The Agony of Banning Ecstasy

[morningfog]

David Nutt, former adviser to the U.K. government, says the ban on drugs like ecstasy is hampering neuroscience.

How do the drug laws in most countries affect scientific research?
One of the things I find very disturbing about the current approach to drugs, which is simply prohibition without necessarily any full understanding of harms, is that we lose sight of the fact that these drugs may well give us insights into areas of science that need to be explored and may give us new opportunities for treatment.

In what way?
Almost all the drugs of interest in terms of understanding brain phenomena such as consciousness, perception, mood, and psychosis are illegal. And so there is almost no work done in this field.

How bad is the impact?
The effects these laws have had on research is greater than those caused by the U.S. government hindering stem cell research. No one has done an imaging neuroscience study of smoking cannabis. I can show you 150 papers telling you how the brain reacts to an angry face, but I can't show you a single paper that tells you what cannabis does.

http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/new_scientist/2012/06/how_criminalizing_drugs_is_hurting_neuroscience_research_.html

[brewens]

1. I always thought it would make a lot of sense to research "safe" recreational drugs.

I know at least some "authorities" on the subject believe anything that makes you feel better than well is potentially habit forming, and therefore dangerous.

I suppose just the R&D on something like that would be dicey. Then I suppose liability would be a huge issue. Anything fun enough to get people to use would also be potentially dangerous if they were to drive or anything like that, even if it wasn't addictive or doing any physical harm.

I still think it would be great to have something that felt like a combination of alcohol and mild speed to party on, that had no nasty after effect. It would be perfect if there was an antidote or it wore off after a few hours, so you could drive home after the party was over. I suppose anything good like that would have the "smores" effect like coke.

Imagine trying to get alcohol approved for sale now, if it was a new invention? Not a chance!

[alittlelark]

2. KnR for RESEARCH.

[Go Vols]

3. I can remember

it being sold in bars in South Texas in the early-mid '80's and was legal.

[Hassin Bin Sober]

4. I too remember that.

My friends were in school in Texas.

They told me about a bar, I think it was in Austin, that lost its liquor license and became an X bar. IIrc, it was always illegal to sell but not illegal to posses. The "designer drug" laws were passed right after that time.

My friends had a buddy that was a dealer. Flying around the country with brief cases full of money.

[longship]

5. If the wine is bad, throw it out

(a cinematic allusion)

[MagickMuffin]

6. MAPS is doing research in this field

Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS).

Rick Doblin, Ph.D., is the founder and executive director of the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS). He received his doctorate in Public Policy from Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, where he wrote his dissertation on the regulation of the medical uses of psychedelics and marijuana and his Master's thesis on a survey of oncologists about smoked marijuana vs. the oral THC pill in nausea control for cancer patients.

His undergraduate thesis at New College of Florida was a 25-year follow-up to the classic Good Friday Experiment, which evaluated the potential of psychedelic drugs to catalyze religious experiences. He also conducted a thirty-four year follow-up study to Timothy Leary’s Concord Prison Experiment.

Rick studied with Dr. Stanislav Grof and was among the first to be certified as a Holotropic Breathwork practitioner. His professional goal is to help develop legal contexts for the beneficial uses of psychedelics and marijuana, primarily as prescription medicines but also for personal growth for otherwise healthy people, and eventually to become a legally licensed psychedelic therapist. He founded MAPS in 1986 .....

http://www.maps.org/about/staff/

http://maps.org/

Just a few areas of their research

MAPS-Sponsored Clinical Trials: MDMA-Assisted Psychotherapy for PTSD

MDMA-Assisted Psychotherapy in the Treatment of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
Principal Investigator: Michael Mithoefer, M.D., with co-therapist Ann Mithoefer, B.S.N.
Location: Charleston, SC (USA)

MAPS’ "proof of principle" Phase 2 pilot study is the first-ever protocol evaluating MDMA’s therapeutic applications in clinical trials conducted under an FDA IND. Like all of MAPS’ psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy studies, the protocol is randomized, double-blind and placebo-controlled. All twenty-one subjects with treatment-resistant PTSD, as a result of sexual abuse, crime, or war, have completed the experimental treatment. The study was completed in September 2008 with remarkably promising results.

On July 19, 2010, the results of this study were published in the Journal of Psychopharmacology. Our paper was the journal's most downloaded article in 2010.

On July 27, 2010, data collection was completed for the long-term follow-up to this study. We collected Clinician-Administered PTSD Scale (CAPS) measurements from 17 of the 20 subjects who received treatment. All 20 subjects filled out a questionnaire developed internally to assess long-term effects. The average length of time between the final experimental treatment session and the follow-up data collection was three and a half years. Preliminary analysis of the results suggests the benefits of the treatment were maintained. The data is currently being analyzed and Dr. Mithoefer and colleagues will write a new paper for submission to a scientific journal in January 2012.

I remember when they were looking for volunteers for this program back in '07 or so. IIRC, they were interested in Iraq war vets suffering from PSTD.


MAPS is always looking for donations to help fund their programs. If you think this is a worthy cause then be all means send them some dough, I'm sure they would appreciate it.

[Ratty]

7. I tried it once

I remember spooging out over a crystal chandelier. Ooooh, the colors. The pretty colors ...