- published: 18 Oct 2015
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MDMA (contracted from 3,4-methylenedioxy-methamphetamine) is a psychoactive drug of the substituted methylenedioxyphenethylamine and substituted amphetamine classes of drugs that is consumed primarily for its euphoric and empathogenic effects. Pharmacologically, MDMA acts as a serotonin-norepinephrine-dopamine releasing agent and reuptake inhibitor.
MDMA has become widely known as ecstasy (shortened to "E", "X", or "XTC"), usually referring to its tablet form, although this term may also include the presence of possible adulterants. The UK term "Mandy" and the US term "Molly" colloquially refer to MDMA in a crystalline powder form that is thought to be free of adulterants. In the media "Molly" can sometimes also refer to the related drugs methylone, MDPV, mephedrone or any other of the pharmacological group of compounds commonly known as bath salts.
Possession of MDMA is illegal in most countries. Some limited exceptions exist for scientific and medical research. In 2013 between 9 and 28 million people used ecstasy (0.2% to 0.6% of the global population between the ages of 15 and 65). This was broadly similar to the number for cocaine, substituted amphetamines, and opioids, but far fewer than the number of cannabis users. It is taken in a variety of contexts and is commonly associated with dance parties, raves, and electronic dance music.
Ecstasy may refer to:
A drug is any substance other than food, that when inhaled, injected, smoked, consumed, absorbed via a patch on the skin or dissolved under the tongue causes a physiological change in the body.
In pharmacology, a pharmaceutical drug or medicine, is a chemical substance used to treat, cure, prevent, diagnose a disease or promote well-being. Traditionally drugs were obtained through extraction from medicinal plants, but more recently also by organic synthesis. Pharmaceutical drugs may be used for a limited duration, or on a regular basis for chronic disorders.
Pharmaceutical drugs are often classified into drug classes—groups of related drugs that have similar chemical structures, the same mechanism of action (binding to the same biological target), a related mode of action, and that are used to treat the same disease. The Anatomical Therapeutic Chemical Classification System (ATC), the most widely used drug classification system, assigns drugs a unique ATC code, which is an alphanumeric code that assigns it to specific drug classes within the ATC system. Another major classification system is the Biopharmaceutics Classification System. This classifies drugs according to their solubility and permeability or absorption properties.