Editing MDMA (section)

====United Kingdom====
In the United Kingdom, MDMA was made illegal in 1977 by a modification order to the existing [[Misuse of Drugs Act 1971]]. Although MDMA was not named explicitly in this legislation, the order extended the definition of Class A drugs to include various ring-substituted phenethylamines.<ref name="Drugs 2.0">{{cite book| vauthors = Power M |title=Drugs 2.0 : the web revolution that's changing how the world gets high|date=2013|publisher=Portobello|location=London|isbn=978-1-84627-459-6 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gj6zMQEACAAJ&q=Drugs+2.0|format=epub file}}</ref><ref name="UK legality">{{cite web | url = http://www.statutelaw.gov.uk/content.aspx?LegType=All+Primary&PageNumber=57&NavFrom=2&parentActiveTextDocId=1367412&ActiveTextDocId=1367472&filesize=411 | title = Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 | work = Statutelaw.gov.uk | date = 5 January 1998 | access-date = 11 June 2011 | archive-date = 28 August 2021 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20210828153546/https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1971/38/schedule/2/part/I/2003-04-01?timeline=true | url-status = live }}</ref> The drug is therefore illegal to sell, buy, or possess without a licence in the UK. Penalties include a maximum of seven years and/or unlimited fine for possession; life and/or unlimited fine for production or trafficking.

Some researchers such as [[David Nutt]] have criticized the scheduling of MDMA, which he determined to be a relatively harmless drug.<ref>{{Cite news|vauthors = Hope C|date = 7 February 2009|title = Ecstasy 'no more dangerous than horse riding'|url = https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/law-and-order/4537874/Ecstasy-no-more-dangerous-than-horse-riding.html|website = Telegraph.co.uk|access-date = 4 December 2015|archive-date = 10 December 2015|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20151210201615/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/law-and-order/4537874/Ecstasy-no-more-dangerous-than-horse-riding.html|url-status = live}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Nutt DJ | title = Equasy-- an overlooked addiction with implications for the current debate on drug harms | journal = Journal of Psychopharmacology | volume = 23 | issue = 1 | pages = 3–5 | date = January 2009 | pmid = 19158127 | doi = 10.1177/0269881108099672 | s2cid = 32034780 }}</ref> An editorial he wrote in the ''[[Journal of Psychopharmacology]]'', where he compared the risk of harm for [[Horse Riding|horse riding]] (1 adverse event in 350) to that of ecstasy (1 in 10,000) resulted in his dismissal, leading to the resignation of several of his colleagues from the [[Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs|ACMD]].<ref name="johnson">{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2009/nov/02/drug-policy-alan-johnson-nutt|title=Why Professor David Nutt was shown the door|vauthors=Johnson A|date=2 November 2009|newspaper=The Guardian|access-date=3 November 2009|location=London|archive-date=18 January 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140118223546/http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2009/nov/02/drug-policy-alan-johnson-nutt|url-status=live}}</ref>