E for Ecstasy by Nicholas Saunders
Appendix 1: Reference Section

62 Designer Drug Confusion: a focus on MDMA, by Jerome Beck and Patricia Morgan, from Journal of Drug Education, 16/3/86

Beck and Morgan give a Cook's tour of the effects and clinical value of MDMA. They quote Wolfson: "MDMA provides a positive alternative to the dark and negative experiences of people experiencing psychotic states," Grinspoon: "MDMA appears to have some of the advantages of LSD-type drugs without most of the corresponding disadvantages," Siegel: "MDMA has been promoted as a cure for everything from personal depression to alienation to cocaine addiction. . . It's got a lot of notoriety, but the clinical claims made for its efficacy are totally unsupported at this time," and Greer: "Because every therapist I know who has given MDMA to a patient has found it to be of significant value, I am convinced that it can be shown scientifically to be efficacious."

They say that continuous use of booster doses after the initial dose to prolong the high produces great fatigue the following day. Regarding deaths ascribed to MDMA, "later investigation revealed that the role played by the drug, if it was even involved, was questionable in most cases." But Beck and Morgan say that the potentially toxic interaction between MDMA and alcohol merits further investigation. "As with other stimulants, individuals under the influence of MDMA are often capable of ingesting large amounts of alcohol."

A delayed anxiety disorder has been observed in a few individuals. This problem typically occurs among novice users of MDMA, and the manifestations range from a mild anxiety to a full-blown disorder such as a panic attack with hyperventilation and tachycardia, phobic disorders, parathesias, or other anxiety states. Usually the drug was taken in a nonprofessional setting for quasi-therapeutic reasons.

On the basis of interviews with such clients, it can be inferred that through taking MDMA, much of their repressed anxiety, hostility, guilt, or other so-called negative feelings were released into their conscious minds. . . After the release of this material, they are undefended and conscious of what emotional and psychological work needs to be done. These initial findings underscore a growing number of unsuccessful attempts at 'self therapy' by individuals who run the risk of exacerbating their emotional problems with unsupervised episodes.

They conclude that MDMA's unique effect is desired by many people and interest will continue to grow. MDMA could have a much greater long-term impact on our society than all of the so-called designer drugs combined.