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Comment by rubatuga | Hacker News Reader

MDMA (what's ecstasy?) could get approval but it could also result in people getting addicted to it. Doesn't take a lot of searching to find stories of people who damage their brains after prolonged usage. I'm sure MDMA has its benefits, but there's probably other risks involved in prescribing it in a healthcare setting. Benzodiazepines were routinely given out by doctors, but probably worsened overall anxiety in a lot of patients. Now they are rarely prescribed.

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I'm really sceptical about the idea of treating people with mental heal issues with MDMA, as the "comedown" from it can be horrendous and causes a period low mood, depression, fatigue, anxiety, etc. Not the kind of thing you want people with PTSD experiencing! Those side effects are of course dose dependant. There is no mention of what is considered a dose, but it no uncommon for people to take a gram or more recreationally over the course of an evening.

A gram will keep you up for three days. That seems excessive to me.

For a small therapeutic dose of 150mg (1.5-2mg/kg) the come-down is minimal and presents more as "fragile" and not "depressed". That beautiful sunset really hits you to the core. Wow, there's a lot of negative energy in this airport.

I'm glad it's proposed as a therapy aid. Both during and after a journey having a scribe and guide seem like it would lead to many breakthroughs.

The protocol submitted for FDA approval is for just three doses, once per month, in a supervised setting. And that’s it. This isn’t a situation where people will be picking up a 90-pill, 3 month supply from their pharmacy for daily at home use.

This will not significantly contribute MDMA supply to the black market, and is unlikely to create “dependence” in the way that indefinite daily opiate or benzo prescriptions do.

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