Erowid MDA Vault : Timeline

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MDA

Timeline

by Erowid

1910		MDA first synthesized by G. Mannish and W. Jacobson 1
1939		Animal tests are first performed with MDA. 1
1941		First human trials with MDA as part of an exploration of possible therapies for Parkinsonism. 2
1949-1957		MDA studied as a potential antidepressant and/or anorexic agent by Smith, Klein & French. More than 500 people were given MDA during the course of this investigation. [More Info]
Jan 8, 1953		Harold Blauer dies of an overdose of MDA (code name EA-1298) during an army-sponsored drug experiment. The army was working to develop new "truth serums" or incapacitating agents and injected Blauer with 500 mg MDA IV. 3 [Details] [More Info] Blauer had checked himself into the New York State Psychiatric Institute for depression following his divorce. Dr. James Cattell administered MDA injections to Harold Blauer, who died within two hours of his fifth and final injection. Edgewood Arsenal provided MDA to Dr. Cattell as part of a research program exploring the possible use of MDA as one of several interrogation tools. Cattell later reported We didn't know whether it was dog piss or what it was we were giving him. Blauer's wife won $18,000 in damages in a legal suit against the state in 1955, but the army successfully hid its involvement. In 1987, Blauer's daughters win a law suit against the federal government for $700,000 over it's role in their father's death. After Blauer's death, Edgewood terminated its investigation into MDA. See also http://www.leagle.com/decision/19871951660FSupp1291_11728 : Elizabeth BARRETT, As Administratrix of the Estate of Harold Blauer, Deceased, Plaintiff, v. UNITED STATES of America, Defendant.
1957		Gordon Alles describes the MDA experience at a conference in Princeton New Jersey, sponsored by the Josiah Macy, Jr., Foundation. The proceedings of the conference were published two years later (1959) in Neuropharmacology: Transactions of the 4th Conference. 1
1958-1961		MDA is patented by several different groups...as a cough suppressant by H.D. Brown (1958), as an ataractic by Smith, Kline, and French, Co. (1960), and as an appetite suppressant under the trade name "Amphedoxamine" (1961). 2
May 17, 1961		Dr. Alexander Shulgin first tries MDA at a dose of 4.8 mg. After this single dose Dr. Shulgin would not try MDA again until four years later in 1965. 4 [Details] [More Info] 5/17/61 4:40AM 4.8 mg oral. not unpleasant taste - no mental effects - went like house afire cleaning up lab - organizing - full of energy - this may be an amphetamine-like response or maybe was is normal for this day. no pulse - no eye-pupil change. probably no effect. no more for the moment.
1963-1964		MDA begins showing up in the counterculture. 1
Oct 1967		The U.S. Bureau of Drug Abuse Control reports in its publication Micro-gram their "first encounter with the compound [MDA]". 5 [Details] [More Info] METHYLENEDIOXY AMPHETAMINE (MDA) In October 1967, we received a capsule, pink at one end and clear at the other, filled with 150 mg. of a white crystalline substance. Dr. Albert R. Sperling, Bureau of Science, analyzed the substance and identified it as 3,4 methylenedioxyamphetamine. This was our first encounter with the compound. Copies of Dr. Sperling's spectra of the free base and the sulfate are attached. Over the past months, BDAC Agents and police have purchased the powder and capsules in the New York area sold as mescaline. A clandestine "laboratory" was seized in New York, with 3-1/4 pounds of HDA and 25 pounds of 1,2 methylenedioxy-4-(2-nitropropenyl) benzene, a precursor one step removed from MDA. Attached is determination and identification data on MDA evidence analyzed by Mr. Richard Fox, an analyst in FDA's New .York District. An infrared spectrogram is also shown in STADTLER STANDARD SPECTA, Midget Edition, Spectrum No. 20160.
Oct 27, 1970		The Comprehensive Drug Abuse Prevention and Control Act is passed. Part II of this is the Controlled Substance Act (CSA) which defines a scheduling system for drugs. It places most of the known hallucinogens (LSD, psilocybin, psilocin, mescaline, peyote, cannabis, & MDA) in Schedule I. It places coca, cocaine and injectable methamphetamine in Schedule II. Other amphetamines and stimulants, including non-injectable methamphetamine are placed in Schedule III.
1980-2000		MDA continues to be used recreational, often sold in tablet form as 'ecstasy'.

References

Stafford P. Psychedelics Encyclopedia. Ronin. 1992.
Pentney AR. "An Exploration of the History and Controversies Surrounding MDMA and MDA". J Psychoactive Drugs. Jul-Sep 2001;Vol 33(3).
Lee MA, Shlain B. Acid Dreams: The CIA, LSD and the Sixties Rebellion. Grove, 1985.
Shulgin AT. Pharmacology Notes I. Page 37.
Microgram Editors. "Methylenedioxy Amphetamine". Microgram. Bureau of Drug Abuse Control. Feb 1968. 1(5):4-5.