FDA and DEA Approve Study to Use Ecstasy for PTSD–Vet Participants Get to Trip Out for 3 Hours and Revisit Traumatic Experiences–MDMA

The group has actually been conducting the FDA approved testing since 2004. Other countries have studies doing about the same thing. So far since 2004, 21 patients have been treated in the study. The funding for the study comes from the Multidisciplinary Association of Psychedelic Studies.

There will be a screening process for applicants to go through. The group is also working to get the Department of Defense involved in the study as well. BD

A pair of psychiatric experts think they’ve got the answer to the soaring number of troops coming back from war with PTSD: have them undergo intensive psychotherapy — while they’re rolling on ecstasy.

Dr. Michael Mithoefer and Anne Mithoefer, a psychiatric nurse, are the South Carolina pair who’ve been spearheading research into ecstasy, known clinically as MDMA, since 2000. After one successful study on 21 PTSD patients between 2004 and 2008, they’ve now received the final okay from FDA and DEA officials to start a study entirely devoted to former military service members.

“My sense is that, especially after we published the results of the first study, these institutions are more open to the idea,” Dr. Michael Mithoefer tells Danger Room. “Obviously, this is still new and experimental, and it can take time to get through to big institutions.”