The History, Patent, and Uses of MDMA

The History, Patent, and Uses of MDMA MDMA’s full chemical name is â€Å"3,4 methylene-dioxy-N-methylamphetamine† or â€Å"methylenedioxymethamphetamine.† The 3,4 indicates the way in which the components of the molecule are joined together. It’s possible to produce an isomer which has all the same components but is joined differently.   Although MDMA is derived from organic material, it does not occur in nature. It must be created in a complex laboratory process. Various popular street names for MDMA include Ecstasy, E, Adam, X, and Empathy. How MDMA Works   MDMA is a mood and mind-altering drug. Like Prozac,  it works by affecting the level of serotonin in the brain. Serotonin is a neurotransmitter which is naturally present and can alter emotions.  Chemically, the drug is similar to amphetamine, but psychologically, its whats known as an empathogen-entactogen. An empathogen improves ones ability to communicate with and feel empathy towards others. An entactogen makes an individual feel good about himself and the world. The MDMA Patent   MDMA was patented in 1913 by the German chemical company Merck. It was intended to be sold as a diet pill, although the patent doesn’t mention any specific use. The company decided against marketing the drug. The U.S. Army experimented with MDMA in 1953, possibly as a truth serum, but the government has not revealed its reasons. Modern Research   Alexander Shulgin is the man behind modern research of MDMA. After graduating from the University of California at Berkeley with a Ph.D. in biochemistry, Shulgin landed a job as a research chemist with Dow Chemicals. Among his many achievements, there was the development of a profitable insecticide and several controversial patents for what would ultimately become popular street drugs. Dow was happy with the insecticide, but Shulgins other projects forced a parting of the way between the biochemist and the chemical company. Alexander Shulgin is the first reported human to use MDMA. Shulgin continued his legal research into new compounds after leaving Dow, specializing in the phenethylamines family of drugs. MDMA is but one of 179 psychoactive drugs which he has described in detail, but it is the one which he felt came closest to fulfilling his ambition of finding the perfect therapeutic drug. Because MDMA was patented in 1913, it holds no profit potential for drug companies. A drug cannot be patented twice, and a company must show that a drug’s potential side effects are justified by its benefits before marketing it. This involves long and expensive trials. The only way of recouping that expense is by obtaining exclusive rights to sell the drug by holding its patent. Only a few experimental therapists researched and tested MDMA for use during psychotherapy sessions between 1977 and 1985. Media Attention and Lawsuits   MDMA or  Ecstasy received massive media attention in 1985 when a group of people sued the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency to try to prevent the DEA from effectively outlawing the drug by placing it on Schedule 1. Congress had passed a new law allowing the DEA to put an emergency ban on any drug that might be dangerous to the public, and this right was used for the first time to ban MDMA on July 1, 1985.   A hearing was held to decide what permanent measures should be taken against the drug. One side argued that MDMA caused brain damage in rats. The other side claimed this might not be true for humans and that there was proof of the beneficial use of MDMA as a drug treatment in psychotherapy. After weighing the evidence, the presiding judge recommended that MDMA be placed on Schedule 3, which would have allowed it to be manufactured, used by  prescription, and subject to further research. However, the DEA decided to place MDMA permanently on Schedule 1 regardless.   Trial research into the effects of MDMA on human volunteers resumed in 1993 with the approval of the Food and Drug Administration. It is the first psychoactive drug to be approved for human testing by the FDA.

Can You Earn a Living as an Administrative Freelancer

Can You Earn a Living as an Administrative Freelancer Many people have discovered that working as a freelancer on the Internet or in an office provides more flexibility in employment and allows workers to pick and choose the jobs they want to do. Administrative freelancers find that they can also apply their office skills to earn a living similar to an in-house employee. Since most individuals working as administrators have talents in multiple areas, they can choose whether to concentrate on one area, such as bookkeeping, or work in several different areas.How to Start Out as an Administrative FreelancerYou can find work as an administrative freelancer by using your skills. Think about the skills you possess and make a list. Include what you enjoy doing the most and what you are best at doing. Do you enjoy customer service, support projects related to sales or management, accounting, scheduling or other facets of administrative work? Doing job searches in each area widens your potential work base and gives you the opportunity to pick an d choose the jobs you like the best.Finding WorkThe first thing a freelance worker needs to know is where to find jobs. The Internet offers multiple job sites to search for freelance work, advertised by different companies. There are also sites that offer multiple listings from different companies that you can search. TheJobNetwork searches multiple sites for you and sends you the listings as alerts so you dont have to do the job hunting yourself.Write a New ResumeA freelance administrative assistant can target jobs related to his or her skills and experience. However, the jobs you apply for may want someone capable of doing specific types of administrative work. Using a professional template to write your resume can give you a boost by using different formats, layouts and content to apply for particular types of jobs. For instance, if you are applying for a position as a worker who sets up meetings and keeps the daily office schedule, you can write up a resume geared toward that po sition. A job opening for office accounting work can require a different approach.What Information to Include in Your ResumeThe type of information and style you use in a resume depends on your preference. An individual who has been searching for a job for a period of time or who has employment gaps in the work history may not want to include dates in a resume. In addition, a worker with little experience might prefer to leave the dates of employment off. A functional resume of this type can highlight your skills and experience without exposing gaps in the work history.Making a Living as an Administrative FreelancerWhen deciding to take a job, keep in mind that as a freelancer you will be paying your own self-employment taxes and other expenses that might have been taken care of by your boss in a regular job. One way to decide how much you should charge for your services is to look in your area at the salaries offered for that type of job. Include a profit margin, money to pay taxes and health care and other expenses that you will be paying yourself. However, you need to keep in mind that if you are working from home and can set aside space for an office, you may have tax deductions from your self-employment that will lower your net income.Searching for jobs using TheJobNetwork platform makes it convenient to do. Put in your credentials and the type of job you are looking for and TheJobNetwork does the work. It searches multiple sites using your criteria and emails alerts to let you know a job has been located. TheJobNetwork ranks the job so you can tell how closely it meets your expectation.