MAPS: MDMA: other health-related effects?

Actually, it was started by methamphetamine addicts (as well as beer drinkers).

Adolf Hitler was, in particular, a heavy abuser of these on a daily basis beginning before he achieved elected office in Germany. This is well documented, and was of considerable concern among the German officer corps at the time. The drug was distributed within all levels of the German military and was freely available.

As the drug was invented in Japan, and retained a strong following there (among the military elite) until the end of WW II, the social effects of non-psychedelic and non-entactogenic drugs certainly deserve a careful reexamination. (A joke in South East Asia, at this time, is that one can always tell when the Japanese tourists have been to the beach - by counting the hypodermic needles that litter the sand afterwards. Shortly after World War II, large stocks of methamphetamine that were stockpiled by the Japanese government - to "energize" the citizens there in case of eventual invasion by foreigners, as well as for its' own use - were dumped into the lives of Japanese citizens. Within a few more years, at least a third of the people at public beaches displayed serious needle tracks on their arms...)

Modern methods of analyzing hair samplings for methamphetamine are very reliable. Given the great similarity between the mentation of methamphetamine/crank abusers today and the abusurd and inhuman decision-making processes of the people who created two world wars, the cost of a careful study might be well spent.

Incidentally, it is my understanding that MDMA was actually a prescription weight-loss drug in Europe before WW I, and that it was removed from the market after several years due to complications associated with the use of it. Although I _slightly_ suspect that the Merck Company might have been the distributor of MDMA then, I have no more information than this. Can someone provide more information to me about the _history_ surrounding the clinical use and application of MDMA before its resurgence a few decades ago?

Hmmm.... a diagram of the changing distribution and use of MDMA and methamphetamine (i.e., crank since the racemate was probably involved) in Europe in the first quarter of the 20th century would be _very_ interesting.

Although, on reflection, I don't think the use of MDMA by military minds, at that time, would be very likely. People tend to choose the drugs that suit their personalities (and the stereotypical Prussian mindset might fairly be expected to dodge MDMA with more dexterity than it would a bullet. The bullet will, at worst, kill one with honor, according to that standard, while MDMA would weaken the resolve that defines the manly, nationalistic character of a true warrior. Or so I imagine they would view it.).

You might as well expect Richard Nixon to drop acid and then stroll to a love-in at the Reflecting Pool during the peak of the Vietnam Conflict as expect Nazi activists to use MDMA in Germany before and during WW II.

If MDMA was a "magic bullet" that resolved cruel tendencies with a single application then the scenario _would_ be possible. People seem, however, quite capable of enjoying MDMA and then returning, after a few hours or a day, back to the cut-throat lifestyles that they chose to briefly escape. (There's a charming scene in a movie, called "Aria" that describes a movie executive who does exactly this. The lead actor in this scene is, I believe, Orson Bean.) If MDMA _did_ compel such major changes in people, rather than simply _permit_ them, then the likelihood that it would ever become legal is nill. And, in fact, its' use in psychotherapy would be unethical.

But I still like to imagine, for fun, an alternate form of the United Nations wherein the voting privilege (for any specific issue) is limited to those members who attended the MDMA party the night before. Hey, it _could_ happen.... <s>

- Bob Greer