Making a medicine out of MDMA
This commentary (2015) examines how inappropriate, non-evidence-based, legislative restrictions of MDMA have failed to mitigate the harms of recreational ecstasy use but have effectively halted clinical research for therapeutic use. They urge the regulatory authorities to re-schedule MDMA and promote research for therapeutic uses within psychiatry.
Authors
- David Nutt
- Ben Sessa
Published
Abstract
From its first use 3,4,-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) has been recognised as a drug with therapeutic potential. Research on its clinical utility stopped when it entered the recreational drug scene but has slowly resurrected in the past decade. Currently there is enough evidence for MDMA to be removed from its Schedule 1 status of ‘no medical use’ and moved into Schedule 2 (alongside other misused but useful medicines such as heroin and amphetamine). Such a regulatory move would liberate its use as a medicine for patients experiencing severe mental illnesses such as treatment-resistant post-traumatic stress disorder.
Research Summary of 'Making a medicine out of MDMA'
Introduction
Greer and colleagues frame the paper around the tension between MDMA’s historical association with recreational ecstasy and its potential as a clinical therapeutic. They note that media attention on rare harms from recreational use has hindered objective, evidence-based research into MDMA-assisted psychotherapy despite a quarter-century of epidemiological data indicating low morbidity and mortality associated with ecstasy and accumulating clinical data supporting MDMA’s therapeutic effects for conditions such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The article aims to summarise the clinical history and emerging trial evidence for MDMA as a treatment adjunct, to outline its putative mechanisms and safety profile, and to argue for a regulatory change in the UK: moving MDMA from Schedule 1 (no recognised medical use) to Schedule 2 to enable and accelerate medically supervised research and clinical use for severe, treatment-resistant psychiatric disorders such as PTSD.
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Study Details
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- APA Citation
Sessa, B., & Nutt, D. (2015). Making a medicine out of MDMA. British Journal of Psychiatry, 206(1), 4-6. https://doi.org/10.1192/bjp.bp.114.152751
References (8)
Papers cited by this study that are also in Blossom
Greer, G. R. · Journal of Psychoactive Drugs (1986)
Mithoefer, M. C., Wagner, M. T., Mithoefer, A. T. et al. · Journal of Psychopharmacology (2010)
Bedi, G., Cecchi, G. A., Slezak, D. F. et al. · Neuropsychopharmacology (2014)
Frye, C. G., Wardle, M. C., Norman, G. J. et al. · Pharmacology Biochemistry and Behavior (2014)
´dric, C., Hysek, M., Schmid, Y. et al. · Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience (2013)
Wardle, M. C., De Wit, H. · Psychopharmacology (2014)
Kirkpatrick, M. G., Lee, R., Wardle, M. C. et al. · Neuropsychopharmacology (2014)
Carhart-Harris, R. L., Murphy, K., Leech, R. et al. · Biological Psychiatry (2015)
Cited By (8)
Papers in Blossom that reference this study
Pantoni, M. M., Kim, J. L., Van Alstyne, K. R. et al. · Psychopharmacology (2022)
Sessa, B., Aday, J. S., Curran, H. V. et al. · Journal of Psychopharmacology (2021)
Morgan, L. · Annals of General Psychiatry (2020)
Nutt, D. J. · Dialogues in Clinical Neuroscience (2019)
Dunlap, L. E., Andrews, A. M. · ACS Chemical Neuroscience (2018)
Vizeli, P., Liechti, M. E. · Journal of Psychopharmacology (2017)
Sessa, B. · Neuroscience Letters (2016)
Sessa, B., Fischer, F. M. · Drug Science Policy and Law (2015)
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