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Interesting - damnit458 - 01-05-2005
FDA OKs Ecstasy Study in Cancer Patients
By LOLITA C. BALDOR, Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON - The illegal club drug Ecstasy 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 (news - web sites) 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, 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, a nonprofit group that plans to raise $250,000 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 (news - web sites) 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 (news - web sites)'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 ÔÇö 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."
I just found this kind of interesting, thought you guys might to. To be honest I think this is a great idea, and Im very curious to see how it turns out for those who are terminally ill.
- Mike - 01-05-2005
sorry, but i'd want to be totally coherent (as much as possible while killing the pain, but i doubt i'll ever make it to a point where i die in a bed or slowly) in my final hours.
- G.Irish - 01-05-2005
I wonder if they'll okay crack cocaine for those with terminal boost rot...
- damnit458 - 01-05-2005
MichaelJComputer Wrote:sorry, but i'd want to be totally coherent (as much as possible while killing the pain, but i doubt i'll ever make it to a point where i die in a bed or slowly) in my final hours.
You are totally coherent mike. Thats the point. Given your seratonin levels are a lot higher, hence the euphoric state, but you can function like normal.
"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. "
- damnit458 - 01-05-2005
G.Irish Wrote:I wonder if they'll okay crack cocaine for those with terminal boost rot...
I dont even think crack would help those with boost rot....Id say our best bet is just throwing them all on an island, and throwing a few TT Supras/300zx's on there and just let them kill themselves.
- ScottyB - 01-05-2005
damnit458 Wrote:G.Irish Wrote:I wonder if they'll okay crack cocaine for those with terminal boost rot...
I dont even think crack would help those with boost rot....Id say our best bet is just throwing them all on an island, and throwing a few TT Supras/300zx's on there and just let them kill themselves.
they'd probably just build a shrine for them and pray in the direction of japan :lol:
- Evan - 01-05-2005
dangerous, dangerous territory.
just like the "medicinal marijuana" claims for justification of legalized pot (despite repeated studies showing it has zero medicinal benefit) spiraling out of control, this too could spearhead a movement for legalization for harder drugs.
I really think this case falls under the "no shit sherlock" category.
-Drugs make you feel good, but do really really bad shit to your mind and body.
-If you are already about to die, then holy shit, they just make you feel good.
duh
- Ryan T - 01-05-2005
Ecstasy has been used to treat many things over the years though. Merck produced it in 1912 as a diet pill. Then they stopped. In the 1970s and 1980s it was basically legal and you could buy it in bars in Texas. Psychologists and other doctors also tested it as a treatment for post tramautic stress disorder. It was banned in 1983 or 1984 I believe. They have been allowing small medical trials of it since then, but this is the first big one.
- damnit458 - 01-05-2005
Ryan T Wrote:Ecstasy has been used to treat many things over the years though. Merck produced it in 1912 as a diet pill. Then they stopped. In the 1970s and 1980s it was basically legal and you could buy it in bars in Texas. Psychologists and other doctors also tested it as a treatment for post tramautic stress disorder. It was banned in 1983 or 1984 I believe. They have been allowing small medical trials of it since then, but this is the first big one.
ryans been doing his research
^^^I think this is a big step towards bringing it back for MEDICINAL PURPOSES, which I do support under very limited circumstances.
- G.Irish - 01-05-2005
damnit458 Wrote:ryans been doing his research
I think this is a big step towards bringing it back for MEDICINAL PURPOSES, which I do support under very limited circumstances.
So I guess I'll know what happened when I go to the club and see some people out there partying in their hospital gowns...
- damnit458 - 01-05-2005
G.Irish Wrote:damnit458 Wrote:ryans been doing his research
I think this is a big step towards bringing it back for MEDICINAL PURPOSES, which I do support under very limited circumstances.
So I guess I'll know what happened when I go to the club and see some people out there partying in their hospital gowns...
E will be in clubs regardless. Its the nature of the scene, the music, and the culture, and as evidenced by the time they found thousands of pills at the DC armory a few years ago, it is relatively easy to get. Banning any possible positive use of it medicinally, assuming the test results are positive, to try and limit illegal use of it is rediculous. Its like cutting off your nose to spite your face.
- G.Irish - 01-05-2005
damnit458 Wrote:E will be in clubs regardless. Its the nature of the scene, the music, and the culture, and as evidenced by the time they found thousands of pills at the DC armory a few years ago, it is relatively easy to get. Banning any possible positive use of it medicinally, assuming the test results are positive, to try and limit illegal use of it is rediculous. Its like cutting off your nose to spite your face.
As a country we are quite adept at cutting off our nose to spite our face.
- damnit458 - 01-05-2005
G.Irish Wrote:damnit458 Wrote:E will be in clubs regardless. Its the nature of the scene, the music, and the culture, and as evidenced by the time they found thousands of pills at the DC armory a few years ago, it is relatively easy to get. Banning any possible positive use of it medicinally, assuming the test results are positive, to try and limit illegal use of it is rediculous. Its like cutting off your nose to spite your face.
