MDMA’s History as a Medicine

The idea that some medicines can be used not to cure physical illness but instead to cure the soul is probably as old as humanity itself. The use of such medicines predates writing — we can only speculate about the origin of such archetypes as the shaman or the medicine man. The knowledge of what plants they used, and what potions they brewed and consumed has been lost long before we were born. What little information we have comes from indigenous tribes in the Amazon, Africa, and Syberia. It points back to millennia-old traditions, rich in sacred tribal rituals and techniques to achieve ecstasy and communicate with beings from other realms — spirits, gods, or something else entirely.¹ Compared to these ancient medicines, MDMA is an extremely recent discovery — it was first synthesized by the German company Merck in 1912. On top of that, in Merck’s patent, it was only mentioned as a precursor to the synthesis of hydrastinine.² It wasn’t until more than half a century later, in 1976, that it was resynthesized by Alexander Shulgin, urged by a former student.³ ⁴MDMA returned to the world with a bang. It formed a symbiotic relationship with the British rave scene of the ’70s and ’80s, fueling 24-hour-long parties in abandoned warehouses and fields. The same thing happened in the US — soon after the drug entered the market it flooded the party scene and became an indispensable part of the night-life.⁵

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