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DPMC Moderators: tryptakid
'Ecstasy' Use Studied to Ease Fear in Terminally Ill
- Thread starter E-llusion
- Start date
mickeymouse
Bluelighter
- Joined
- Oct 27, 2003
- Messages
- 178
If this ever becomes a drug that is appoved for manuf. I wonder if it would end up like oxycotin ? as in pure stuff thats not to hard to get. 
but good news that they are testing with it as mdma is an amazing drug with alot of uses Im sure.
but good news that they are testing with it as mdma is an amazing drug with alot of uses Im sure.
Invalid Usename
Bluelighter
- Joined
- Jun 20, 2004
- Messages
- 2,923
I am sometimes amazed at the short sightedness by some people, and the assumptions that result from it.
The intention for using MDMA is due to it's long term effect on the patient's psyche. Just as with the PTSD patients, there is no intention for regular use.
Opiates?!! You idiots! Show me one single case where someone took one single dose of an opiate, and was positively improved by that dose weeks later. The idea isn't to stay fucked up all of the time, it is to walk away from the experience with a more positive outlook.
And I know damn well, that somewhere after this post, that some moron will say something like, "WoW Man! Just, like, smoke a dubie or something..." 8(
The intention for using MDMA is due to it's long term effect on the patient's psyche. Just as with the PTSD patients, there is no intention for regular use.
Opiates?!! You idiots! Show me one single case where someone took one single dose of an opiate, and was positively improved by that dose weeks later. The idea isn't to stay fucked up all of the time, it is to walk away from the experience with a more positive outlook.
And I know damn well, that somewhere after this post, that some moron will say something like, "WoW Man! Just, like, smoke a dubie or something..." 8(
snakjaw
Bluelighter
- Joined
- Mar 7, 2004
- Messages
- 482
Terminally ill people, by definition, do not walk away from the experience.
I'm sure that some people, upon being informed of their impending death, would consider it an improvement to immediately commence staying fucked up all the time. I know I would.
I'm sure that some people, upon being informed of their impending death, would consider it an improvement to immediately commence staying fucked up all the time. I know I would.
Chuff
Bluelighter
One of the problems with terminally ill patients is that some of them never leave denial and pretend nothing is happening right up to the last minute. medically administered MDMA could really help these people achieve some decent closure and quality of life through their dying days.
This is a completely seperate issue from palative care or the use of drugs (painkillers) to escape reality, though that also has a place in a world where individuals can choose their quality of death (and life) unfortunately most countries do not believe we as members of the population are fit to make this kind of decision about our own lives and rely on their own wealth to soften this sort of eventuality in their own lives (which makes them complete shits!!!)
This is a completely seperate issue from palative care or the use of drugs (painkillers) to escape reality, though that also has a place in a world where individuals can choose their quality of death (and life) unfortunately most countries do not believe we as members of the population are fit to make this kind of decision about our own lives and rely on their own wealth to soften this sort of eventuality in their own lives (which makes them complete shits!!!)
Split over clinical use of ecstasy as US test begins
Split over clinical use of ecstasy as US test begins
By Jacqueline Maley
December 31, 2004
The party drug ecstasy could be used to alleviate depression and anxiety in terminally ill patients after US authorities approved a trial of the substance.
The test, the first involving a psychedelic substance since Timothy Leary's infamous LSD experiments at Harvard in the 1960s, was welcomed by Australian doctors.
The US Food and Drug Administration has authorised the use of controlled doses of ecstasy, or methylenedioxymetamphetamine, or MDMA, for cancer patients struggling to cope with their impending death.
"Ecstasy is extremely efficient in changing people's mood," said David Caldicott, emergency research fellow at the Royal Adelaide Hospital. "If it wasn't, it wouldn't be pursued so enthusiastically as a recreational drug."
It is not the first time ecstasy has been used in a clinical setting. It was originally patented as a weight-loss drug by the German pharmaceutical company Merck, in 1914. In the '60s it was used by a group of psychoanalysts as a way of relaxing people and "accelerating the therapeutic process", Dr Caldicott said.
More recently, MDMA has been investigated in the US for use in the treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder and other anxiety disorders. Initial results were good, Dr Caldicott said. "The precedent exists for its use medicinally."