As a country we are quite adept at cutting off our nose to spite our face.
Unfortunately Im gonna hafta agree with you
- BLINGMW - 01-05-2005
I hope they start legalizing all kinds of drugs for medicinal uses and it trickles down from there. Nothing will happen in that direction while Bush is in office, oh well. But why have we chosen the drugs we've chosen to be legal, and these other ones aren't? We already sell, over the counter, all kinds of stuff that can kill you (including alcohol), and prescribe and inject drugs that are far more potent and I agree need control. Drugs used in hospitals to put you out for surgery are certianly more potent and dangerous than pot. Or E. Or most any drug you want to argue for. So what the hell is the point in making some completely illegal, leading to the jailing and KILLING of innocent people all over the world?
Or you can read Boortz' version:
"I don't do drugs, and hopefully you don't either. But it's time to recognize that our war on drugs isn't working. We have the research to show that the most cost-effective way to get people off drugs is through treatment. What is our goal here? Do we want to move people off debilitating drugs and toward a productive life, or do we want to spend billions of dollars trying to punish them? A non-violent drug offender does not belong in a cell. He belongs in a treatment program that will return him to his family and his workplace. The hideous amount of money we're spending on this absurd war on drugs belongs back in the pockets of the people who earned it. It's time to put our revulsion aside and deal intelligently with the drug problem."
- G.Irish - 01-05-2005
Amen.
- Mike - 01-05-2005
damnit458 Wrote:"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. "
but i'm sure it still f's you up! yeah dawwwwwg!
- Evan - 01-05-2005
It has been proven in study after study that there is absolutely no medical benefit for using illegal drugs as treatment.
- G.Irish - 01-05-2005
Evan Wrote:It has been proven in study after study that there is absolutely no medical benefit for using illegal drugs as treatment.
^^^ Blanket statement
Which illegal drugs? Which categories? Because codeine is technically an 'illegal drug' but its in plenty of medications (including cough syrup).
As for the medical marijuana, there is research on both sides of the fence on its use. For AIDS patients some have said it is effective in relieving some of the symptoms, which I say is certainly plausible, if only because it helps people feel relaxed. I'm certainly not going to march on Washington because some people that have a disease that WILL kill them are blazing up.
However on illegal drugs in general, as Chan said, how is it determined what should and shouldn't be illegal? Tobacco hasn't been shown to have any medical benefit that I know of but it certainly has killed plenty of people and its perfectly legal. Alcohol is responsible for thousands of traffic deaths a year, domestic abuse, and general crime but its legal too.
To me its an uneven application of a concept. No I don't think crack should be legal because of the extreme and often violent behavior that usually accompanies addiction. But for drugs that are relatively benign and have been shown to have some sort of medical benefit I can't see why some get the green light and others are contraband.
Looking at marijuana, the reason it was banned in the first place is that cotton farmers were afraid hemp products would put them out of business and part of the argument was that smoking marijuana made white women fraternize with negroes. Those reasons were hardly substantive, objective, or scientific.
Maybe ecstacy and marijuana and a few others truly have no medical benefit. Even then they are still not being judged with the same criteria as alcohol or tobacco. I can't help but to wonder if we'd be better of being more objective in our reasoning about illegal/recreational drugs.
- damnit458 - 01-05-2005
Evan Wrote:It has been proven in study after study that there is absolutely no medical benefit for using illegal drugs as treatment.
Somehow I cant exactly believe that. Show me the time where they did this exact same study. Not to mention 20 years ago when E was legal one of the reasons it was used on psych patients was because it allowed them to open up, and talk about things which they couldnt normally talk about before because of the emotional strain.
- damnit458 - 01-05-2005
G.Irish Wrote:^^^^ well put g. dextromethorphan (Commonly known as DXM) is also in many medications such as cough syrup, but is illegal by itselfEvan Wrote:It has been proven in study after study that there is absolutely no medical benefit for using illegal drugs as treatment.
^^^ Blanket statement
Which illegal drugs? Which categories? Because codeine is technically an 'illegal drug' but its in plenty of medications (including cough syrup)..
And I hate to take the obvious approach, but Ecstasy raises seratonin levels, making people happy. Period. Please tell me what the hell is wrong with that. People smoke to fufill cravings. They choose to take the risk of hurting their body. E doesnt even cause addiction, and bodily harm has not been proven ONE WAY OR ANOTHER. However assuming it does mess with your body, thats still the choice you take. Why outlaw that?
Edit: Finally, to end my rant
, statistically the largest reason people get hurt using E is because they get pills that are cut with something else, like coke, speed, or downers. However, this problem could be completely circumvented if MDMA were legal, in which case the gov't itself could regulate its production, making sure only Molly's (Pure MDMA tablets) were released.