For over three decades, the federal government decided to block the use of MDMA in research because it is the active drug in ecstasy. Since the war on drugs, it has become very difficult for researchers to use MDMA in trials and funding was impossible to come by. Why?
A neuroscientist at the University of John Hopkins, George Ricaurte and colleagues, reported in a study in 1998, Positron emission tomographic evidence of toxic effect of MDMA ("Ecstasy") on brain serotonin neurons in human beings, that MDMA affected serotonin. While showing the images of brains with and without use of MDMA, they wanted to get young people to think about what drugs could do. This study to me isn't a good reason to block research because they didn't look at cognition or behavior, it only showed the images of the brain. So why would the government not look at the whole picture because it's an illegal drug and can only do damage to us. Yet research done before it was illegal had begun showing positive aspects of use in therapy.
In the 1970's before Nancy Reagan began the war on ecstasy in the 80's, it was known as the "penicillin for the soul" because it seemed to help patients open up and relax in therapy sessions. Though there were no clinical trials at the time to give the evidence they needed and it became illegal, stopping the use in therapy. It didn't hinder others from trying to use it in clinical trials because by 2000 the FDA approved the first small clinical trial for MDMA. Even though there has been clinical trials and they have shown that it has a positive outcome for patients with PTSD, the VA (Veteran Affairs) will not be involved in the use of MDMA because "Ecstasy is an illegal drug". If there is no funding from the government and veteran affairs won't have anything to do with it, then where does this leave research on MDMA and PTSD?
Then there is media that plays on fear and only shows the worst of any research, allowing the population to learn about something that they fully do not understand and only get the scary pieces of something that is far more complex then most could understand. Culture has deemed ecstasy dangerous, yet the crime rates have not been shown to go up in the use of ecstasy, hospitalizations did not increase, and still society thinks of this drug as only a party drug and what the media says about it.
I am for research with any drug made in a laboratory but with all the negativity behind ecstasy, what do you think researchers should do to receive support on researching and funding of MDMA and PTSD patients?
I think researchers in support of using MDMA clinically should prove that the lab-made MDMA is safer than street MDMA. I know that street MDMA causes dehydration, rapid heart rate and sweating. Do you know if this is the case with MDMA that is cultivated in the labs? Researchers should prove that their MDMA is safe for use on animals first and show a substantial difference in the street MDMA that has a bad reputation and invokes a negative image, and the MDMA that is made in the labs. If I were hesitant of the use of the drug (which I am, slightly) this evidence would persuade me that MDMA is safe (and possibly effective) for therapeutic use.
ReplyDeleteI think the researchers at this point could not really do much, their support and funding is completely decided by the government at this point. Personally, I think it is important to prohibit the public to use illegal drugs, but when it comes to scientific and academic studies, it should be more flexible. It is not right to prohibit the research of something while prevent the public use at the same time. If the government is not willing to fund it, the researchers should be allowed to go for private funding. The attitude of saying no to everything in this case is ignorance and immoral for me.
ReplyDeleteYou know, I am all for protecting society from the dangers of drugs but I simply can’t stand it when there is hypocrisy involved. The worst drug to me is alcohol – yet it is legal, glorified and marketed as the best thing ever. Pharmaceutical companies make a living off of prescription medications – many of which are known to cause death and tons of serious side effects. MDMA research got shot down as soon as it showed some promise and it was still in its preliminary research stages. It never got a chance to be truly researched for all its benefits and potential side effects. They absolutely need to allow research on this substance.
ReplyDeleteTo change the thoughts about ecstasy there needs to be better representation of the drugs. I agree with Amanda in that researchers should try to prove that lab made Ecstasy and MDMA is safer that what is available on the street so that they can use that to find answer for their research. I think more research in general needs to be done on recreational drugs because if not we will never get to the point of regulating drugs, ending the war on drugs and possibly coming to the conclusion of healthy drug use.
ReplyDeleteI think the researchers should prove that their lab-made drug is safe and will not have the same side effects as ecstasy. They should educate people about all the good that the drug will do for people suffering from PTSD. Focus on the positives and what it will mean to people who could be helped by it.
ReplyDeleteI think the reason people do not want to use this drug for clinical use because of what it is associated with. Now ecstasy and MDMA are associate with clubs and have a negative look because of the sexual nature of the drug. The VA says that they will not use MDMA because it is an illegal drug, but it is okay to use marijuana for medical purposes. PTSD is a very serious problem now and I think people should be open to any logical thing that will help our soldiers with this.
ReplyDeleteCrystal, as you may know by now I love your blog! As for your questions, I am all for research for the better good. If there is no funding from the government and veteran affairs won't have anything to do with it, then where does this leave research on MDMA and PTSD? I think that petitions should be started by soldiers that have been part that study back in 2000.
ReplyDeleteI think its unfortunate that our culture has deemed ecstasy as "dangerous", yet the crime rates have not been shown to go up in the use of ecstasy, hospitalizations did not increase, and still society thinks of this drug as only a party drug and what the media says about it. I think this is definitely a politics/culture issue; many people don't believe in taking medicine yet alone "drugs". I think that people should give it a chance, specifically to help soldiers that come back from war dealing with mental illnesses. I think that it is our duty to find resources and cures/therapy for those that affected with depression/PTSD.
I've really enjoyed reading your posts all about this topic because it's something that I knew a little about before, but now it's something that I know much more about and am much more interested in too. About this post though, I think that since the governments around the world decided that MDMA was bad and should be illegal so long ago, they don't want to fund more research into its use for therapy because then they'd have to sort of admit that they were wrong about it in the beginning. It would mean admitting that a lot of people who have been put in jail for crimes related to MDMA shouldn't be there and that all of the money and effort spent on enforcing the laws that make MDMA illegal would have been wasted. The governments of the world don't want to admit this, so they aren't really too supportive of anyone who wants to do research into positive uses of any drug.
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