and chronic, that resemble those previously seen with other amphetamines and are caused by an excess of the same sympathomimetic actions for which the drugs are valued by the users. This vogue among teenagers and young adults, together with the widespread belief that "ecstasy" is a safe drug, has led to a thriving illicit traffic in it. They have become popular with participants in "raves," because they enhance energy, endurance, sociability and sexual arousal. "Ecstasy" (MDMA) and related drugs are amphetamine derivatives that also have some of the pharmacological properties of mescaline.
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