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US could soon approve MDMA therapy

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291–300 of 406 posts

Re: US could soon approve MDMA therapy

#291
post #281
post #275

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Nobody gives a shit about most hunting weapons And here's the issue then. What anti-gun advocates argue are weapons not good for hunting is misguided. Additionally, it doesn't matter if a gun was designed to hunt or not - the gun is an inanimate object. People like to discuss banning AR-15's all day, failing to realize just how many similar-but-not-AR-15's model rifles exist out there, most of which fire the same c…

Nobody is hunting with handguns or high powered rifles with high capacity magazines. Back when I did bird hunt, the entire community would jump on any fool that fired more than the allowed shells in a gun in rapid fire. It is obvious when it happens, and hilarious with how regulated guns actually are in hunting communities. So, I reiterate. Nobody gives a shit about those. They are instead trotted out as a straw man…

> high powered rifles with high capacity magazines

And you'd be wrong with this assertion again, because the definition of "high powered" and "high capacity" are vastly different for your anti-gun advocates versus reality.

A .223 Remington cartridge is not "high powered". A 20 round magazine was what the gun was designed for, making that the standard capacity magazine, not 10 rounds like some advocate for.

A .50 BMG could be considered "high powered" - and it's banned in California. However, in California you can purchase .416 Barret, which is even more effective at range than .50 BMG - and it's perfectly legal. Make sense out of that one...

> frightening few reasons for folks to have hollow point or incendiary rounds

This is a statement made out of ignorance. It's all about the energy transferred into the target. A HP bullet is designed to transfer as much energy into the target as possible to prevent over-penetration (where you shoot someone through a wall accidentally, for instance) and can be considered a safety-feature for defense. You really do not want a reality where people are forced to use FMJ for self defense...

> If you buy a lot of the ingredients that go into TNT, expect you will be rightfully checked up on.

Look up how to make Anfo. It's not difficult, and the components are not regulated. The use, however, is regulated, ie. it's illegal to make a bomb and blow people up.

> Back when I did bird hunt, the entire community would jump on any fool that fired more than the allowed shells in a gun in rapid fire

Sport hunting is akin to golf. There are rules for etiquette and "fairness" reasons, even if that seems silly to an outsider. Additionally, at an established gun range, few allow rapid fire unless you are a member. This is for safety reasons, nothing else. Joe walking in off the street with zero firearms training should not be mag-dumping for obvious reasons.

> Nobody is hunting with handguns

There's an entire community of folks who do just that.

We cannot have productive conversations about gun control until anti-gun advocates educate themselves and refrain from abusing and redefining established words.

Re: US could soon approve MDMA therapy

#292

Can someone share any relevant experience with this? Best would be if you did it properly under supervision of clinical professional, or if you are a professional here, by any chance. Doesn’t matter if it’s US or not.

Only recreational. I've taken MDMA many times in my life and -- presumably like most people who have -- can see why it's got therapeutic potential. Honestly though, I'm not convinced about it in a clinical setting, unless there's a particularly severe issue that needs addressing. I reckon most people are best off just buying some, getting together with a couple of very good mates on a nice day, rolling out into the c…

I do see the logic in its clinical application: It's the combination of two facts:

1) Human recall is imperfect. The act of remembering an event actively modifies the memory for future recall, which can be tinted by other thoughts and experiences someone is having while doing the recollection.

2) It's rather difficult to feel strong negative emotion while on MDMA. While under the effects, the baseline is somewhere between "happy" and "downright euphoric".

Combine those two ideas, and you have a pretty compelling groundwork for how MDMA would help those with traumatic memories, particularly PTSD. Dose them with feel-good drugs, have them recall and talk through their traumatic memories without the usual, extreme negative emotional response, and the new memories are less associated with extreme negative emotion. Rinse, repeat, until someone can remember a traumatic experience without setting off an extreme stress response.

Re: US could soon approve MDMA therapy

#293
post #225

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think it's going to replace ADHD medication whatsoever. How would that even work?

MDMA is an amphetamine, like many ADHD medication, so it is not that much of a stretch to think that it can work. And to answer the "but you can't patent an old molecule", in fact, yes you can. Adderall is plain old amphetamine, but with a specific ratio of the D and L type, so it could be patented. The pharmaceutical industry is adept at making small tweaks to existing drugs, a supposed improvement according to thei…

We don’t have to stretch, plenty of people have ADHD and have taken MDMA, I can tell you personally that MDMA is in no way a substitute for regular adhd medication. Like, not even close. MDMA is basically a social/lovey high that mildly distorts your vision and senses, it is not something you would take regularly to help focus on work. And taking it once isn’t going to help you focus better after taking it

