Will Rowe PhD Candidate
Supervisor: Dr. Erika DyckMy thesis analyses the racialized history of medicine in the United States in order to place the narrative of MDMA prohibition into the greater arc of the American history of drugs and drug prohibition. Some academics have claimed that MDMA is an all white drug. It may have been a -majority- white drug until after its prohibition in 1985, but minority users likely always existed. MDMA began its life as a therapeutic tool in the 70s before being deemed a public health issue. It subsequently received a schedule one controlled substance status even when the molecule had been used in therapy for nearly ten years. This placed MDMA alongside other dangerous substances like cocaine and heroin witnessing the arrest of more minority users and sellers for the first time. Through the prohibition of MDMA, MDMA arrests became another way to fuel the mass imprisonment of BIPOC America. This atmosphere has made it exceedingly difficult to induct this population into MAPS clinical trials. Trauma is prevalent in lower income BIPC communities, but this demographic represents less than 10% of MAPS participants. MAPS clinical trials began in 1996, and while the drug was becoming an elite white veteran therapy treatment for PTSD, it was simultaneously entering the realm of urban drug of the masses. Through increasing the BIPOC participants in these trials, the particulars of how MDMA can be used to treat racial trauma can be explored.