text_1: Ecstasy could be ‘breakthrough’ therapy for soldiers, others suffering from PTSD
text_2: Post-traumatic stress disorder is difficult to treat. Over the course of the past decade, evidence has been accumulating that the compound 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA), better known as ecstasy, may be more effective than current drugs such as Zoloft and Paxil. This story, jump-started by a recent decision by the Food and Drug Administration to classify MDMA as a “breakthrough drug,” which allows it to be evaluated and possibly approved more quickly, offers the reader a well-written account of the evolution of MDMA from a bad actor to a potentially efficacious one. An important element of the narrative is the dominant role of a nonprofit organization, the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies, which is dedicated to ending government bans on psychedelic substances and marijuana and has funded virtually all of the extant research on MDMA’s impact on PTSD sufferers. While the story is well-sourced, the text fails to explore this conflict of interest. It also may land too heavily on the side of “probable” rather than “possible.” The headline—Ecstasy could be “breakthrough” therapy for soldiers, others suffering from PTSD—is worded conditionally but clearly heralds the dawn of a new age. Given the long clinical trial road ahead, despite MDMA’s “breakthrough” status designation, much could change. The substance MDMA may meet all evidentiary challenges and emerge at some point in the future as an effective part of the treatment regimen for PTSD. But drumming up enthusiasm for the drug before it is officially available, as this story may do, runs the risk of sending PTSD sufferers to a less safe—and certainly illegal—form: Ecstasy.