The ecstasy trial is the latest in a string of experiments using illicit drugs in medical settings.
In the US, doctors are researching the effects of psilocybin - the active ingredient in "magic mushrooms" - on terminally ill patients and people with obsessive-compulsive disorder. Marijuana has been tested for the relief of nausea and pain.
Successful testing of these drugs could create dilemmas for governments with a prohibitionist approach to recreational drugs, Dr Caldicott said. "If you take a position that all drugs are evil, it becomes hard to turn around and say, 'We don't mind if you use it for some things,"' he said.
Buck Reed, the chief executive of first-aid provider UniMed, said the political environment surrounding party drugs was at odds with medical thought on the subject. "Doctors will always try to find a new use for something, but that doesn't mean politicians and law enforcement officers will like it," he said.
Gordian Fulde, the director of emergency medicine at St Vincent's Hospital, said all recreational drugs, including ecstasy, could have positive effects when taken in a clinical setting by patients who had been properly screened. "Ecstasy can make you feel euphoric, and the chemical basis of that is very sound," he said. "I think it's really good that official places are trying to find out if we can help patients with illegal drugs."
Dr Fulde said the therapeutic use of ecstasy was no different to the use of opiates in pain relief. It was also a cheap drug to manufacture, he said.
But the head of palliative care at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, Paul Glare, said he was sceptical about any "silver bullet" treatment.
"When people are suffering from terminal illnesses they need a multidisciplinary approach," he said. "To think that there would be some magic drug to solve everybody's problems is unrealistic."
Most palliative-care patients were elderly, Dr Glare said, and more prone to side effects from mood-changing drugs.
"Young people at a dance party might get a benefit from it, but these patients sometimes find euphoria unpleasant," he said.
About 50 per cent of terminally ill patients suffered from depression and anxiety, Dr Glare said. Most could be treated with "talking therapy"; a minority were prescribed antidepressant medication. "I don't think ecstasy is likely to be the answer," he said.
Link
Split over clinical use of ecstasy as US test begins
By Jacqueline Maley
December 31, 2004
The party drug ecstasy could be used to alleviate depression and anxiety in terminally ill patients after US authorities approved a trial of the substance.
The test, the first involving a psychedelic substance since Timothy Leary's infamous LSD experiments at Harvard in the 1960s, was welcomed by Australian doctors.
The US Food and Drug Administration has authorised the use of controlled doses of ecstasy, or methylenedioxymetamphetamine, or MDMA, for cancer patients struggling to cope with their impending death.
"Ecstasy is extremely efficient in changing people's mood," said David Caldicott, emergency research fellow at the Royal Adelaide Hospital. "If it wasn't, it wouldn't be pursued so enthusiastically as a recreational drug."
It is not the first time ecstasy has been used in a clinical setting. It was originally patented as a weight-loss drug by the German pharmaceutical company Merck, in 1914. In the '60s it was used by a group of psychoanalysts as a way of relaxing people and "accelerating the therapeutic process", Dr Caldicott said.
More recently, MDMA has been investigated in the US for use in the treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder and other anxiety disorders. Initial results were good, Dr Caldicott said. "The precedent exists for its use medicinally."
The ecstasy trial is the latest in a string of experiments using illicit drugs in medical settings.
In the US, doctors are researching the effects of psilocybin - the active ingredient in "magic mushrooms" - on terminally ill patients and people with obsessive-compulsive disorder. Marijuana has been tested for the relief of nausea and pain.
Successful testing of these drugs could create dilemmas for governments with a prohibitionist approach to recreational drugs, Dr Caldicott said. "If you take a position that all drugs are evil, it becomes hard to turn around and say, 'We don't mind if you use it for some things,"' he said.
Buck Reed, the chief executive of first-aid provider UniMed, said the political environment surrounding party drugs was at odds with medical thought on the subject. "Doctors will always try to find a new use for something, but that doesn't mean politicians and law enforcement officers will like it," he said.
Gordian Fulde, the director of emergency medicine at St Vincent's Hospital, said all recreational drugs, including ecstasy, could have positive effects when taken in a clinical setting by patients who had been properly screened. "Ecstasy can make you feel euphoric, and the chemical basis of that is very sound," he said. "I think it's really good that official places are trying to find out if we can help patients with illegal drugs."
