MDA
(Methylenedioxyamphetamine)
AKA THE LOVE DRUG; PSYCHEDELIC SPEED
By
D.E. Smith & R. Seymore of the Haight-Ashbury
Free Medical Clinic
from HIGH TIMES, April, 1985
CHARGES
MDA has been judged by the federal government to be a drug with
high abuse potential and no redeeming therapeutic value. It is a
Schedule I controlled substance along with heroin and LSD. There
have been reports of death and serious injury from high doses of
MDA, but the reported incidents have often been the result of an
interaction of multiple drugs, or were caused by other sub-
stances sold as MDA on the illicit market.1
MDA and several of its close analogues, including MMDA and MDMA,
are currently experiencing an upsurge in street popularity.
They're used in Brazil as XTA or Ecstasy and here as ADAM.
MDA belongs to a category of drugs known as psychotomimetic
amphetamines, which combine the stimulant effects of amphetamines
and the psychedelic effects of drugs like mescaline. Large doses
of MDA elevate heart rate and blood pressure, and can cause an
irregular heartbeat. Individual cases have been reported of
cerebral aneurysm or stroke occurring after high-dose MDA
ingestion (as a consequence of the elevated blood pressure), but
in these cases the victims have been predisposed to stroke
because of previous cerebral aneurysm or congenital defects of
the blood vessels in the brain. In women, MDA may activate
latent infections or other problems of the genitourinary tract.2
NATURE AND USE
MDA is one of a family of drugs whose members are amphetamine
analogs of the psychedelic drug, mescaline (methoxylated
phenylethylamine). This group contains more than a thousand
different but related chemical substances. Only a few dozen have
been tested on human beings - a few hundred on animals. Among
those known to us are: MDA, MMDA, DOM, DOET, TMA, DMA and DMMDA.
All of these are similar in chemical structure and effect. They
differ mostly in dosage and duration of effect. For example, MDA
dosage is 100 to 150 milligrams and duration is eight to 12
hours, while DOM (known on the street as STP) is potent at five
milligrams and can last from 16 to more than 24 hours. With the
latter, the effects of a high dose can last so long, ebbing and
returning, the user may think that they will never end.
MDA and its analogues are synthetic, but related to safrole,
which is contained in oil of sassafras and oil of camphor, and is
the psychoactive agent in nutmeg and mace. They are produced by
modifying the major psychoactive component of nutmeg and mace
into their amines. MDA has been on the street since 1967, when
it first appeared in the Haight-Ashbury drug culture.3
Descriptions of MDA's effects tend to sound like the fulfillment
of a psychedelic user's fantasy. Users have reported the onset
as a warm glow spreading through their bodies, followed by a
sense of physical and mental well-being that gradually but
steadily intensifies. Some have described a sense of increased
coordination and an ability to do things they couldn't ordinarily
do. Unlike most stimulants, however, MDA doesn't increase motor
activity, but, in fact, suppresses it. Thus, consumers can
sometimes sit in meditation, or do yoga and related activities,
for long periods of time. For clinical subjects in a 1974
research program, MDA served as a appetite depressant.4 Some
researchers (Grinspoon and Bakalar) have concluded that MDA
produces feelings of aesthetic delight, empathy, serenity, joy,
insight and self-awareness, without perceptual changes, loss of
control or deper- sonalization; and seems to eliminate anxiety
and defensiveness. "The user actually feels himself to be a
child, and relives childhood experiences in full immediacy, while
simultaneously remaining aware of his present self and present
reality."5
MDA and MMDA showed great promise as an adjunct to
psychotherapy in extensive research carried out in the late '60s
and early '70s - most prominently by Claudio Naranjo6 and
Alexander T. Shulgin.7 In the mid '70s, with MDA's inclusion as a
Schedule I "narcotic," research on the methoxylated amphet-
amines came to a standstill.
HAZARDS AND LIABILITIES
As is true with all psychedelic drugs, effects vary with
expectation and setting. MDA is not the sort of drug to be taken
with alcohol and downers or at wild parties. Its use can drain
energy, leaving one tired and sluggish the next day. MDA may
affect a woman's genitourinary tract, and may even activate
latent infections and other problems. Women should be aware of
this danger. It is reported to cause tension in the face and jaw
muscles to the point of "bruxism," involuntary teeth grinding. At
least one researcher (Weil) feels, however, that all these
symptoms involve excessive dosage, poor setting or counterfeit
drugs. Anxiety, panic and paranoid reactions occur but are rare.
It should be noted that, in the case of MDA, the synthetic is
more benign than the natural. Nutmeg and mace do have some
psychoactive properties, but the aftereffects are dire enough to
make these poor drugs of choice.
Naranjo warns that MDA is toxic to certain individuals. Typical
toxic symptoms are skin reactions, profuse sweating or confusion.
Some of the more serious cases resulted in aphasia and, in one
case, death. This serious neurological toxicity is a result of
elevated blood pressure and effects on the brain associated with
higher doses of MDA.
FIRST-AID PLUS
If such problems develop, medical care is required; anti-
hypertensive medication and neurological care may be necessary.
Anxiety, panic or paranoid reactions can usually be handled by
reassurance in a supportive environment. Occasionally, sedative
medication such a Vallium is recommended. Anti- psychotic
medication is not needed unless a prolonged psychotic reaction
occurs. This usually happens only in individuals who have major
underlying psychological problems prior to taking MDA. In these
rare cases, prolonged psychiatric care may be needed.
REFERENCES
1. Grinspoon, Lester, M.D., and Bakalar, James B., Psychedelic
Drugs Reconsidered, Basic Books, Inc. New York, 1979
2. Weil, Andrew, M.D., The Marriage of Sun and Moon: a quest for
unity in consciousness, Houghton Mifflin company, Boston, 1980
3. Meyers, F.H., Rose, A.J., Smith, D.E., "Incidents Involving the
Haight- Ashbury Population and Some Uncommonly Used Drugs,"
Journal of Psychedelic Drugs, vol. 1, no. 2, 1968
4. Stafford, Peter, Psychedelic Encyclopedia, And/Or Press,
Berkeley, 1977.
5. Turek, I.S., Soskin, R.A., Kurland, A.A. "Methylenedioxyamphetamine
(MDA) Subjective Effects," Journal of Psychedlic Drugs, vol. 6,
no. 1, January- March, 1974.
6. Naranjo, Claudio, The Healing Journey, Ballantine Books, New
York, 1975
7. Shulgin, Alexander T., "MMDA," Journal of Psychedelic Drugs,
vol. 8, no. 4, October-December 1976