Study looks at the possible therapeutic value of ecstasy

The Multidisciplinary Association of Psychedelic Studies, a nonprofit organization, will be conducting a study on the effects of ecstasy. The approval of the study on methylenedioxymethylamphetamine (MDMA), also known as ecstasy, was given by the Food and Drug Administration for the treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder.

In 1913, Germany introduced MDMA as an appetite suppressant, later in the 1970s, MDMA was used for psychotherapy.

The project will use MDMA for therapeutic purposes, but there are also negative reports on MDMA.

MDMA stimulates the emotions more than cognition, and according to the MAPS Web site, the thoughts and feelings experienced under the influence of MDMA can be readily recalled after the drug wears off. MDMA allows patients who suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder to deal with emotions that they normally cannot handle. MDMA works faster than other pharmaceutical drugs used for the same purpose.

The side effects of a powerful drug are always risks involved with the use of it. Dr. Rick Doblin, president of MAPS, is confident that the therapy session will take advantage of the drug in a controlled situation.

"Antidepressants like Zoloft are approved for PTSD, but you have to take it every day for months and months. But with MDMA we're saying that you only have to take it a few times and it helps psychotherapy," said Dr. Doblin. He claims that a lot of time will focus on preparation work for the session with a therapist.

Patients will lie down for about four or five hours, and during that time they may feel inclined to speak with a therapist. Nonetheless, most of the conversation takes place after the session to help the patients determine what to do with what they have learned.

"The classic thing is that you lie down on a bed, your eyes are often closed. Sometimes people even use eyeshades because you are going to have an inner experience. The idea is that when you use it in therapy it's not really used for a relationship so much as it is for you to work through your own feelings," Doblin said.

People with the post-traumatic stress disorder often re-live the incident after taking MDMA. Most patients feel anything but ecstatic when they revisit the shocking memories, they often shake and cry.

"A lot of times when you have this idea of ecstasy you think you give it to somebody and all of the sudden they just feel happy. MDMA sort of helps to release the emotions. Once you cry after something, you can move forward. You have to feel the sadness. A lot of people can't do that when the trauma is so great they just get frozen in it," Doblin said.

Doblin also mentioned that studies of MDMA indicate that the drug help patients cope with terminal illnesses and even confront death.

Other sources are skeptical of the seemingly effective and positive effects of MDMA.

The Drug Enforcement Administration Web site states that MDMA acts as both a stimulant and a hallucinogenic drug, which can produce hypothermia, memory loss, cognitive impairment and long-term neurochemical and brain cell damage.

Nicholas Volotato, clinical pharmacy specialist in neuropsychiatry and professor in psychiatry at Ohio State University, pointed out that tests done with serotonin tracers have shown a dampening of the serotonin system of people who historically used ecstasy.

Serotonin signals the body when it needs nutrients and rest.

"The preliminary data was that the effects may be irreversible. While it may be an acute positive effect, when the detriment of the compound is long-term, I think it's very concerning to me," Vololato said.

Stacey Frohnapfel, chief of communications and training at the Ohio Department of Alcohol and Drug Addiction Services, also confirmed that studies have shown MDMA impairs neurons and the brain's capability to release serotonin and in extreme cases, result in death.

"It regulates those life functions that the body needs in order to survive. And if you keep using MDMA, your brain eventually loses that ability to regulate those things," Frohnapfel said.

Work done at the Johns Hopkins University has shown deterioration of serotonin tracks from the brains of people who use MDMA.

Timothy Benedict, assistant executive director of the Ohio Board of Pharmacy, cautioned that MDMA has a potential for abuse and should not have a wide use.

"Understand that any drug that has central nervous system activity is probably subject to some form of abuse. So there are a lot of drugs on the market that are properly prescribed that are abused every day. That's what we spend most of our time trying to combat," said Benedict.

"The department's caution would be that it be a licensed physician who is responsible for any kind of schedule for a drug administration," Frohnapfel said.

"The question you need to ask is the risk/benefit analysis. There are some risks. People who think there aren't any risks are mistaken. And the benefits are not that clear," Vololato said.

He said that MDMA is a neurotoxin, which is not worth the risk. He cautions against generalizations about MDMA that could mislead people into taking certain scenarios involving illicit uses of MDMA and applying them to all cases.

Doblin believes that risks found with people who use it illegally are much larger than people who take it as therapy.

"What happens when people who take (MDMA) at raves is different than what happens when people take it in the therapy setting because the research done on animals has shown that temperature is a really important factor for any kind of serotonin changes in the brain. Everything we have learned from people who take it all night and dance and get really hot is only of marginal relevance to people who take it lying down. I think we have a dishonest educational system here fueled by intentional exaggeration and misinformation in order to make a point," Doblin said.

The study faces the challenge of overcoming non-therapeutic facts of MDMA and open people's minds to the new treatment.