In case you are an x-head who didn't know:

MDMA was patented in 1913 (patent #274.350) by the German chemical company Merck supposedly to be sold as a diet pill (the patent does not mention any intended use), the company decided against marketing the drug and had nothing more to do with it. The US army experimented with MDMA in 1953, possibly as truth serum, they have not revealed their reasons.

http://inventors.about.com/library/weekly/aa980311.htm