nvolving other pharmaceutical drugs, which made authorities overreact to any new drug scare (Saunders). As a result of this scare, the US Congress passed a new law which allowed the DEA to put any drug thought to be a danger to the public on an emergency ban (Saunders). On July 1, 1985, MDMA was temporarily put on a ban (The Invention). What made it even worse was that it was put in Category One, which is restricted for damaging drugs with no medical uses. The temporary ban lasted a year, during which a hearing was set up to decide what actions should be taken. (Saunders). This case led to the judge recommending that MDMA be placed in a less restrictive category, Schedule 3. This would have allowed for the drug to be manufactured, to be used on prescription and to be the subject of research. But on March 23, 1988, the recommendation that had been made by the many psychotherapists to keep Ecstasy legal was ignored and MDMA was placed in Schedule 1 (Erowid). The therapeutic use of MDMA has been outlawed for the last thirteen years, but steps are still being taken for MDMA to become a prescription drug (Saunders). A non-profit organization called The Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS) opened a Drug Master File for MDMA in 1986, which allowed the research of MDMA to continue. In 1993 the FDA approved testing on human volunteers of the drug known as Ecstasy; this is the first time since the drug was outlawed that this occurred (Saunders). Now only time will tell what will come of the research. ...
