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California study begins screening for MDMA-assisted therapy for PTSD

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Re: California study begins screening for MDMA-assisted therapy for PTSD

#111
post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Where do you live? Even when I lived in East London I never felt a threat of real violence including travelling worldwide. I felt more likely to be beaten up as a teenager wearing heavy metal or grunge look from other packs of roaming teens (small town UK). Wishing you more peace in the future!

In the heart of Portland, Oregon. It was safe as fuck before the pandemic. I grew up in Los Angeles and lived in East LA awhile; lived in Bedford-Stuyvesant two years; lived in the Tenderloin for a year (not the way it is now). I've also lived in Prague, Barcelona, Saigon, Bangkok, Sydney (King's Cross, before the fall of it). The total chaos and anarchy of Portland right now is hard to explain. Almost everyone I kno…

Please stop with the fear mongering.

I know quite a few people in PDX, some of who have lived there their whole lives. Not one of them has felt unsafe in the past few years. As a matter of fact my ex laughed and told me to stay away from the national news when I texted her and told her to be safe during the height of the PDX "anarchy."

btw - the TL isn't any more unsafe than it's ever been and I've lived in The City since 1972.

Re: California study begins screening for MDMA-assisted therapy for PTSD

#112
post #82
post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It strikes me that none* of these are "liberal policies" but rather realities that arose in a few West Coast liberal cities that simply couldn't handle the influx of people who came to SF, Portland, Seattle. * Perhaps no bail, although I think in isolation that's unlikely to be an issue These areas are always unique because transient and the homeless can live with some degree of year round comfort, so they will be na…

These are all liberal/progressive policies enacted across the West Coast - Seattle, Portland, San Francisco, Los Angelas. Progressives believe in restorative justice not prison or punishment. They believe that justice is actually righting the wrong that caused people to behave this way in the first place . "The infinite perfectability of man". That's a core progressive belief. Thus they "catch and release" for non-vi…

Also, these "progressives" have never tried to address the flaws of capitalism in any meaningful way. FDR knew what to do to "save capitalism".

And organized crime and poverty climb on the backs of each other. To blame one or the other is simplistic.

Re: California study begins screening for MDMA-assisted therapy for PTSD

#113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you know I believe this without even reading those articles? Because MDMA is nothing new. Really it’s not. All it does is artificially increase serotonin. This is not a change of paradigm, it’s the same old thinking that never ends up helping anyone. And the only people who package drug that does the same thing as an old drug that never helps anyone are sociopaths.

The only people who write in such absolutes have Dunning-Kruger as their middle name.

What absolute? That MDMA increases serotonin in the synaptic cleft just like prozac?

Re: California study begins screening for MDMA-assisted therapy for PTSD

#114
Just a point of clarification: pure MDMA (what is used in the study) is often very different from "E", "Ecstasy", and other street preparations. The party drug formulations are often pressed into pills and contain other things (on purpose, to give a different effect). It's often MDA, methamphetamine, cocaine, caffeine[0].

Consider this difference when comparing personal experience or anecdata about pressed pills (or impure "molly") to what they're using here.

0: e.g. https://www.drugsdata.org/search.php?substance1=2012&substan...

Re: California study begins screening for MDMA-assisted therapy for PTSD

#115

If you're interested in MDMA sessions, and specifically MAPS (the pharma company that runs the trials), you might want to listen to the Cover story podcast, which deals with the MDMA/psylocybin culture of California as well as these trials. The first episode is at [1], the first episode dealing with maps is at [2]. These rape allegations are highly disconcerting and disheartening. [1] https://www.thecut.com/2021/11/c…

MAPS is not a pharmaceutical company! MAPS stands for Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies. It is a non-profit 501(c)(3).

https://maps.org/about-maps/

Re: California study begins screening for MDMA-assisted therapy for PTSD

#116

Last summer I had a psychadelic-assisted therapy session with MDMA and a guide (along with integration session after the main experience). It was one of the more powerful experiences of my life, and has led to sustained positive change in my life. The experience itself was at a hotel room I had booked. For just under six hours, I lay on the bed with an eye mask and headphones playing instrumental music picked by my g…

Interesting. So you just laid there listening to music? No talking? No physical contact with anyone?

Yes, that’s right. The guide was available if I needed anything but other than using the bathroom once a few hours in I just laid there.

I should note that everyone’s journeys are different, and even for a single person no journey will be the same as the last. But my experience at least demonstrated the power of MDMA to serve as a healing substance when used with a particular intention and in a particular setting. The preparation work prior to the experience as well as the integration work following the experience are also incredibly important for it to have a long-lasting effect.

Re: California study begins screening for MDMA-assisted therapy for PTSD

#117
post #2

I don't think this stuff should be sold, say, in a gas station beside the humpty dumpty peanuts... but it does have its place. The mental health epidemic for returning veterans for example[1]: "More than 45,000 veterans and active-duty service members have killed themselves in the past six years. That is more than 20 deaths a day — in other words, __more suicides each year than the total American military deaths in A…

>I don't think this stuff should be sold, say, in a gas station beside the humpty dumpty peanuts... but it does have its place.

Yeah, almost like it should be... a prescription medication sold at pharmacies?

Re: California study begins screening for MDMA-assisted therapy for PTSD

#118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Addiction and tolerance are related, but distinct.

The outcome is the same no matter the difference. But can I tell you my own brother said he "could not live without Prozac." What does that sound like to you?

Like he’s taking a life saving medicine? How many people can’t live without insulin?

Re: California study begins screening for MDMA-assisted therapy for PTSD

#119

Just a point of clarification: pure MDMA (what is used in the study) is often very different from "E", "Ecstasy", and other street preparations. The party drug formulations are often pressed into pills and contain other things (on purpose, to give a different effect). It's often MDA, methamphetamine, cocaine, caffeine[0]. Consider this difference when comparing personal experience or anecdata about pressed pills (or…

True that. Although it looks like most tested were mdma only.

Re: California study begins screening for MDMA-assisted therapy for PTSD

#120
post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You literally described what addiction is in reference to MDMA. And this is going to be the problem with the drug for treating mood disorders. Just like Prozac, it will stop working And you will need a larger dose for the same action. Just because you don’t actively go out and seek for a drug does not mean you are not addicted (conditioned)to it.

The thing about MDMA is that it causes your brain to dump your serotonin reserves into your brain all at once. Doing that too often, without letting your serotonin rebuild, can cause serotonin syndrome. I think psychedelics are safer in that regard. Nobody in the history of humanity has ever physically done "too much acid". Even some people who ingested tens of thousands of micrograms (thinking they were snorting cok…

I think classical psychedelics are among the safest drugs, but honestly, how is that not "too much acid"? If they needed medical care, that implies that if they hadn't received that care they would not have been perfectly fine. Yes, it was an accident caused by irresponsible use, but let's not mince words. The point where a dose is "too much" should be (at the most) the point where you need medical attention, not the point where you suffer some permanent damage or death.
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