There’s a Cure for PTSD! Oh, Nevermind, It’s Illegal
When terminal cancer patients would like to use marijuana to ease the nausea from chemo-therapy, the government tells them “Tough shit! Suck it up!”
And now the newest group of patients to get shat on by the government: Soldiers suffering from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Ecstasy (MDMA) has been having promising results with PTSD sufferers who weren’t responding to any other treatment.
Oh, too bad. It’s against the law. Next.
Psychiatrists have long been interested in the benefits of Ecstasy. In 1976 a chemist, Alexander Shulgin, tried the drug. He described the effects as: “an easily controlled altered state of consciousness with emotional and sensual overtones.”
He thought the drug would be ideal for psychotherapy because it induces a state of openness and trust, but without the hallucinations. The drug started getting used in couples therapy and for treating anxiety disorders.
But alas, those decadent hippies and ravers started using the drug, and Ecstasy’s reputation turned into a variation on “Reefer Madness” and “Assassin of Youth.” Ecstasy was made illegal in 1985. And that pretty much put the kibosh on any more research into Ecstasy/MDMA.
A psychiatrist, Dr Michael Mithoefer, has been authorized to give Ecstasy to a few — very few — of his worst-off PTSD patients. Dr. Mithoefer thinks the Ecstasy-induced feelings of trust are what sets the drug apart from other treatments. He said:
“Many people with PTSD have a great deal of trouble trusting anybody, especially if they've been betrayed by someone who abused their trust, like a parent or a caregiver. MDMA has this effect of lowering fear and defences. It also allows more compassion for oneself and for others. People can revisit the trauma, feel the original feelings but not be retraumatized, not feel overwhelmed or have to numb out to cope with it.”
All right, that’s enough psychobabble. We have a War on Drugs to fight.
Aside from the legal problems and the social stigma of Ecstasy, the pharmaceutical industry might be another roadblock. If Ecstasy starts getting used more widely, the drug companies could lose millions of dollars in sales of anti-depressants that PTSD patients are currently using. Big Pharm says “Huh Uh.”
cross-posted at Bring It On!
Labels: Alexander Shulgin, Dr Michael Mithoefer, MDMA Ecstasy, PTSD Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder
posted by Tom Harper @ 6:16 PM
20 Comments:
Pharmaceutical companies don't want to actually cure anything, there's no profit in that. Much better to continually "treat" disorders and rake in them big profits!
Lew: Damn right. Best of all is when a new drug not only doesn't cure the disease, but it also creates other side effects, which can only be cured by another drug that this same company makes. And that drug also has side effects, which can be cured by...
Once these soldiers start taking ecstasy, then it'll be onto gateway drugs and then the hard stuff and that'll ruin lives and families. Better to let them not get treated and end up drinking and homeless on the street. Terrible? Sure. But at least they won't be *shudder* drug addicts!
I long for the day when adults act like adults. Don't see it anytime soon.
Randal: I'm afraid you're right. Remember, 98% of all LSD addicts started off on Ecstasy. Better to let those whiny soldiers just suffer through their PTSD symptoms. It'll make a man out of 'em!
I've ripped apart the drug companies quite a bit in the past. They are corrupt. I recall there being several drugs that use meth as an ingredient being legal to use. But I guess the powers that be will gloss over that one.
Also, are not steroids legal to use if prescribed by your doctor? C'mon guys, quit your fake fake hand wringing and get these guys some help. You've neglected them enough.
The sad part is they are handing out Prozac and Zoloft to the soldiers to keep them in battle.
Interesting things:
Look up garlic, I posted on it recently, but between garlic, and jalapenos....oooohhh, and aloe vera just about everything can half ass be fixed.
People in the third world still worm themselves every 5 or so months. I didn't know this. Researching I found that it was common in the States until the mid 20's. It's not necessary now serfs!!
The fact is raw, and menced garlic help get rid of worms. In the US many doctors are misdiagnosing literal worm infestations for cancer.....look it up if you don't believe.........They are treating the worm infestation, that looks like cancer with the usual radiation, and quemo(spelling??)it does kill the worm infestation. Wouldn't be much simpler like it is here just to take raw menced garlic, or go to your local pharmacy that carries whole body dewarmers........HEREHERE HERE HERE They treat "We The People" like children, and they are stealing all of OUR lives work worth of savings!!!
