MDMA As Medicine

Jacob Sullum | November 26, 2007

The cover story of yesterday's Washington Post Magazine takes a sympathetic look at MDMA's potential as a psychotherapeutic catalyst, focusing on research by Charleston, South Carolina, psychiatrist Michael Mithoefer. Mithoefer and his wife, a psychiatric nurse, are conducting an FDA-approved study of MDMA's effectiveness as a treatment for postraumatic stress disorder, and so far the results look promising. Similar studies have received government approval in Switzerland and Israel, and a Harvard study will evaluate MDMA's usefulness in relieving the anxiety of terminal cancer patients.

The MDMA research marks an amazing turnaround for a substance that was hastily banned by the DEA in the mid-1980s and that more recently has been tarred as a brain-damaging party drug. As the Post explains, MDMA's partial rehabilitation is largely due to the efforts of Rick Doblin and his Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies. MAPS has raised the money for the Mithoefer trial and other studies aimed at testing the medical or psychotherapeutic value of currently banned substances, and it has led the way through the bureaucratic maze that must be traversed to obtain legal approval for such research. Its ultimate goal is to make Schedule I substances such as MDMA, LSD, ibogaine, and marijuana available by prescription.

Although MAPS is dedicated to working within the system, the Post notes that Doblin's vision of pharmacological freedom, which the researchers with whom he collaborates do not necessarily share, goes beyond moving a few drugs from one schedule to another:

Doblin is frank about his passionate desire to defuse the drug war, which he believes is counterproductive and an assault on personal liberties. He doesn't think the government should be able to tell Americans what to put in their bodies, and he has even volunteered in interviews that he sometimes finds it useful to consider important personal and strategic issues with psychedelic assistance. He acknowledges that his outspokenness caused a schism in the original coalition that fought against relegating MDMA to Schedule I—many of his colleagues wanted to stress their support for the criminalization of any nonprescription use. He has seen it jeopardize one of his most prized accomplishments—MAPS funding of the Harvard MDMA-cancer study almost killed it. Doblin had to withdraw MAPS as a sponsor and persuade a donor to give the money directly to Harvard instead. He must realize he is handing his critics a potent argument, i.e.: Don't be fooled by the careful science and limited goals of the current studies; the real goal is unrestricted use of psychedelic drugs.

So, why does he do it? "Sometimes, it's just a relief to say, 'This is what I believe,'" Doblin says.

Comments

|11.26.07 @ 12:26PM|#

I've been taking my medicine every day, and yet I don't feel any healthier.

|11.26.07 @ 12:26PM|#

In fact, my tooth just fell out.

Episiarch|11.26.07 @ 12:41PM|#

I was involved with MDMA experiments with primates back in the mid-90's. However, the research was mostly ass-kissing to the NIH to show detrimental effects of MDMA on concentration and psychology. Guess what? Not much effect.

|11.26.07 @ 12:59PM|#

I'm too old to try it for recreational purposes. Oh well, I still have my fond memories of other Schedule I drug experiences.

you know who|11.26.07 @ 1:20PM|#

I've been taking my medicine every day, and yet I don't feel any healthier.

The ones you take every day aren't supposed to make you healthier. They are designed to addict you and drain your wallet. Also, they tend to give you a knew set of symptoms so you have to take another drug on top of it. In December of last year it came out that Zyprexa, which is the most prescribed antipsychotic in the country, gives you diabetes. It's Eli Lily's top selling drug, and their number 2 money maker is a diabetes drug.

There is also a new pharmy that they claim "erases" your traumatic memories, and they are marketing it for PTSD. Use your imagination. Would you want to take that drug?

This is the key information when deailing with MDMA mis-information:

A year later, Science printed a retraction: The vials containing the drugs that so damaged the monkeys' brains had been mislabeled. It wasn't MDMA after all, but methamphetamine. A new review board quickly signed on to support Mithoefer's study, but the irony of the wasted year wasn't lost on him: The misidentified drug that had been deemed too toxic to evaluate for medical use, the drug that was far more toxic than MDMA, was already a prescription drug.

Watch this documentary that aired on ABC in the 90's:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XjvNCijeYlI

Ricardi, the John's Hopkins researcher who was paid off by NIDA, CLAIMED that this was due to a labeling error, but his supplier denied that they mislabeled the drugs. He is a paid liar.

Dave Woycechowsky|11.26.07 @ 1:24PM|#

The ones you take every day aren't supposed to make you healthier. They are designed to addict you and drain your wallet. Also, they tend to give you a knew set of symptoms so you have to take another drug on top of it. In December of last year it came out that Zyprexa, which is the most prescribed antipsychotic in the country, gives you diabetes. It's Eli Lily's top selling drug, and their number 2 money maker is a diabetes drug.

