Can Ecstasy relieve pain of combat stress? Researchers look for vets in private test

Since 03-03-05

By Deborah Funk
NavyTimes staff writer
7 March 2005 Issue


Medical researchers studying treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder are looking for traumatized war veterans to see if the medically supervised use of the drug Ecstasy can improve their condition when other therapies have failed.

Ecstasy, whose active ingredient is 3-4 methylenedioxymethamphetamine, or MDMA, is listed on Schedule I of the Controlled Substances Act — “dangerous drugs with no recognized medical value” — and is illegal except for use in specifically approved research.

A new private study aims to explore whether MDMA, a popular recreational drug at dance clubs and “raves,” can be safely given to people with PTSD to reduce their symptoms.

“It’s important for people to understand we are trying to do careful science with something that has a lot of notoriety and is politically sensitive,” lead researcher Dr. Michael Mithoefer of Mount Pleasant, S.C., said in an interview with Army Times.

It is unclear if the Pentagon would allow active-duty troops to take part in the small private study, which is approved by the Food and Drug Administration.

“My guess is it would be people who are out of the military” who would be included in the volunteer study, Mithoefer said.

Pentagon officials said they have not been contacted about active-duty troops taking part.

“The military services have a zero-tolerance policy with regard to illicit drugs,” said Defense Department spokesman Jim Turner. “We are aware of no requests by military personnel for participation in this research trial. Any such request, if made, would need to be reviewed by a member’s chain of command, with appropriate medical and legal input.”

To be sure, some people respond to existing PTSD treatments, Mithoefer said. But others don’t — and new treatments could be particularly important now, as the number of combat veterans traumatized by duty in Iraq and Afghanistan is growing.

A recent Pentagon study shows significantly higher rates of PTSD among service members after combat duty in Iraq and Afghanistan compared to the before deployment, and the rates appear directly related to the number of firefights in which an individual was involved. PTSD rates ranged from 4.5 percent for Iraq and Afghanistan troops who were in no firefights to about 19 percent for troops who were in more than five firefights.

The Government Accountability Office reported in February that the Department of Veterans Affairs is already treating 6,400 combat vets from Afghanistan and Iraq for PTSD, and noted that mental health experts say up to 15 percent of veterans of those wars may eventually seek treatment for the disorder. If that estimate is even close to accurate, it would add up to tens of thousands of people.

Treating PTSD involves revisiting the trauma, a prospect that can be so frightening that some people can’t or won’t do it. Some PTSD sufferers also have trouble trusting others, which can hinder therapy.

Researchers hypothesize that MDMA may help reduce fear in participants and allow them to experience deep emotions and create a greater sense of trust so they can open up in counseling to confront their trauma and put it into emotional context.

MDMA does not produce a feeling of “ecstasy,” said Rick Doblin, president and executive director of the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies, a nonprofit research and educational group based in Sarasota, Fla., that is sponsoring Mithoefer’s study. “It helps people go through pain … but be able to release it.”

To qualify for the study, participants must have had PTSD symptoms for no more than five years, and already undergone six months of psychotherapy and three months of mental-health medication with little or no improvement. Researchers will contact therapists in the Charleston, S.C., to seek study subjects with combat-related PTSD. They also will advertise in local area newspapers.

Mithoefer’s MDMA study already has included civilians traumatized by crimes, such as rape or other physical assault. It was recently expanded to include combat veterans. It is expected to enroll 20 people traumatized by either crime or war.