The once wildly popular substance largely forgotten about, even with the current psychedelic renaissance

A week ago I decided to consume MDA as part of a ritual I have where I enjoy dates (platonic or romantic) with a friend/loved one. It it is one of my favorite substances, despite my very infrequent use of it. The last time I had enjoyed this substance was on my birthday in 2020, which occurred fairly early in the peak of the COVID-19 lockdown.

MDA was one of the major drugs that was being popularly used in the late 1960’s when the psychedelic concept exploded on the public scene. MDA was called the “hug-drug” and was said to stand for Mellow Drug of America. Experimentation with MDA, along with LSD, peyote, psilocybin mushrooms, marijuana, etc. was a major component of 1960s counterculture, influencing philosophy, art, music and styles of dress.

MDA is a stimulant and empathogen, similar to MDMA, but typically produces more visuals. Most people become aware of a sense of physical and mental well-being that intensifies gradually and steadily. However, it is believed to be more neurotoxic than MDMA, despite minimal studies in humans, and may be the reason that it is much less explored or researched these days. Even though it is a monoamine releasing agent like MDMA, MDA is said to have more direct 5-HT2A agonism, like general psychedelics, than MDMA does, so you may still feel the 5-HT2A activation effects (psychedelic effects like patterns) when using SSRIs.

MDA commonly induces a state of profound relaxation and patience in which anxiety and defensiveness are left far behind. “It is impossible to imagine anything being a threat in that state”. Unlike most stimulants, MDA does not increase motor activity—it suppresses it in a remarkable way. The combined effects of relaxation and centering greatly facilitate certain kinds of physical activities, such as yoga, martial arts, and any disciplines requiring balance and maintenance of posture.

It feels as if nothing is threatening, and, in fact, things in the external world behave differently. This theme carries through to interpersonal relations. When people feel well, centered, unthreatened, and aware of their own strength and loveliness, they are able to drop many of the usual barriers that develop in groups. Participants may feel very loving toward one another, but the feelings are not explicitly sexual. For many people the experience of enjoying physical contact and feeling love with others in the absence of a specific hunger for sex is unique and welcome.

Other hungers and desires may also disappear in the MDA state. Habitual users of tobacco or marijuana do not need to smoke. Nail biters leave their fingers alone. Compulsive talkers become quiet. Compulsive eaters do not think about food. Moreover, this desireless condition feels supremely natural and valuable. MDA affects the senses minimally, everything appears as normal. – Mr. Richard H. Nolte, Institute of Current World Affairs, 1975

With MDMA front and center as a therapeutic drug working towards FDA approval, it can be very difficult to find information on MDA itself. While MDA is a metabolite of MDMA, it has notable and distinguishable differences as documented by Healthline in the table below:

When using search engines, surrounding a word or phrase in quotation marks (““) typically means they must appear exactly how you type them, improving the accuracy of the results.

As with MDMA, MDA harm reduction looks much the same. Since MDA seems to be more toxic at higher levels than MDMA, dosing with this particular substance is especially important. MDA—especially the R isomer, is more potent and the common dosage is roughly half of what would be considered common for MDMA.

In order to distinguish MDA from MDMA with reagents, a reagent such as Simons, Folin, or Robadope that detects secondary amines must be used.

Subscribe on Substack