Peace and Freedom
Ricardo: The drug companies are plenty corrupt, that's for sure; just like every other industry that has a stranglehold on the public. Whichever treatment ends up being the best cure for PTSD, we need to make it available ASAP, even if it offends people's anti-drug sentiment or threatens Big Pharm's profits.
AHB: There are all sorts of natural cures that people have been using for thousands of years. Most of these cures have fallen by the wayside, since drugs and pills are so much more convenient.
Once when I was experiencing some mild, temporary depression, a therapist suggested fish oil capsules. More recent research has backed up the assertion from tree-hugging hippies working at Whole Foods that the Omega-3 acids (there we go with the "acid" again) can help boost mood as well as do a myriad of other good things for one's health. The therapist suggested the fish oil because my mood was more sad than depressed, and I didn't really need a pill from Big Pharma to "fix" it.
But don't let Big Pharma find out that I didn't go right for their goodies! That's un-Amerkin!
And finding out that an "illegal" drug is actually good for a real health problem? Uh-oh, can't have that! Like Lew said, Big Pharma doesn't want to cure, just treat. And if they play their cards right, each medicine you take will give you side effects which will require yet another drug, and another, and another....
And Randal, you're cracking me up! [Strom Thurmond voice] "Not only do I not believe Ecstasy should be legal, I believe it leads to jazz music and rolling your stockings down and driving fast in a '32 Coupe! Oh Lawdy! Save us! Only reason these people is so de-pressed is 'cause they don't have JESUS in their hearts!"
Now now..... we have to maintain our vigilance in the War on Drugs, no matter how many people might be helped! f you must smoke, smoke cigarettes! They are Republican-approved.
MHP: Fish oil (and other Omega-3 sources) is great for lots of things. I'm surprised the pharmaceutical companies haven't tried to patent it so they can charge $10 per capsule. And of course they'd mix their fish oil with a few other ingredients that cause wicked side effects, and those side effects would be cured by some of their other expensive drugs. "Ask your doctor about..."
JR: Yes, the War on Drugs Uber Alles! That's a much higher priority than some malingering soldier whining about PTSD :)
The smartest thing that the Europeans ever did was get rid of all those damned puritans. Unfortunately for us Americans, those religious extremists started their own country and their influence is felt to this very day. We must get rid of anything, regardless of the benefits, so long as it might actually be FUN too.
great post! thanks very much for sharing!
Jason: Yup, Europe got rid of their Puritans and America got stuck with them. Or as somebody put it, "England sent all their Puritans to America and all their criminals to Australia. Australia got the better deal."
Mama Africa: Thanks.
Too bad these promising areas of research are cut off by people who just can't deal with anything that might actually help someone.
Great comment about the Australians and the Americans. Australia did indeed get the better deal!
I hear you on Big Pharma's lesser attributes, ahem. But I don't think they go so far as to not want to cure anything and deliberately making drugs to cause problems so they can sell other drugs. I hope those charges were tongue-in-cheek.
Say you have an open wound that's starting to get infected. Pour some hyrdrogen peroxide into it to flush it out, then apply a bandage and keep an eye on it. If it heals in two to four days without further infection, you cured your problem. Similar thing with pouring in mercurochrome. Peroxide and mercurochrome kill bugs on contact.
Such cures are relatively rare. Most of the time medications help the body to do its own bug killing in its own way, sometimes averting bad side effects and/or aftereffects in the process.
Other medications help the body deal with out-of-whack things in a wide variety of ways.
BUT, any doctor, physician's assistant, NP or even drug salesman will be quick to point out we humans are very much individuals. Drug performance is measured statistically, in percentages.
One of the most critically important, limb-saving, lifesaving things to ever come along is the humble, taken-for-granted tetanus shot. It's given to infants before they're a year old, with boosters later on. God help the children whose nutball parents refuse this and other immunizations as the devil's work or a gummint, or a corporate conspiracy.
