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Ferre
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 Posted: Wed Feb 23, 2005 6:00 am Post subject: Ecstasy trials for combat stress |
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Ecstasy trials for combat stress
David Adam, science correspondent
Thursday February 17, 2005
The Guardian
American soldiers traumatised by fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan are to be offered the drug ecstasy to help free them of flashbacks and recurring nightmares.
The US food and drug administration has given the go-ahead for the soldiers to be included in an experiment to see if MDMA, the active ingredient in ecstasy, can treat post-traumatic stress disorder.
Scientists behind the trial in South Carolina think the feelings of emotional closeness reported by those taking the drug could help the soldiers talk about their experiences to therapists. Several victims of rape and sexual abuse with post-traumatic stress disorder, for whom existing treatments are ineffective, have been given MDMA since the research began last year.
Michael Mithoefer, the psychiatrist leading the trial, said: "It's looking very promising. It's too early to draw any conclusions but in these treatment-resistant people so far the results are encouraging.
"People are able to connect more deeply on an emotional level with the fact they are safe now."
He is about to advertise for war veterans who fought in the last five years to join the study.
According to the US national centre for post-traumatic stress disorder, up to 30% of combat veterans suffer from the condition at some point in their lives.
Known as shell shock during the first world war and combat fatigue in the second, the condition is characterised by intrusive memories, panic attacks and the avoidance of situations which might force sufferers to relive their wartime experiences.
Dr Mithoefer said the MDMA helped people discuss traumatic situations without triggering anxiety.
"It appears to act as a catalyst to help people move through whatever's been blocking their success in therapy."
The existing drug-assisted therapy sessions last up to eight hours, during music is played. The patients swallow a capsule containing a placebo or 125mg of MDMA - about the same or a little more than a typical ecstasy tablet.
Psychologists assess the patients before and after the trial to judge whether the drug has helped.
The study has provoked controversy, because significant doubts remain about the long-term risks of ecstasy.
Animal studies suggest that it lowers levels of the brain chemical serotonin, and some politicians and anti-drug campaigners have argued that research into possible medical benefits of illegal drugs presents a falsely reassuring message.
The South Carolina study marks a resurgence of interest in the use of controlled psychedelic and hallucinogenic drugs. Several studies in the US are planned or are under way to investigate whether MDMA, LSD and psilocybin, the active ingredient in magic mushrooms, can treat conditions ranging from obsessive compulsive disorder to anxiety in terminal cancer patients.
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Stokes
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| Posted: Wed Feb 23, 2005 6:33 am Post subject: |
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A good source for MDMA info:
http://www.maps.org/mdma/
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Fyrefly1
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Joined: 07 Sep 2004
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| Posted: Wed Feb 23, 2005 6:43 am Post subject: |
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Wow, so what they're saying is they want to give drugs to people that have been traumatized by the exposure to:
1. Radiation
2. Chemicals
3. Microwave bombardment
4. Being shelled, shot at, gassed
5. Been deprived of sleep
6. Given poor food
7. Brainwashed
After they get home, they can't:
1. Get medical help
2. Get jobs
3. Get respect
4. Get credit for their work
5. Get the truth about why they went...
Now the feds want to give them a 'drug'...to fix 'em.
Great...that's our government...you can tell they really care....about what we all have no idea!
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Last edited by Fyrefly1 on Wed Feb 23, 2005 9:49 am; edited 1 time in total |
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Lilli
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| Posted: Wed Feb 23, 2005 9:15 am Post subject: |
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Like I said if theyd a listened to us pot smoking hippies in the 60's and 70's this would be a better place today eco and humanitarian wise. A long and winding road but we still had and still do have the best ideas in alternative medicines.  When will they learn 
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Fyrefly1
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| Posted: Wed Feb 23, 2005 9:49 am Post subject: |
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Totally!
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Fyrefly1
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Mystic Power
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| Posted: Wed Feb 23, 2005 10:36 am Post subject: |
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I could see the use of Ecstacy as a pre-emptive measure...to eliminate the need for combat at all.
That would solve a LOT of problems before they ever started.
Bliss,
Ben
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Lilli
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| Posted: Wed Feb 23, 2005 10:45 am Post subject: |
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No Doubt 
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zero
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| Posted: Wed Feb 23, 2005 10:23 pm Post subject: |
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| Lilli wrote: |
| Like I said if theyd a listened to us pot smoking hippies in the 60's and 70's this would be a better place today eco and humanitarian wise. |
I hate to say this lilli, but the pot smoking hippies from the sixties and seventys are the ones in control right now. alot have grown older and forgotten what its like to be young.
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Ferre
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| Posted: Wed Feb 23, 2005 10:28 pm Post subject: |
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I feel some post-war-stress comming up, I guess it's time for my medication. 
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Echo
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| Posted: Wed Feb 23, 2005 10:46 pm Post subject: |
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What is ecstasy?
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Ferre
Cannabis Sacrament Minister.
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| Posted: Wed Feb 23, 2005 10:49 pm Post subject: |
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| Echo wrote: |
| What is ecstasy? |
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Lilli
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| Posted: Wed Feb 23, 2005 11:03 pm Post subject: |
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| zero wrote: |
| Lilli wrote: |
| Like I said if theyd a listened to us pot smoking hippies in the 60's and 70's this would be a better place today eco and humanitarian wise. |
I hate to say this lilli, but the pot smoking hippies from the sixties and seventys are the ones in control right now. alot have grown older and forgotten what its like to be young. |
Not the true ones
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I pass to you the torch that Christ once passed to me.
Others are still in the dark and need
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"I AM"
"Gathering the fragments so that
none are lost"
His Shepherdess
http://missouri.thcministry.org/ |
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