Re: US could soon approve MDMA therapy

#294

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The more barriers to entry the less likely someone is to buy a gun on impulse or "just to have." When they're not common on the street it's not needed to carry one for defence either. You say that drugs busts etc. outside the US will often have guns involved. Yes, criminals can still find ways to get them but ordinary people won't be bothered with this. The Netherlands for example has Europe's biggest port in Rotterd…

Disclaimer: I live in The Netherlands. My high-school friend was killed on holiday shortly after takeoff when a Buk 9M38 surface-to-air missile shot the plane down, killing 196 Dutch civilians. A famous crime reporter got shot in the street for covering a story about a high ranking drug lord. A news outlet got shot with a bazooka. So lets do some statistics: How many American civilians in the past 10 years have been…

I see your point but that incident didn't happen in a any way that can be tied to the regulatory measures that different states take, whereas gun crime can, so it feels like something of an apples and oranges comparison to me.

Want to say as an aside from the discussion that I'm sorry to hear about your friend and I hope that you got all the support you deserved during that time and since.

Re: US could soon approve MDMA therapy

#295
post #239

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The act of committing violence against another person with a weapon itself is traumatic. Most people can't simply turn off their instinct for empathy and kill another person in cold blood simply because the other is an "enemy," and not suffer psychological consequences, possibly even PTSD. Even police officers, professional killers that they are, have to go through mandatory counseling and assessment after a shooting…

> Realistically, your argument isn't to lessen trauma, but to simply normalize it. Which is exactly what American culture already does No, actually, my argument is that killing or injuring a person in self-defense is less traumatic than being helpless while getting assaulted. Besides, trauma is relative - "normalizing" trauma is another way of saying "being desensitised" - which is exactly the process therapy itself…

There's also different levels of trauma involved in the kind of assault you're likelyt to come up against. Being held up at gunpoint is something I can't imagine happening in my life.

Re: US could soon approve MDMA therapy

#297
post #159
post #19

I take valafaxine / effexor for depression and I remember for the first week or so getting slightly high like as if I'd taken a low dosage of E which was my drug of choice (I had a highly enjoyable albeit mistaken early 20s). I often wonder if there a correlation between my predilection for MDMA and my success with venlafaxine (which saved my life). On a political note it is perverse how alcohol which often renders p…

> Alcohol I think the real issue [EDIT with trying to restrict alcohol] is that alcohol is so easy to produce. I've got some "tea wine" brewing ATM that consists of tea, sugar, and bread yeast. You could literally make hard apple cider with just pressed apple juice in a jar with a lid loose enough to let the CO2 escape; the apples will have wild yeast on them already. No idea how to make MDMA, but I presume it's nowh…

It's not that easy, but it's not exactly difficult, either. I've seen more complicated baking recipes. The hard part is not having the DEA kick down your door, shoot your dog, and throw you in a cage.

Re: US could soon approve MDMA therapy

#298

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It has to be a significant part of the total because it’s being used as an argument against introducing new treatments for PTSD.

I read it to be less against pharmaceutical treatments and more in support of preventative social measures.

It’s not clear that the two aren’t one and the same. MDMA treatments for PTSD are not ongoing medications. Generally they are just 3 sessions of assisted therapy producing a huge reduction in symptoms.

If we can reduce the level of trauma and fear in society, we can reduce associated behaviors.

Re: US could soon approve MDMA therapy

#299
post #80
post #18

Personally, I left tech in large part to become a therapist doing psychedelic-assisted clinical work when it becomes legal. It really does seem like it can be a potent tool for relieving great suffering. You can read a little about my story here: http://glench.com/WhyIQuitTechAndBecameATherapist/

I’m a year into a sabbatical after spending almost 20 years in tech. I’m currently seriously considering a similar career change, as daunting as it seems at first glance. It’s pretty interesting to find comment threads like this in this particular moment of my life. I think there’s something about being an empathic person in an environment that values systems thinking. As I’ve cultivated that mindset and skillset, it…

> I think there’s something about being an empathic person in an environment that values systems thinking

You took the words right out of my mouth. That's exactly how I am feeling these days.

Re: US could soon approve MDMA therapy

#300
post #164

Or just do drugs by yourself or with friends and not around some stranger who guides you to state approved answers. Also do mushrooms, not this shit. Only reason they're pushing this brain-melting stuff is because they can make a buck. 'actually drugs are good now. Just give us your credit card and insurance info and step right this way'. Fuck off. Do drugs in the woods and sort your shit out like we've been doing fo…

> Only reason they're pushing this brain-melting stuff is because they can make a buck

Citations sorely needed. The only paper I’ve seen make neurotoxicity claims was retracted long ago[1].

1. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC194116/

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