Deep Politics Forum

The Agony and the Ecstasy: The Quiet Mission to Fight PTSD With Psychedelic Drugs

Posted by Brian_Anderson on Tuesday, Aug 16, 2011

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Photo illustration by: Kamran Samimi

Michael and Annie Mithoefer's patients come to their clinic in Charleston, South Carolina, as a last resort on a grueling tour of duty. Unable to shake what they've experienced, witnessed or carried out, on orders or otherwise, in the suburbs of Baghdad or the valleys of Helmand Province, they're wracked by the relentless mental sirens of post-traumatic stress. They've sought out the husband-wife team because no other therapy has made it all stop. They're up for anything.

The Mithoefer's are upfront: should trauma not surface at the patient's behest, well, then at a certain point they'll make it surface. The process can be painful, and spans hours, so patients arrive mid-morning. After final "set" preparations each subject is handed one small, curious capsule. It's 10AM and they're ingesting ecstasy.

The daylong sessions that follow are part of a small, open-label Phase II study of MDMA-assisted psychotherapy for post-traumatic stress disorder in war veterans. The experiment examines how 3,4-Methylenedioxymethamphetamine, better known as ecstasy, may alleviate the crippling, long-term horrors of "chronic, treatment-resistant, combat-related PTSD" when administered at low doses and in controlled settings.

Read more at link below:

http://motherboard.tv/2011/8/16/the-agon...elic-drugs

Ecstasy has been having a stonkiing day in the medical journals:

Quote:Ecstasy 'could be used in cancer treatment'

Ecstasy could be used to cure cancer after scientists modified the drug to increase its tumour-killing properties

By Nick Collins, Science Correspondent6:40AM BST 19 Aug 2011

Researchers from Birmingham University claimed the designer drug, also known as MDMA, could be used to treat leukaemia, lymphoma and myeloma after making it 100 times more effective at suppressing growth.

Ecstasy was already known to be effective against more than half of white blood cell cancers, but previously the large dose required to treat a tumour would also have killed the patient.

In a study published in the Investigational New Drugs journal, the scientists said the new drug could be used by doctors to treat cancer if it can be produced in a safe form.

Lead author Professor John Gordon said: "This is an exciting next step towards using a modified form of MDMA to help people suffering from blood cancer.

"While we would not wish to give people false hope, the results of this research hold the potential for improvement in treatments in years to come."

Dr Julie Sharp of Cancer Research UK said: "As MDMA is a dangerous drug, the researchers need also to find out if they can create safe versions to treat people with the disease.

"Although survival rates for leukaemia have improved over the past thirty years new approaches to treatment are still needed to tackle this disease even more effectively."

Jan Klimkowski Wrote:Ecstasy has been having a stonkiing day in the medical journals:

Quote:[B][SIZE="3"]

Dr Julie Sharp of Cancer Research UK said: "As MDMA is a dangerous drug, the researchers need also to find out if they can create safe versions to treat people with the disease.

It's not dangerous at all. Do they mean they hope to produce a version that kills cancer but doesn't have the 'side effect' of the rather wonderful user-experieince?

Malcolm Pryce Wrote:

Jan Klimkowski Wrote:Ecstasy has been having a stonkiing day in the medical journals:

Quote:[B][SIZE="3"]

Dr Julie Sharp of Cancer Research UK said: "As MDMA is a dangerous drug, the researchers need also to find out if they can create safe versions to treat people with the disease.

It's not dangerous at all. Do they mean they hope to produce a version that kills cancer but doesn't have the 'side effect' of the rather wonderful user-experieince?

It's just MSM trying to "balance" their piece with two different "viewpoints".