Pubdate: Sat, 21 Jul 2001
Source: New York Post (NY)
Copyright: 2001 N.Y.P. Holdings, Inc.
Contact:  http://nypostonline.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/296
Author: Linda Marsa
Bookmark: Ecstasy http://www.mapinc.org/mdma.htm

'ECSTASY' FOR AGONY

July 21, 2001 -- Sue Stevens was severely depressed after her young 
husband, Shane, succumbed to kidney cancer in 1999. She took large 
doses of numbing antidepressants to get through the day.

Then, last fall, the 32-year-old Chicago woman chose a more radical 
approach. She traveled to the West to see a psychologist whom she had 
learned was prescribing the illegal drug "ecstasy" for a handful of 
patients suffering from severe trauma.

In a single session, under the influence of ecstasy - a drug that 
combines the effects of a psychedelic and an amphetamine - she said 
she was finally able to come to grips with her grief.

"Somehow, I knew Shane was no longer hurting, which made it possible 
for me to let go," said Stevens, who hasn't taken any antidepressants 
since.

"It was like a wire that was disconnected got reattached and jump- 
started the healing process. Even if this feeling was just an effect 
of the drug, it's what I needed to do to move forward."

Anecdotal reports from other mental-health professionals suggest 
similar results from ecstasy, said Rick Doblin, president of the 
Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies, a nonprofit 
group in Boston that funds psychedelic research.

"There's a whole network of 30 to 40 people around the country - some 
are psychiatrists, some are psychologists - who risk their licenses 
to use MDMA [the chemical name for ecstasy] with their patients," he 
said.

Lester Grinspoon, a professor emeritus of psychiatry at Harvard 
Medical School who has studied psychedelics but is not among the 
therapists prescribing ecstasy to patients, said the synthetic drug 
can "greatly accelerate" the therapeutic process.

"It enhances one's capacity for insight and empathy, and melts away 
the layers of defensiveness and anxiety that impede treatment," he 
said. "In one session, people can get past hang-ups that take six 
months of therapy to untangle."

Other doctors, however, contend that MDMA is too dangerous to justify 
its use for any therapeutic purpose.

"There's no scientific evidence that MDMA is beneficial. It's all 
anecdotal," said Dr. George Ricaurte, an associate professor of 
neurology at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in Baltimore. 
Giving patients even one dose of ecstasy, he believes, is unethical 
because of its potential to harm.

The intense, but largely unknown, scientific debate over MDMA's 
possible pyschotherapeutic use has been overshadowed by the recent 
storm of publicity about the health risks of the drug. The news is 
filled with horror stories of kids overdosing on ecstasy at all-night 
parties, of machine-gun shootouts over ecstasy deals gone bad and of 
disturbing surveys that show it is the fastest-growing illegal drug 
in America.

Fueling concern over ecstasy's safety has been a growing number of 
studies that suggest it may alter the brain, impair memory and 
concentration, dull one's intelligence, and cause chronic depression 
and anxiety. That has led Alan Leshner, director of the National 
Institute of Drug Abuse, to distribute thousands of postcards with 
images of brain scans labeled "Plain Brain/Brain After Ecstasy."

Yet some credible researchers insist ecstasy may be a valuable 
therapeutic tool when used with professional oversight. They contend 
critics have exaggerated the drug's dangers, using weak science to 
bolster their arguments.

"The issue has become so politicized that it's impossible to get a 
fair, objective hearing," said Dr. Charles Grob, director of Child 
and Adolescent Psychiatry at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center in Torrance, 
Calif.

Grob helped conduct government-sanctioned tests of MDMA on humans in 1995.

There is one thing, though, on which both supporters and critics of 
ecstasy can agree: The recreational use of the drug is dangerous. 
Some people take multiple doses of ecstasy, and the drug is often 
adulterated with other substances to create a potentially toxic 
mixture. And ecstasy is often taken with other illegal drugs in 
crowded, overheated dance clubs, where users can become severely 
dehydrated.
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