A representative from MAPS, an organization devoted to studying the effects of psychedelics, recently sent me a press release about upcoming research being done in Vancouver to study the use of MDMA (more commonly known as ecstasy) to treat post-traumatic stress disorder. While a lot of people will snicker at the idea of using what’s more commonly known as a recreational drug for rave attendees to treat people who suffer trauma from serving in war, previous research has shown some serious promise.
MAPS’ goal is to demonstrate that MDMA has valid medical use so that the FDA and other international health agencies will allow it to be prescribed by doctors. Currently, MDMA is illegal in the United States, but has rather unsurprisingly seen a large spike in use since its distribution was handed to criminal organizations back in the 1980s. Internationally, MDMA is illegal in most countries, but researchers in Israel and Switzerland are also studying the effects of the drug.
One aspect of this story that caught my attention is the fact that this latest study in Vancouver, which could potentially benefit hundreds of thousands of Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans who have been diagnosed with PTSD, is being funded entirely by charitable donations. You’d think that a treatment that has shown such serious potential and has such a large potential base of customers would be something that American pharmaceutical companies would be interested in. Unfortunately, MDMA is off-patent and the drug itself doesn’t need to be taken every day for the overall treatment to be effective. As a result, there isn’t much money to be made when compared to giving old people boners.
I met some folks connected with MAPS at Burning Man 2008. They are really working on some good stuff.
IIRC, The Stranger’s Guide to College warned that if you took Ecstacy on Saturday night, you should be prepared for a real downer all day Sunday. If true, I wonder how the study deals with this reported problem.
Unfortunately (I guess), I’m far too old to have any direct experience with these modern drugs. But I fondly remember the days of the nickel bag.
LSD Returns–For Psychotherapeutics
Scientific American, Oct 2009
In brief, some current studies using LSD for treating trauma, like terminal cancer, and the search for similar drugs.
lsd, pot…you just love that kind of stuff
Lee-
Previously y’all scoffed at the notion that your obsession with pot would eventually lead to other drugs…hard drugs.
Voila..
Pot is an entry drug…even for bloggers.
@5
In this case, it’s not pot that leads to ecstasy, it’s war.
I came across a study a few months ago that mentioned that cannabis was being used by the Israeli’s to treat Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome in their military.
We are missing a lot of science with this prohibition on drugs.
Lee reminds me more and more of the a devout Christian Scientist, the Birthers and the folks who think the energy companies are hiding a magic way to use water as fuel.
Like the Creationists seems to have a persistent fantasy that the scientific community is persecuting members because they work on Lee’s favorite compounds.
Unfortunately, even if he knew what he was talking about, Lee’s fanaticism makes it hard to believe anything he says on this topic.
@7 Blue collar
There is really no inhibition for scinetists working on any compound that meets the criteria we have for not being harmful.
If you and Lee think this is such a good idea, start a charity to fund the research.