America Approves Ecstasy For Medical Trials

America's Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) this week gave their approval to a South Carolina psychiatrist to begin testing MDMA (ecstasy) as a therapeutic tool, on a group of 20 women suffering post-traumatic disorders after being attacked.

Dr Michael Mithoefer told CNN he hopes his research could prove of benefit to hundreds of thousands of Americans suffering from the condition, adding 'we owe it to them. It would be irresponsible for the medical community not to investigate something like this."

Ironically, ecstasy was first popularised by psychiatrists and psychotherapists testing MDMA on traumatised patients in the 70s, though all research was stopped when the DEA persuaded the US Government to ban the drug. Its rehabilitation as a possible medicine comes as controversy continues to surround government sponsored research on the drug, over the discrediting of the man most responsible for demonising the drug, Professor George Ricaurte.

This week medical journal the Chronicle published a detailed analysis of the fall-out surrounding Ricaurte's admission that he'd tested the wrong drug in his most recent study, an error the journal suggested was 'an almost unbelievable mistake'.

"Until recently, Ecstasy had been very good to George A. Ricaurte," said Chronicle's Thomas Bartlett.

"He has received nearly $10-million in federal funds in the last seven years, and some of his research results have become key building blocks in the government's much-ballyhooed "war on drugs."

"The fallout from the mistake has brought not only Dr. Ricaurte's reputation into question, but also that of the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) which has supported his research for years."

NIDA's new chief Nora D Volkow stressed in the feature that ecstasy has not been proved harmless though conceded, 'perhaps it's because some people are exaggerating the adverse effects of drugs.;

'We've got megamillions going into the demonization of Ecstasy and all we need is $5-million to do the clinical trials that will be necessary to provide the data to decide if this drug will be a helpful medicine to many, many people . . . ", former George Ricaurte associate Rick Doblin...more
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