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MDMA WAS PATENTED IN 1912 AND THEN IGNORED
MDMA Was Not Invented To Suppress Appetite
Medical Literature Repeated That Claim For Decades
Researchers Went Back To The Company Records
No Such Project Existed At Any Point
The Actual First Synthesis Was Unremarkable
A Chemist Produced It While Making Something Else
This Part Covers What The Documents Show
THIS NEWSLETTER IS FOR INFORMATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY. NOTHING IN THIS CONTENT CONSTITUTES MEDICAL, PSYCHOLOGICAL, OR PROFESSIONAL ADVICE. ALWAYS CONSULT A QUALIFIED HEALTHCARE PROFESSIONAL BEFORE MAKING ANY HEALTH RELATED DECISIONS.
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OKAY BACK FROM THE ARCHIVE 📜
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AN ACCIDENT AT MERCK 🏭
The Year Was 1912
A German Company Called Merck Held The Patent
Anton Kollisch Was The Chemist On The Project
His Assignment Had Nothing To Do With Mood
Merck Wanted A Substance To Stop Bleeding
The Target Compound Was Called Hydrastinine
MDMA Appeared Only As A Byproduct
Chemists Call That Kind Of Compound An Intermediate
Nobody Tested It For Psychological Effects
The Patent Filing Covered A Preparation Method
It Did Not Cover MDMA As A Product
Researchers Later Searched The Company Archives
They Found No Appetite Suppressant Program At All
No Such Project Existed Between 1900 And 1960
The Diet Pill Story Was Copied From Paper To Paper
Each Citation Repeated The One Before It
MDMA Then Went Unstudied For Decades
Merck Recorded Nothing Remarkable About It
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THE THERAPY YEARS 🛋️
Work On The Compound Resumed In The Mid Seventies
Alexander Shulgin Was An American Chemist
A Student Described Unusual Effects To Him
He Resynthesized The Compound In 1976
Shulgin Introduced It To Psychotherapists He Knew
Clinicians Began Calling The Substance Adam
They Used It In Individual And Couples Sessions
Patients Reported Lowered Defensiveness
Sessions Reached Material That Normally Took Months
Therapists Described Breakthroughs In Trauma Work
None Of This Was Illegal At The Time
MDMA Was Not On Any Controlled Substance Schedule
The Work Happened Quietly And Without Oversight
No Large Trials Were Run To Confirm The Results
That Absence Would Matter Enormously Later
It Spread Well Beyond Clinical Settings
Recreational Use Appeared Across Dozens Of States
Federal Regulators Began Paying Attention
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THE EMERGENCY SCHEDULING ⚖️
The Drug Enforcement Administration Acted In 1985
Officials Announced Their Decision On May 31
A 1984 Change To The Law Made It Possible
That Change Allowed Emergency Scheduling For One Year
Regulators Did Not Wait For Hearings To Finish
Their Stated Reason Was Abuse Across 28 States
MDMA Went Into Schedule One
That Category Means No Accepted Medical Use
It Also Means A High Potential For Abuse
Therapists Who Had Used It Objected Formally
Hearings Ran From 1984 Into 1988
Judge Francis Young Recommended Schedule Three In 1986
Administrator John Lawn Overruled Him That October
Schedule One Placement Became Permanent
Clinical Work Stopped Almost Entirely
Approval To Study It Became Extremely Difficult
The Recreational Market Kept Growing Anyway
Only The Legal Research Disappeared
