Human Deaths and Toxic Reactions Attributed to MDMA and MDEA

Abstract

3,4-Methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) and 3,4- Methylenedioxyethamphetamine (MDEA) are synthetic amphetamine analogues that have received considerable media attention as recreational drugs popular among college students and young professionals. MDMA, more commonly known as “Ecstasy,” has been available on the illicit drug market since 1968 (1). with increasing popularity in the late 1970s and early 1980s. On the other hand, MDEA, also known as “Eve,” has only started to gain prominence since the placement of MDMA on Schedule I of the Controlled Substance Act by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) on July 1, 1985. MDMA has been investigated by a small number of psychiatrists for its potential use as a psychotherapeutic agent. Uncontrolled trials of MDMA in clinical settings seem to indicate that it helps to facilitate therapeutic communication and increase patient insight and self-esteem [2,3]. MDMA in the hands of psychiatrists and both MDMA and MDEA among those who use them recreationally have generally seen regarded as safe drugs with some minor short-term side effects [3–5]. Indeed, from 1977 to 1985 the Drug Abuse Warning Network (DAWN) reported only eight admissions to emergency rooms, across the United States, for treatment of individuals who claimed they had taken MDMA [6]. When one considers that the prevalence of MDMA use has been estimated at 10,000 doses nationally in 1976 to more current estimates of 30.000 doses nationally per month in 1985 [7] (and perhaps as high as 30,000 doses per month in one city, as reported by the DEA [8], then the low number of emergency room admissions is remarkable, to say the least. Likewise, well-documented deaths related to the use of these two drugs are exceptionally rare [9,10].