The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has rejected a psychedelic drug known as MDMA, or ecstasy, as a treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder.
According to DC News, the FDA held an advisory panel in June that discouraged approval, saying that the treatment has yet to be proven effective.
President and CEO of the Foundation for Drug Policy Solutions Dr. Kevin Sabet commented, “If you actually look at the science, this isn’t surprising at all,” adding that the FDA made the right move.
“These are very powerful, mind-altering, consciousness-altering substances, and we need to really take a lot of care with them,” he said. Moreover, the placebo tests are hard to establish and often fail, “because you kind of know whether you’re taking MDMA or mushrooms,” he said.
The FDA has requested more clinical trials of MDMA.
Rep. Lou Correa, D-CA, however, urged President Joe Biden to support the legalization of MDMA as a form of PTSD treatment. He and 60 colleagues sent a letter to the President earlier in August.
Correa said, “To think that the FDA has said no to this revolutionary treatment is sad news.”
He described veterans’ reactions to the treatment, saying, “They’ve told me: ‘I’ll never do it again. But I’ve confronted my demons so to speak, I’ve gotten cured, and I’m ready to move on.’”
He also said that every day that goes by without MDMA as a treatment option “is another 20 American veterans that take their own lives.”