Ecstasy has long-been associated with being a party drug that has led to many deaths due to dehydration or exhaustion.
However, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) believes the substance (MDMA) has the potential to help patients who suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The agency has green-lit a number of clinical trials that could help people out when administered at low and controlled doses.
Current PTSD treatments are mostly ineffective, with 30% to 40% of people who are treated experiencing no improvement with current methods. On average, those who suffer from this crippling illness struggle greatly for 17 years.
There have been some studies in which PTSD patients who have not improved following a number of treatments have in fact gotten better with controlled doses of ecstasy. In one case, three doses of MDMA lowered the severity of symptoms in 56% of patients out of 130 patients.
The group that ran this study is the Multidisciplinary Association of Psychedelic Studies, which was formed in 1985 to study the potential medicinal use of ecstasy. The organization has funded the Phase 3 research of the previous six studies, which were Phase 2 trials.
However, the FDA warns that the use of MDMA could be a slippery slope for people afflicted with PTSD as the substance is a feel-good drug that can be habit-forming, and it can cause brain damage to those who take it on a regular basis.
