FDA OKs Ecstasy

[V. Barbarino]

FDA OKs Ecstasy Study for Cancer

Monday, December 27, 2004

Study Touts Less-Severe Cancer Surgery

WASHINGTON — The illegal club drug Ecstasy (search) can trigger euphoria among the dance club set, but can it ease the debilitating anxiety that cancer patients feel as they face their final days?

The Food and Drug Administration (search) has approved a pilot study looking at whether the recreational hallucinogen can help terminally ill patients lessen their fears, quell thoughts of suicide and make it easier for them to deal with loved ones.

"End of life issues are very important and are getting more and more attention, and yet there are very few options for patients who are facing death," Dr. John Halpern (search), the Harvard research psychiatrist in charge of the study, said Monday.

The small, four-month study is expected to begin early next spring. It will test the drug's effects on 12 cancer patients from the Lahey Clinic Medical Center in the Boston area. The research is being sponsored by the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (search), a nonprofit group that plans to raise $250,000 (184,816 euro) to fund it.

MAPS, on its web site, touted the study's approval, saying "the longest day of winter has passed, and maybe so has the decades-long era of resistance to psychedelic research."

The FDA would not comment, but this will be the second FDA-approved study using Ecstasy this year. South Carolina researchers are studying the effects of Ecstasy on 20 patients suffering from post traumatic stress disorder.

Ecstasy, known scientifically as MDMA for methylenedioxymethamphetamine, is a chemical cousin of methamphetamine and typically induces feelings of euphoria, increased energy and sexual arousal. But it also suppresses appetite, thirst and the need to sleep, and in high doses can sharply increase body temperature, leading to kidney and heart failure, and death.

It peaked in 2001 as a trendy recreational drug used by youth at gatherings called "raves" and dance clubs.

Halpern, who has done other research on the effects of hallucinogenic drugs, said that some, when used properly, can have medical benefits. He said that unlike LSD, Ecstasy is "ego-friendly," and unlike some pain medications it does not oversedate people and make them foggy and unsteady.

Instead, he said, it can reduce stress and increase empathy. There are anecdotal reports, he said, of people dying of cancer who take Ecstasy and they are able to talk to their family and friends about death and other subjects they couldn't broach before.

"I'm hoping that we can find something that can be of use for people in their remaining days of life," he said. If there are no significant problems, he said broader studies would follow this one.

In addition to FDA approval, the study has also received review board authorization from the Lahey Clinic and Harvard Medical School's psychiatric facility, McLean Hospital. Halpern is awaiting a license from the federal Drug Enforcement Administration.

It's been more than 40 years since Harvard has been the site of psychedelic drug research — including the infamous LSD studies of Timothy Leary in 1963 and the Good Friday Experiment in 1965, done by Leary's student Walter Pahnke, studying the effects of psilocybin mushrooms on religious people.

But "this is not about trying to create some sensationalistic storm," Halpern said. "This is about trying to help these patients in a meaningful way

[Guest pod]

Some dork is gonna get busted in a club and claim to be terminal...

[Guest]

atleast i know "IM" never getting that dreadfull desease ;D

[Guest pod]

It isn't to prevent cancer, it is to be used to lessen the pain during the final days of the disease.

[Guest]

It isn't to prevent cancer, it is to be used to lessen the pain during the final days of the disease.

well !! as long as i dont feel any pain id die from anything ;D

[Guest]

It isn't to prevent cancer, it is to be used to lessen the pain during the final days of the disease.

well !! as long as i dont feel any pain id die from anything ;D

LOLLOLOL

[Guest james stratus]

A "decades-long era of resistance to psychedelic research".... well the government was all into it in the 50's and 60's with acid AND MDMA

[Guest JMT]

The Food and Drug Administration (search) has approved a pilot study looking at whether the recreational hallucinogen can help terminally ill patients lessen their fears, quell thoughts of suicide and make it easier for them to deal with loved ones....

lol, nothing like saying your final goodbyes while your cracked out loved one chews his/her face off.

[Guest miniberries]

The Food and Drug Administration (search) has approved a pilot study looking at whether the recreational hallucinogen can help terminally ill patients lessen their fears, quell thoughts of suicide and make it easier for them to deal with loved ones....

lol, nothing like saying your final goodbyes while your cracked out loved one chews his/her face off.

