(3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine) illegal
drug in increasing use from the 1980s. It is
a modified amphetamine with mild psychedelic
effects, and works by depleting serotonin (a
neurotransmitter) in the brain. Ecstasy was
first synthesized 1914 by the Merck
pharmaceutical company in Germany, and was
one of eight psychedelics tested by the US
army 1953, but was otherwise largely
forgotten until the mid-1970s. It can be
synthesized from nutmeg oil.