SAN FRANCISCO (KRON) — A team of psychotherapists in Marin County has received permission to use the drug, ecstacy to treat people with life-threatetning diseases.
San Anselmo psychiatrist, Dr. Philip Wolfson has gotten permission from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to conduct a study to use the psychoactive drug, also known as MDMA, to help reduce anxiety among patients with cancer or other life-threatening conditions.
Wolfson has also obtained a license from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration to administer the drug to patients.
His study involves 18 patients, most of whom will receive the drug while others will get a placebo capsule. A big component of the clinical trial is to couple the drug treatment with intense therapy sessions.
MDMA is known for producing feelings of euphoria and emotional warmth toward other people. Experts believe patients who are treated with the drug experience feelings of loving and caring which help ease extreme anxiety and depression.
The 15 month trial is sponsored and funded by Santa Cruz-based Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies. The organization is said to have already shown success in a larger study that used MDMA-assisted therapy for sexual abuse victims and Iraq War veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder.
For Wolfson, the study is part of a personal mission to help people who are suffering from the agony of losing a loved one. He says he sought therapy during very difficult years in the 19080’s when his son was dying from leukemia.