The Designer Drug: Ecstasy :: MDMA Drugs Essays

The Designer Drug: Ecstasy MDMA, otherwise known as the designer drug ecstasy, X, XTC, Adam (MDMA), Eve (MDEA), E rolls and many others generic terms, is a street drug that most people associate with a feeling of physical stimulation. This drug has a normal dose of about 50 to 300mg and can vary in color and shape depending on the maker. Most bootleg drug producers like to put a trademark stamp on the pill, which consists of many different designs. MDMA is administered orally and is absorbed through the gastrointestinal track where it travels up to the brain, which results in a high within about an hour. The high from one pill can last up to six hours. After administration of the drug is when the brain begins the release of the neurotransmitters serotonin and dopamine. A pill of ecstasy can also include other substances like amphetamine, ephedrine, caffeine, ketamine and sometimes substances that are unidentifiable to chemists. This can cause side effects that are beyond the scope of this research. What we do know is that MDMA is an organic molecule, which enables the molecules of MDMA to inhibit some of the neurotransmitters in the brain. Let us take a deeper look into that chemistry. The chemistry of ecstasy, which we will refer to as MDMA, has been researched, by scientists, since the late sixties and what they have uncovered is very interesting. Scientists have found that, overall; MDMA begins with an organic root and ends up being a potentially dangerous drug, 3,4-methylenedioxy-n- methylamphetamine. MDMA is based from an oil called safrole, which is derived from the sassafras root. Many pharmacologists and illegal manufacturers have used safrole as a starting material for many medicines and drugs because it is easily accessible and inexpensive. Therefore, it is not surprising that this is the base for MDMA. As for most organic molecules MDMA consists of H (hydrogen), N (nitrogen), CH3 (a methyl group) and oxygen atoms, which ends up making C11H15NO2. All of these molecules, including the base of the safrole, are organic which makes MDMA an organic molecule. When combined to make MDMA they act like an amphetamine (look almost identical to methamphetamine in there chemical brake down) to the body with its psychedelic reaction, which is why MDMA is usually classified as an amphetamine. When examining the MDMA molecules scientists found that the MDMA has two types of molecules that