Gutfeld on using ecstasy to cure PTSD
New study suggest ecstasy drug could help treat veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder.
According to a new study, soldiers with PTSD using the illegal drug known as MDMA or ecstasy cured the conditions within weeks. This is key. Because I don't think I've ever seen the word "cured" in a highfalutin medical journal. Usually, it's "significantly improves," but never "cures."
Now the study was small, 26 patients, but the message is big. When a substance has a real affect, meaning it changes you, it also frightens people. Drugs like ecstasy are illegal because they work, and when things work, they are hijacked for other purposes -- to have fun, for example. And then people die from taking too much. And that's when the law breaks in and bans it.
This has happened to many substances that could have helped millions of people. Just decades ago, MDMA showed real promise in psychotherapy. Then it got banned. But times are changing. We realize it's absurd to punish the substance and the patient because the substance has potential for abuse. Instead, let scientists test them on various hard-to-treat illnesses.
You want a crazy example? Try botulinum toxin. It's a substance that's deadly. Yet instead of reporting its lethality, newscasters shoot it into their faces, because it reduces wrinkles when used wisely. It's poison!
Other drugs, like Special K, are now being tested on depression. Pot is also being tried on PTSD, as well.
So with scientific study comes progress and relief. So why not send a drug down that path instead of leaving it on the street?
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