Page 32 - ARUBA TODAY

A32 FEATURE
Wednesday 4 september 2019

Long trip: Psychedelic advocate nears goal of legal ecstasy

By MATTHEW PERRONE California in 1982, a sea-
AP Health Writer side mecca for New Age
WASHINGTON (AP) — teachers and seekers. In
Growing up amid the tu- college at the time, Doblin
mult of the Cuban Missile became convinced of the
Crisis and the Vietnam drug’s power to enhance
War, Rick Doblin says he communication and heal-
became convinced that ing after an MDMA session
humanity was “crazy” and with his girlfriend. His origi-
“inherently destructive.” As nal plan was to become
a teenager, he came to a therapist working with
see the mind-expanding MDMA. But the federal
effects of psychedelics — government’s 1985 ban on
including LSD and magic the substance pushed him
mushrooms — as the an- into activism instead.
tidote to mankind’s inner George Greer, co-founder
demons. of Heffter, was among the
He set out to prove it. And West Coast psychiatrists
now, after 32 years of false who first prescribed then-le-
starts, setbacks and regula- gal MDMA to treat anxiety
tory hurdles, he has brought and other issues, including
MDMA — the illegal, all- Rick Doblin poses for a portrait in Vista, Calif., on Aug. 15, 2018. The founder and director of the domestic problems be-
night party drug also known Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies, or MAPS, Doblin is pushing for the therapeutic tween couples. Greer and
as ecstasy — to the brink of potential of psychedelics including MDMA, best known by its street name, ecstasy. his wife, a psychiatric nurse,
medical legitimacy. Associated Press treated more than 80 pa-
The Food and Drug Adminis- Ross and other researchers years from by a wide array company’s charter, profits tients with MDMA between
tration has labeled the drug are largely funded by the of wealthy backers. would fund research into 1980 and 1985.
a potential “breakthrough” Heffter Research Institute, “Rick has this beautiful vi- new uses for MDMA and THE BRAIN ON ECSTASY
for post-traumatic stress the other psychedelic non- sion of healing the cultural other psychedelics. It’s not entirely clear how
disorder and cleared late- profit in the field. But Heffter divide of the sixties; having BACK TO A PSYCHEDELIC MDMA works, but Greer
stage studies of up to 300 executives adamantly op- veterans and countercul- FUTURE and others point to its ef-
patients. The studies are to pose recreational use of ture icons coming togeth- The small studies published fects on two key brain
be conducted by Doblin’s psychedelics. They say the er,’” says David Bronner, by MAPS and Heffter are chemicals: It boosts the
nonprofit group dedicated drugs are too risky to be CEO — Cosmic Engage- dwarfed by research con- feel-good chemical sero-
to promoting mind-altering used without professional ment Officer —of Dr. Bron- ducted roughly a half- tonin, similar to antidepres-
drugs, the Multidisciplinary supervision. ner’s Magic Soaps, the or- century ago. Between 1950 sants, and also increases
Association for Psychedelic “Talking about full legal- ganic brand known for its and the mid-1960s more the stimulating brain chem-
Studies, or MAPS. Research- ization of all psychedelics quirky labels. Bronner has than 1,000 papers were ical dopamine, like am-
ers will begin screening pa- makes quite a number of given $3.1 million to MAPS published documenting phetamines. The effect,
tients this month. people uncomfortable,” since 2005 and currently 40,000 patients receiving Greer says, is that patients
The goal is to win FDA ap- says David Nichols, co- chairs its board of directors. LSD and other psychedelics feel less fear and more mo-
proval by 2021. MDMA founder of Heffter and a Earlier this year Rebekah for conditions like depres- tivation to face their trau-
would become the first psy- retired pharmacology pro- Mercer, the billionaire Re- sion and addiction. matic memories.
chedelic drug — currently fessor at Purdue University. publican and co-owner of Only later would psyche- The current standard of
in the same ultra-restrictive “But that’s Rick, he’s got Breitbart, pledged $1 mil- delics become intertwined care for PTSD includes an-
category as heroin and co- his base of people who lion to fund the PTSD trials. with the dayglow hippie tidepressants and several
caine — to make the leap give him a lot of money be- “America’s veterans de- culture of the 1960s and fig- forms of therapy. But only
to prescription medicine. cause they want to see him serve the very best care,” ures like Timothy Leary, the about a third of patients re-
Doblin does not plan to kick down the doors of gov- Mercer said in a statement ex-Harvard professor who cover after treatment.
stop there. His aim is the le- ernment regulation.” announcing the grant. promoted psychedelics as In studies funded by MAPS,
galization of all psychedel- SPECTRUM OF SUPPORT If prescription MDMA is ever a pseudo-religion. more than 50 percent of
ics for recreational use by Funding MAPS and the approved, revenue would MDMA had its own medical patients who completed
2035. MDMA studies has meant flow to a pharmaceutical history before being adopt- MDMA-assisted therapy
MAPS’ work is part of a re- relentless fundraising, more company entirely owned ed by the electronic rave no longer had PTSD, com-
surgence of interest into than $70 million over the by MAPS. According to the culture of the 1990s, thanks pared with 23 percent of
the therapeutic potential to its ability to trigger in- patients who received
of psychedelics, a field that tense feelings of euphoria, therapy with either a dum-
captivated researchers in intimacy and connection. my pill or inactive dose of
the 1950s and 1960s be- The drug was discovered MDMA, depending on the
fore the government ban in 1912 by a German drug- study.
on LSD and other halluci- maker researching chemi- PROCESSING THE PAST
nogens slammed the door cals to control bleeding. Nigel McCourry, a lance
shut in 1970. A chemical cousin, MDA, corporal in the Marines,
“This field was so taboo it became a drug of abuse in returned from Iraq in 2004
was essentially erased from the late 1960s, producing a beset by nightmares of
the history books,” says combination of hallucina- ambushes, exploding mor-
Stephen Ross, a New York tions and intensified emo- tars and gun battles. For
University psychiatrist who tions. Users dubbed it the years he suffered insomnia,
is studying psilocybin, the “love drug.” sometimes standing at his
ingredient in magic mush- Lauren Pestikas sits as she receives an infusion of the drug Doblin first met some of the apartment door convinced
rooms, for depression and ketamine during a 45-minute session at an outpatient clinic in drug’s proponents at the that someone might break
alcohol addiction. Chicago on July 25, 2018. Associated Press Esalen Institute in Big Sur, in and kill him.q