Interesting article with some good background information about drugs that are close to or are related to the "street drugs" as we know them. There are definitely a number of researchers who want to delve into this further, but with bad raps and being illegal in their "street drug" format, there have been delays in seeing what is underneath the rock. FDA approved the one process for research, delayed by the DEA. FDA and DEA, can we work together? 
Also, is there money to be made, of course that is the next question as nobody wants to touch it if there's no money. If the R and D is denied here in the US, well I guess it's over to China and India for a possible educated guess. If there are properties of certain substances that can benefit healthcare, and in the one instance where the FDA gave immediate approval, perhaps some of this is worth looking at. Liquid cocaine has seemed to find itself useful in the ER room these days so perhaps other "street drugs" can be reformed if they have properties that contribute a positive in healthcare. BD
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.
Many illegal drugs such as MDMA and marijuana could have pharmacological futures. Others such morphine and cocaine were initially developed for medicinal purposes, and some can be found in your medicine cabinet masquerading under assumed names. But scientists looking to do new research say it is difficult to get funding or approval for studies on drugs with rap sheets.
"The DEA really slowed us down," Mithoefer said of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. "We submitted a 550-page application to the FDA and we were approved pretty quickly." Those delays, say the FDA and DEA, are necessary to ensuring the most dangerous drugs do not get into the wrong hands or are misused.
The popular and legal drug Adderall, which is given to children with attention-deficit disorder, is just one carbon molecule away from being the popular illegal drug methamphetamine.
Cocaine, a local anesthetic like Novocain, has the added benefit of restricting blood vessels to stop bleeding. It is regularly used in its liquid form in emergency rooms and in facial surgery.
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