“EX” STRESS RELIEF FOR G.I.S

First we found out that the Army was plan­ning to ply G.I.s with the raver favorite Ketamine, or “Special K,” as a mor­phine sub­sti­tute. Now comes word that “American sol­diers trau­ma­tized by fight­ing in Iraq and Afghanistan are to be offered the drug ecstasy to help free them of flash­backs and recur­ring night­mares,” the Guardian reports.

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…
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. (via Boing Boing)

February 21st, 2005 | Bizarro | Comments Off Both comments and pings are currently closed.