LOL! that was classic! 8)

[Guest]

Drugs Kill

[Guest cutchemist]

Drugs Kill

espically the legal ones

[ryan2772]

Drugs Kill

espically the legal ones

excellent point ;D

[Guest miniberries]

Drugs Kill

espically the legal ones

AMEN to that!

[Guest slamminshaun]

News Bulletin: Everything Kills You

[Guest rollyp66]

News Bulletin: Everything Kills You

This is true too

[Guest mursa]

lol, nothing like saying your final goodbyes while your cracked out loved one chews his/her face off.

Nice stereotype by the way . :

[Guest mursa]

Drugs Kill

being Naive/Ignorant too .

[Guest JMT]

lol, nothing like saying your final goodbyes while your cracked out loved one chews his/her face off.

Nice stereotype by the way . :

who are you kidding? its more like a fact. depending on the dose, in a hospital room a person is going to look a bit mangled.

[Guest]

Drugs Kill

espically the legal ones

excellent point ;D

I have gone to see help on my red bull matter ;D

[Guest slamminshaun]

lol, nothing like saying your final goodbyes while your cracked out loved one chews his/her face off.

Nice stereotype by the way . :

who are you kidding? its more like a fact. depending on the dose, in a hospital room a person is going to look a bit mangled.

I have to agree, and I speak from experience. Too much is just too much.

[Guest mursa]

lol' date=' nothing like saying your final goodbyes while your cracked out loved one chews his/her face off.

Nice stereotype by the way . :

who are you kidding? its more like a fact. depending on the dose, in a hospital room a person is going to look a bit mangled.

I have to agree, and I speak from experience. Too much is just too much.

Exactly...but you actually think they are going to administer a heavy dose so that person becomes mangled ?

cmon now , common sense .

[Guest]

lol, nothing like saying your final goodbyes while your cracked out loved one chews his/her face off.

Nice stereotype by the way . :

who are you kidding? its more like a fact. depending on the dose, in a hospital room a person is going to look a bit mangled.

I have to agree, and I speak from experience. Too much is just too much.

Exactly...but you actually think they are going to administer a heavy dose so that person becomes mangled ?

cmon now , common sense .

agreed !

[Guest XxGrOoVeERICxX]

This is great and all, but it will never be legal....

Government wants to control 100% everything you say, do, take, etc. and when it comes to "x" there would be people out there who will still be able to manufacture it on their own, like it's done now, so governement has no real benefit in making it legal. Perfect example: marijuana. I do believe it has some positive effects for terminally ill patients, but the government will never legallize it because anyone can grow it on their own. So no taxes, no profit, no nothing for government = illegal

But it's ok to take the drugs they do profit from....

[Guest]

This is great and all, but it will never be legal....

Government wants to control 100% everything you say, do, take, etc. and when it comes to "x" there would be people out there who will still be able to manufacture it on their own, like it's done now, so governement has no real benefit in making it legal. Perfect example: marijuana. I do believe it has some positive effects for terminally ill patients, but the government will never legallize it because anyone can grow it on their own. So no taxes, no profit, no nothing for government = illegal

But it's ok to take the drugs they do profit from....

for example alcohol !! i cant drive for shit drunk .. tho i can drive awsome when stoned .. yet the wrong one is banned ??? wtf maite ?? fire zee missles !!

[Guest XxGrOoVeERICxX]

This is great and all, but it will never be legal....

Government wants to control 100% everything you say, do, take, etc. and when it comes to "x" there would be people out there who will still be able to manufacture it on their own, like it's done now, so governement has no real benefit in making it legal. Perfect example: marijuana. I do believe it has some positive effects for terminally ill patients, but the government will never legallize it because anyone can grow it on their own. So no taxes, no profit, no nothing for government = illegal

But it's ok to take the drugs they do profit from....

for example alcohol !! i cant drive for shit drunk .. tho i can drive awsome when stoned .. yet the wrong one is banned ??? wtf maite ?? fire zee missles !!

Alcohol is another great example! How many people you know go make their own alcohol in their back yard?

Cigarettes is another....the list goes on and on....