Hurdles Keep Street Drugs Out of Medicine Chest
From Marijuana to Ecstasy, Scientists Fight to Study Illicit Drugs' Medical Properties
By RUSSELL GOLDMAN
Sept. 11, 2008
The patients at Dr. Michael Mithoefer's clinic in South Carolina all suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder. Some are the victims of rape and child sexual abuse, others -- veterans returning home from Iraq -- bear the psychic scars of war.
They have tried other therapies before but here, under the watchful eye of Mithoefer and his staff, they're trying something new -- MDMA, better known as ecstasy, a drug that if bought on a street corner would land these patients in jail.
The results of the Mithoefer study -- the first Food and Drug Administration-approved Phase 2 trial of MDMA to treat post-traumatic stress -- will not be known until it concludes later this month. But the treatment already shows promise, the doctor says.
"We have had some very dramatic results," Mithoefer said. "We have examples of people on disability for years who have now returned to work. The treatment has had a profound effect on a number of people whose symptoms are now much better. It hasn't been that way for everybody but, overall, this seems to be much more effective than what is currently out there."
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Showing posts with label MDMA. Show all posts
Showing posts with label MDMA. Show all posts
Thursday, September 11, 2008
Thursday, June 19, 2008
Australia tackles Ecstasy treatment for PTSD
Australia:
20, 2008 07:30pm
DEMOCRAT Sandra Kanck has accused Veterans' Affairs Minister Michael Atkinson of being "hysterical" and "cynical" in attacking her call for an investigation into the use of ecstasy for war veterans.
Ms Kanck yesterday questioned in parliament whether the government would consider a trial of MDMA - also known as ecstasy - for soldiers.
She said trials of MDMA on soldiers with post-traumatic stress syndrome in the U.S. and Israel had shown "excellent results."
But Mr Atkinson said the Government would "not be supporting Sandra Kanck's latest rave" and "Vietnam Veterans are not laboratory mice for a left-wing social experiment."
Ms Kanck said if Mr Atkinson "really cared about veterans," he would look into any proposal that might help them and their families.
"He is either too superstitious to consider the science and the evidence or he is playing cynical politics," she said.
"'Veterans, like other Australians, are already being prescribed powerful drugs like highly addictive morphine for pain relief and benzodiazepines for post traumatic stress disorder. Both are potentially addictive and dangerous drugs."
http://www.news.com.au/adelaidenow/story/0,22606,23896389-5006301,00.html
20, 2008 07:30pm
DEMOCRAT Sandra Kanck has accused Veterans' Affairs Minister Michael Atkinson of being "hysterical" and "cynical" in attacking her call for an investigation into the use of ecstasy for war veterans.
Ms Kanck yesterday questioned in parliament whether the government would consider a trial of MDMA - also known as ecstasy - for soldiers.
She said trials of MDMA on soldiers with post-traumatic stress syndrome in the U.S. and Israel had shown "excellent results."
But Mr Atkinson said the Government would "not be supporting Sandra Kanck's latest rave" and "Vietnam Veterans are not laboratory mice for a left-wing social experiment."
Ms Kanck said if Mr Atkinson "really cared about veterans," he would look into any proposal that might help them and their families.
"He is either too superstitious to consider the science and the evidence or he is playing cynical politics," she said.
"'Veterans, like other Australians, are already being prescribed powerful drugs like highly addictive morphine for pain relief and benzodiazepines for post traumatic stress disorder. Both are potentially addictive and dangerous drugs."
http://www.news.com.au/adelaidenow/story/0,22606,23896389-5006301,00.html
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