Saturday, August 26, 2017

psychedelic drug aimed at PTSD

For Jon Lubecky, the scars on his wrists are a reminder of the years he spent in mental purgatory.
He returned from an Army deployment in Iraq a broken man. He heard mortar shells and helicopters where there were none. He couldn’t sleep and drank until he passed out. He got every treatment offered by Veterans Affairs for post-traumatic stress disorder. But they didn’t stop him from trying to kill himself — five times.
Finally, he signed up for an experimental therapy and was given a little green capsule. The anguish stopped.
Inside that pill was a compound named MDMA, better known by dealers and rave partygoers as ecstasy. That street drug is emerging as the most promising tool to come along in years for the military’s escalating PTSD epidemic.
If this stuff gets approval, you kind of wonder if, because the PTSD blowback has been ameliorated, those who favor and promote war will feel emboldened and enabled.

1 comment:

  1. They'd still have to accept responsibility for crushed skulls and lost body parts.

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