From: [d--p--n] at [ziggys.cts.com] (Rex Kahler) 619/262-6384 Newsgroups: alt.drugs Subject: FDA Approves MDMA Study Date: Mon, 27 Dec 93 03:02:42 PST FDA Allows Human Tests of Love Drug (San Diego Union-Tribune 12-26-93) [by Lynn Franey, Copley News Service] {reprinted w/o permission} LOS ANGELES -- Club goers dub it the love drug. College students call it the hug drug. Federal regulators label it downright dangerous. It's widely known as Ecstasy, a cousin to hallucinogens and amphetamines that is said to enhance emotional well-being. Banned by the Food and Drug Administration in 1985, it has since been linked to a dozen deaths and was blamed for more than 200 emergency room visits last year. Tests on animals have shown it may damage nerve cells. But a researcher at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center says there could be an upside to Ecstasy, whose chemical name is 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA for short). Charles Grob, a psychiatrist, has secured first- ever FDA approval for human trials of the drug. The experiments are designed to lead to tests of Ecstasy as a possible painkiller for the terminally ill and for use in psychotherapy. "Hundreds of thousands of young people have taken it," Grob said. "But we know very little about it. There's lots of talk about potential dangers, but we want to explore it extensively." Few in the scientific community are enthusiastic about MDMA's potential benefits. Many likened advo- cates of its therapeutic attributes to 1960s boosters of LSD. "When LSD was first discovered, that same view of therapeutic use was popular but it turned out to be completely wrong," said Dr. Stephen Stahl, an LSD expert in the UCSD School of Medicine's Psychiatry Department. Nevertheless, even researchers who have found harmful results in MDMA animal trials say they approve of Grob's initial study. They say much needs to be learned about what MDMA does to the human brain and heart, and that it isn't impossible the drug may have some treatment value. "We need to get rid of the drug-war mentality and see that all drugs aren't all evil," said Dr. David Nichols, a Purdue University researcher who tested MDMA on rats in the early 1980s. MDMA was discovered quietly in Europe about 80 years ago, surfaced in Berkeley in the 1970s and hit the nightclub scene in the past decade. It remains popular at "rave" parties in big cities, including Los Angeles and San Diego, and among college students. Grob said the FDA approved his testing proposal after years of turning down similar ones. In the study's first phase, he will give Ecstasy to six health professionals who have previously used MDMA on their own. He'll moni- tor their sleep patterns, conduct brain scans and per- form a variety of other medical tests. He said he hopes to dispel some of the rumors about MDMA heard on dance floors and campuses. These include whispered reports that it drains spinal fluid and acts temporarily as an aphrodisiac, only to cause longer-term impotence. The second part of Grob's trials, which has yet to win FDA approval, will seek to determine whether Ecstasy eases pain in terminal cancer patients and helps them, as a therapeutic agent, cope with the knowledge that they are going to die. Grob says those applications are "way, way down the line. That's putting the cart before the horse." But Rick Doblin, an unabashed proponent of psychedelic drugs, said he hopes Grob's study will open the door to MDMA's use in treating people who suffer mental illnesses, are recovering from traumatic events, or just struggling with a marriage. "I think MDMA has a significant place in the future of psychiatry and then in a liberalized world where adults have free choice for these kinds of experiences," Doblin said from his North Carolina office of the Multidiscipli- nary Association for Psychedelic Studies, a group he founded. MDMA was already popular among psychotherapists when the government outlawed it. Advocates say it allows people to lower psychological barriers between themselves and others and become less hostile. College-aged people have more-prosaic uses for the drug. They often take it alone to dance all night or, in a highly dangerous practice, mix it with LSD, marijuana and alcohol. Ecstasy users say that since 1985, the drug's quality has gone down and its price up -- to $20 or more per capsule. The Drug Enforcement Administration has blamed MDMA for 12 deaths in the United States, most stemming from heart failure and accidents. In one case, an Ecstasy user tried to climb a live electrical wire. Deaths also have been reported at rave parties in England. Grob said those fatalities probably resulted in part from a lack of oxygen and water in the clubs. Some raves charge as much for water as for alcohol, and turn off the taps in the bathrooms. Dancers experiencing Ecstasy's hours-long euphoria can become dehydrated and fall into seizures, he added. Last year, 236 people were rushed to American emergency rooms because of bad reactions to Ecstasy. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ E _ _ _ N _ _ _ D _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ All-in-all, a fairly decent article from one of the most right-wing rags to 'grace' our street corners. My main problem is with this so-called LSD 'expert' - but at least they didn't dwell on him as this paper normally would. If this doctor is at the UCSD here in San Diego (I suspect he is), i may be able to get further clarification from him. Anyone ever heard of this 'Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies' before? If anyone has their address, I for one would love to get in touch with them. back beneath the waves D o l p h i n R e x /s\