Dr Fulde said the therapeutic use of ecstasy was no different to the use of opiates in pain relief. It was also a cheap drug to manufacture, he said.
But the head of palliative care at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, Paul Glare, said he was sceptical about any "silver bullet" treatment.
"When people are suffering from terminal illnesses they need a multidisciplinary approach," he said. "To think that there would be some magic drug to solve everybody's problems is unrealistic."
Most palliative-care patients were elderly, Dr Glare said, and more prone to side effects from mood-changing drugs.
"Young people at a dance party might get a benefit from it, but these patients sometimes find euphoria unpleasant," he said.
About 50 per cent of terminally ill patients suffered from depression and anxiety, Dr Glare said. Most could be treated with "talking therapy"; a minority were prescribed antidepressant medication. "I don't think ecstasy is likely to be the answer," he said.
Link
AznHangukBoi
Bluelighter
- Joined
- Apr 28, 2004
- Messages
- 662
Ok, I just read this article thoroughly.
First I'd like to say I think this is a giant leap in hopes that "Ecstasy" which SHOULD be referred as by MDMA, will one day become a legal drug used for medical purposes. Like the article said, the FDA has already allowed 2 researches on MDMA so they must be considering the possibility.
Hell, maybe the people head of the FDA are e-tards and are trying to legalize it. (I wish!) But even though I am all for the legalization because I would be sure as hell happy about it, I think it would be kindof wrong.
I mean, if people are going to die, basically what the FDA is saying is "we want people to die happily so let them take the drugs they need". If this stuff ever becomes readily available, more and more people will just rely on drugs to cope with their problems and never be able to get things done on their own.
The thing I'm worried about is what if the FDA DOES approve MDMA? Then they better make sure they keep a good eye on it and be careful with what they say, otherwise I'd think the media would go after them and MDMA would be banned again.
First I'd like to say I think this is a giant leap in hopes that "Ecstasy" which SHOULD be referred as by MDMA, will one day become a legal drug used for medical purposes. Like the article said, the FDA has already allowed 2 researches on MDMA so they must be considering the possibility.
Hell, maybe the people head of the FDA are e-tards and are trying to legalize it. (I wish!) But even though I am all for the legalization because I would be sure as hell happy about it, I think it would be kindof wrong.
I mean, if people are going to die, basically what the FDA is saying is "we want people to die happily so let them take the drugs they need". If this stuff ever becomes readily available, more and more people will just rely on drugs to cope with their problems and never be able to get things done on their own.
The thing I'm worried about is what if the FDA DOES approve MDMA? Then they better make sure they keep a good eye on it and be careful with what they say, otherwise I'd think the media would go after them and MDMA would be banned again.
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Eleusius26
Greenlighter
- Joined
- Aug 13, 2008
- Messages
- 1
Yeah, I think the MDMA study (which is in my neighborhood, whaddya know) should help patients to find closure with their friends and family. At least that's probably what they had in mind. I think the best use of the drug would be to have the friends and family there (but that might violate the closely guarded 'controls'); because whereas with the psilocybin study the patients would most likely go inward and have personal revelations, MDMA allows for interpersonal revelations and working out the whole "i love you, goodbye" part.
EDIT: also, "relying on drugs to cope with their problems" is pretty much standard MO in end-of-life / palliative-care circles as it is. The only difference here is that rather than segueing into death by means of a deeper and deeper morphine-induced coma, the patient has the opportunity to resolve some of the psychological barriers to death first. Hallucinogens force you to face your reality, rather than escape from it, and MDMA allows you to do so more gently than the others, because of its empathogenic qualities. So I'm really excited about the prospects of these studies moving forward.
EDIT: also, "relying on drugs to cope with their problems" is pretty much standard MO in end-of-life / palliative-care circles as it is. The only difference here is that rather than segueing into death by means of a deeper and deeper morphine-induced coma, the patient has the opportunity to resolve some of the psychological barriers to death first. Hallucinogens force you to face your reality, rather than escape from it, and MDMA allows you to do so more gently than the others, because of its empathogenic qualities. So I'm really excited about the prospects of these studies moving forward.