That wasn't me, btw.

|11.26.07 @ 1:27PM|#

The only things that studies have been able to prove is that MDMA use reduces seratonin levels by 5% for 2-3 months after use. The main problem researchers face is that MDMA/Ecstasy users hardly ever use JUST ecstasy.

For anyone interested in the topic check out the Peter Jennings documentary 'Ecstasy Rising' on google video.

R C Dean|11.26.07 @ 1:27PM|#

In December of last year it came out that Zyprexa, which is the most prescribed antipsychotic in the country, gives you diabetes. It's Eli Lily's top selling drug, and their number 2 money maker is a diabetes drug.

Now that's what I call a business plan. I'm off to Schwab move some investments around . . .

you know who|11.26.07 @ 1:33PM|#

I forgot to mention that Ron Bailey is a shill for the pharmaceutical industry. The last time the subject came up he made a cutesy disclosure of his conflict of interest. You would think that 3 billion dollars in Medicare money going to make people more sick would be a hot topic in Reason.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/17/business/17drug.html

But hey, we're all libertarians here so it doesn't matter what kind of fucked up poison people sell.

BakedPenguin|11.26.07 @ 1:34PM|#

I recall a few studies of LSD that showed potential for its use helping alcohol addicts quit or limit their use.

|11.26.07 @ 1:38PM|#

I had thought that MDMA was a modern invention synthesized to circumvent drug laws. The sources on the Wikipedia, prove me wrong.

|11.26.07 @ 1:49PM|#

I was probably thinking of 3-methylfentanyl.

Tacos mmm...|11.26.07 @ 1:53PM|#

For anyone interested in the topic check out the Peter Jennings documentary 'Ecstasy Rising' on google video.

By the time Peter Jenkins gets wind of anything, you can be pretty certain that any trend is already long gone. These days, all the cool kids are doing jenkem.

you know who|11.26.07 @ 2:15PM|#

By the time Peter Jenkins gets wind of anything, you can be pretty certain that any trend is already long gone.

That may be true, but this trend isn't going anywhere. If you want real information on MDMA go to the MAPS website. It's just a wonder that ABC aired such a positive documentary. Of course there is a lot of bullshit mixed in, but its pretty easy to tell that it's bullshit.

And WTF is jenkem? Oh...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jenkem
Jenkem (also jekem) is a narcotic recreational drug composed of noxious gas formed from fermented human sewage.

Words fail.

|11.26.07 @ 2:16PM|#

Look it's simple, if anyone anywhere takes it because they like it, nobody can be allowed to take it ever. IFTC

Tym|11.26.07 @ 2:39PM|#

Look it's simple, if anyone anywhere takes it because they like it, nobody can be allowed to take it ever.

Unless it is alcohol, nicotine or caffeine.

|11.26.07 @ 3:24PM|#

Look it's simple, if anyone anywhere takes it because they like it, nobody can be allowed to take it ever.

Unless it is alcohol, nicotine or caffeine.

Or patented by a pharmaceutical corporation and prescribed by medical professionals.

Which leads to this question. Is MDMA patented by one of the major drug companies? If so, Schedule II chances go way up.

|11.26.07 @ 3:34PM|#

I had a friend whose mother took MDMA during the early 80's for marriage counseling. It didn't really solve the problems long-term (they eventually divorced), but it worked pretty well for about 2-4 hours...

|11.26.07 @ 3:36PM|#

Crap, sorry...

Anyway, point being is that MDMA used to be prescribed for such situations.

Then it because the raver drug, got featured of 20/20 or something, and suddenly was the scourge of the earth...

|11.26.07 @ 3:37PM|#

Duh-O!

Then it became...

That's it, I quit!

|11.26.07 @ 3:55PM|#

Taktix®, Thanx for the info. As I've gotten older I don't really keep up with the latest poisons the kids are taking.

|11.26.07 @ 4:17PM|#

Dave W.-

Your post above made me LOL. Thank you. :-)

|11.26.07 @ 4:55PM|#

jenkem

As Bill Hicks observed, Ted Turner is literally making this shit up.

For a magazine called Reason, you're awfully credulous and trusting of such peerless sources as World of Wonder. I expect folks like James St. James to swallow anything, but anyone with a functioning brain cell should be above regurgitating the latest agitprop from the local polizei.

Ol\' Timer|11.26.07 @ 7:15PM|#

As I've gotten older I don't really keep up with the latest poisons the kids are taking.

JsubD,

Ecstasy is little or no different in effect than plain ol' MDA which was widely available in the late 70s.

|11.26.07 @ 7:40PM|#

Ecstasy is little or no different in effect than plain ol' MDA which was widely available in the late 70s.

Thanx, Ol' Timer. Not really a big deal then.