What’s the Real Deal with Ecstasy?

Recent government reports have shown that while most drug use has leveled off in the U.S., the use of Ecstasy (MDMA) is rising, especially among teens. Top researchers with widely diverging opinions about the drug will convene at a timely and groundbreaking conference, “The State of Ecstasy: The Science, Medicine and Culture of MDMA,” on February 2, 2001 in San Francisco. The event is sponsored by The Lindesmith Center-Drug Policy Foundation (TLC-DPF), a leading drug policy reform organization, in partnership with the San Francisco Medical Society, the San Francisco Department of Public Health, and the University of California at San Francisco, among others. The program will span the history of Ecstasy since its discovery and early therapeutic uses to its current popularity in the “rave” scene. The current state of research into the drug’s medicinal value will be addressed in a morning session, while its effects on the chemistry of the brain will be discussed in the afternoon. All panelists will participate in the final session, aimed at developing recommendations for advancing knowledge and health policy about Ecstasy.

WHAT: Press Luncheon on “The State of Ecstasy: The Science, Medicine and Culture of MDMA”


WHEN: Friday, Feb. 2, NOON
(The conference will be held from 8:30AM to 5:30 PM at the Golden Gate Club in the Presidio of San Francisco. A complete schedule is available upon request.)


WHERE: Golden Gate Club, 135 Fisher Loop in the Presidio of San Francisco

WHO: Alexander Shulgin, Ph.D., the chemist who re-discovered and popularized MDMA for therapeutic uses in the 1970s


Charles Grob, M.D., psychiatrist, researcher and author of “Deconstructing Ecstasy: The Politics of MDMA Research”


Rick Doblin, Ph.D. of the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies, which sponsors clinical studies to obtain FDA approval for the use of MDMA as a prescription medicine.


Sue Stevens, who recently demonstrated her therapeutic use of MDMA on CBS’s 48 Hours


Emanuel Sferios, founder of DanceSafe, an organization of peer educators who teach harm reduction methods and test pills at rave parties.


Marsha Rosenbaum, Ph.D., lead researcher on the first NIDA-sponsored sociological study of MDMA, and co-author (with Jerome Beck) of Pursuit of Ecstasy: The MDMA Experience.