I say that knowing somewhere in the range of 0.08 percent - 0.8 percent of people getting a tetanus shot will have a serious bad reaction. An infinitesimally small number or those who get a reaction will even croak.
By the numbers, tetanus shots are a no brainer, they're so safe, effective and what they prevent is so horrible. Yet every once in a great while it all goes horribly wrong.
That's how it is with medications. We're all individuals.
Can Ecstasy result in a high percentage rate of those helped as against those hurt by using it? That's the question. Only rigorous testing and honest reporting will yield the answer.
Mauigirl: I don't think people object to certain drugs because they're effective; I think they only object if a drug is enjoyable. That's absolutely Verboten! I've been given Demerol and Percodan (legally, a long time ago). I hope to never need them again, but if these Biblehumps had any idea that those 2 drugs feel sooo goooood, they'd have them banned immediately.
And yes, the Aussies got the better deal.
SW: I really don't know whether the pharmaceutical industry is deliberately holding millions of Americans hostage, or if it just seems that way. There's a lot of information out there on the Internet, which of course needs to be taken with a grain of salt.
For instance, as part of the CAFTA treaty, vitamins and herbal supplements will gradually start getting much less common and harder to obtain. They might never get banned, and if they do it will be gradual. This way, the billions of dollars that Americans are now spending on those F#@%&! herbs and vitamins can go to Big Pharm instead.
Like I said, I don't know whether that's true or not, but the drug companies seem sleazy enough that it's hard to just dismiss those rumors.
I've also seen links saying that the drug companies have had this long-range master plan since the late 1800s. Little by little, they've had this step by step plan to wean Americans off of those apothecary-herbal-natural supplements and get them hooked on drugs and chemicals instead. Fact, or just another tinfoil hat conspiracy theory? Who knows?
BTW, I meant to include that the possibilities for Ecstasy being effective for PTSD is intriguing. It should be tested without stigma or stupidity, just scientific method.
Regarding a multi-company conspiracy going back more than a century, I don't buy that one. The reason is simple.
Too many companies and corporations are run by people with a tendency to let their inner greedmonger get the best of them. Conspiracies rely on trustworthiness and cooperation. They're hard to sustain for a few years, much less for many decades.
That's not to say some conspiracies haven't been and aren't being perpetrated by some pharma players from time to time. The scary part is how less likely it seems that any of today's corporate-associate reporters would be to blow the cover off such dirty dealings.
Tom,
CAFTA is a joke! At least here these countries that would be the CA-4 are El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala, and Nicaguara?? All take the money the States give them for the CAFTA agreements; tell the US Govt. of course we'll do what you say, and then turn walk away laughing with suitcases of money, and don't do as ordered...Funny that all the CA-4 is heavily starting to side with Venezuela day by day.
Mile High Pixie,
I read, and it is worth the research into chia...the same stuff they sold for the chia pets. It is extremely good for you with omega 3 fatty acids.
S.W. Anderson,
As far as open wounds I haven't tried it yet, but on the worm, and garlic kick, the Egyptions used the menced garlic for worms, STD's, and open wounds.....Speaking of STD's and garlic when I believe it was Plato visited Egypt he said there wasn't a single virgin of amongst them. So, I'm guessing, or trying it out; that is on open wounds, and parasites.
Peace and Freedom
SW: Good point about conspiracies in general. They're apt to fail because of greed and other human frailties. It's kind of like all those Westerns and crime movies, where several robbers steal millions of dollars, and then one of them kills all of his buddies so he can keep all the loot.
AHB: That makes sense. I'll bet a lot of third world governments are taking the U.S. for a ride with these agreements. When I worked in Iran, it was when the Shah was in power; he played the American government like a concert virtuoso playing the violin.
AHB wrote: ". . .when I believe it was Plato visited Egypt he said there wasn't a single virgin of amongst them. So, I'm guessing, or trying it out; that is on open wounds, and parasites."
LOL, you completely lost me. I get the part about trying minced garlic on wounds. But what has Plato and an ancient shortage of Egyptian virgins got to do with . . . anything?
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