Ecstasy Is No Longer Considered A Party Drug: Here's Why

MDMA or most commonly known as Ecstasy/Molly is a widely-known party drug all over the world. On Tuesday, the US Food and Drug Administration gave its approval to test the recreational drug as a prescription medication.                            

Furthermore, the clinical trial of MDMA is already in Phase III. It is being tried to see if it can be used as a prescription drug for potentially treating Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).

PTSD is a common condition not only in the United States but all over the world. It is a most common condition for people who have undergone a traumatic experience such as soldiers sent to war, civilians whose lives were nearly endangered and so on.

As expected, these large-scale studies conducted in human patients will be controlled and under observation by the FDA before they get approval to become prescription medication.

The trial will also be funded by the nonprofit organization Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS). MAPS has previously sponsored all six Phase II clinical trials of MDMA.

During the Phase II clinical trial, MDMA has proven its effects by treating 130 patients suffering from PTSD. This is not the first time MAPS supported (and tried legalizing) other controversial and banned substances to see its medicinal benefits.

These substances include the infamous marijuana and LSD. In fact, MAPS has been trying to legalize these substances since it started back in 1986.

MAPS Director Brad Burge told Inverse back in March that "Our Phase 2 study has treated 136 people, and Phase 3 will involve 200-400 subjects with PTSD from all sorts of causes across the U.S., Canada, and a lot of different countries. Phase 3 starts around 2017, and it will take four to five years to finish. So that will put it at early 2021 for FDA approval,"

Burge also mentioned that MDMA can also be used by other groups of patients who could benefit from the drug.

"So far we've looked at PTSD in everyone. We've had one trial in the long term, that's now in the one-year follow-up date with primarily veterans, as well as with police officers and firefighters who were first responders at 9/11. So that study also involved the army, the marines, air force, all sorts of military groups who had served in Afghanistan, Iraq, Vietnam and Korea. The other major group of people were female survivors of sexual abuse or assault," she shared.

MDMA's first and original purpose was to help smooth out psychotherapy sessions. At least, this is what was on chemist Alexander Shulgin's mind when he created the drug back in the 1970s. Unfortunately for Shulgin, MDMA became more popular as a recreational drug after being used to give its users a euphoric high.

According to Burge, Phase III of the clinical trials will start around 2017. The tests will take roughly four to five years to finish. This means that if these MDMA trials are successful, it will be approved by the FDA early on 2021.