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US could soon approve MDMA therapy

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Re: US could soon approve MDMA therapy

#151

Post by AlecSchueler »

bheadmaster wrote: post #109
hellweaver666 wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

erm... reduce the number of traumatic, life-threatening situations by taking away the guns? Get your police force under control and stop trying to control peoples minds and bodies could be a good start?

I am fairly skeptical of the claim that banning guns would significantly reduce gun violence. People who commit the most gun violence crimes (criminals) will find a way to get guns regardless of the laws. I live in a country where it's very hard to get weapons legally, yet almost every drug bust in the news also contains a significant amount of confiscated firearms.

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 Rotterdam and sees an incredible amount of drug-related smuggling. It has 3.9 guns per 100,000 people (107th in the world) while the US has 88.8 (1st in the world).

The rate of murder is 73 times more than the Netherlands.

Sources here: https://www.nationmaster.com/country-info/compare/Netherland...

Look at the murder rate: https://www.nationmaster.com/country-info/stats/Crime/Violen...

See how high the US then see how far you have to scroll down before you start seeing European countries appearing there.

Sources for more control leading to reduced homicides and guns on crime scenes:

1. https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/hicrc/firearms-research/guns-an...

2. https://injuryprevention.bmj.com/content/7/3/184

Re: US could soon approve MDMA therapy

#152

Post by BurningFrog »

chiefalchemist wrote: post #54
nkozyra wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My views have changed about this a lot over the years. I've gone from feeling that medication is largely unnecessary and that there are alternative routes to feeling that carefully directed medications can and often should be used along with alternative therapies, when applicable. Just throwing medication at a problem and calling it a day will never be useful, but seeing a lot of people find success with a mix of med…

> Fixing society is a much larger (and ultimately fluid, unsolvable) problem so I feel like whatever people can do to find contentme But why is it unsolvable? As the parent comment noted, these issues aren't as prevalent in other cultures. So why here? Why is these so much pain that needs to be medicated? I'm not anti-meds. I think the re-introduction of MDMA and other formerly alternative meds is a good thing as the…

If it is solvable, where are the already "fixed" societies?

Re: US could soon approve MDMA therapy

#154

Post by augment002 »

AlecSchueler wrote: post #135
bheadmaster wrote: post #120

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Does the number of people getting shot by their toddler siblings or after ringing a doorbell make up a significant percentage of total gun violence? If not, then banning guns would be, in software terms, a premature optimization.

Why does it have to be a significant percentage of the total? It's still contributing to avoidable life-changing trauma for the people involved.

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

Re: US could soon approve MDMA therapy

#155

Post by cactusplant7374 »

photochemsyn wrote: post #83

I'd imagine pharmaceutical interests in the USA in the mental illness treatment & maintenance field are depressed by this news - it's going to crush their profit model if successful: > "And it’s unclear whether approving MDMA on the basis of MAPS’s data would ease the way for other companies hoping to study and develop the drug, or whether anyone would even want to. MDMA has been around since 1912 and cannot be paten…

You can hardly blame them. So little is known about the brain.

Re: US could soon approve MDMA therapy

#156

Post by tayo42 »

KyeRussell wrote: post #122
adamq_q wrote: post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Someone has been spending a little too much time on Reddit

Oh please. Survey 100 random non-US residents and I’ll eat my hat if the majorly don’t say that US gun policy is absurd. The typical American argument is that the US is exceptional and that the views of “these damn foreigners” don’t matter. I on the other hand seldom hear Americans actively argue that US gun policy is looked upon favourably by the worldwide community. This is exactly what you’re doing by implying tha…

Thinking gun policy isn't good is different then dealing with ptsd. That same survey, if you ask how many people have ptsd because of guns in America, maybe you get one,if that.

Re: US could soon approve MDMA therapy

#157

Post by Spivak »

nwoli wrote: post #132
mardifoufs wrote: post #124

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ok but this isn't really true. The country with the most anti-depressant intake is Iceland , the US is around second or third place, yet the other countries in the "top ten" of antidepressant usage per capita are almost all european nations. The USA isn't an outlier, but I guess we really can't escape the "do americans really, really do X?" even when it is trivially easy to verify. The funny thing is that the reason…

Antidepressants and adderall are very different beasts

Yeah, antidepressants are way more complicated, they have more side effects, and have to be monitored carefully to not make the underlying issues that caused the patient to take them worse. Suicidal thoughts plus antidepressants that give you energy can give you the motivation to go through it. And despite not being categorized as addictive you can't stop taking them without wrecking your mental health until your body readjusts. If you don't refill your Rx of antidepressants your doctor will be notified and reach out to you because stopping has such pronounced effects.

While at the same time despite being a controlled substance because they're supposedly so addictive people with ADHD forget to take adderall and with normal use you don't take it every day.

We got this this shit so unbelievably backwards because we haven't shook the puritanical bullshit of "oh no someone might experience euphoria if they go out of their way to abuse it." Like bro, people with real medical issues shouldn't suffer because of this crap. If everyone who is buying cocaine from their dealer switched to medically supervised stimulants we would be unquestionably better off.

Re: US could soon approve MDMA therapy

#158

Post by BurningFrog »

JAlexoid wrote: post #128
martopix wrote: post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The stigmatization of mental conditions in Europe is sky high, to the point that it's barely possible to be seen as sane if you're just seeing a therapist. I think this is just not true. I've never seen so many people talk openly about seeing a therapist as in the last few years. I'm almost surprised by how mainstream it has become.

Not my experience. You can have someone with cancer openly talk about it, but any psychological issue is treated like it's your own personal fault.

"Europe" is many very different countries.

Re: US could soon approve MDMA therapy

#159

Post by gwd »

baggsie wrote: 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 nowhere near that easy.

Re: US could soon approve MDMA therapy

#160

Post by goodpoint »

bluetomcat wrote: post #20

As an outsider, that American obsession with prescripted medication seems maddening. Many of these conditions are caused by underlying societal factors and are nowhere near as widespread outside the US. The American solution is to throw more pills at the problem, or ostracise the patients not willing to take that route. Even children are offered an ever larger number of pills, and are constantly challenged about thei…

> that American obsession with prescripted medication seems maddening

Yes but don't confuse short term use of medication to help with therapy with long-term to help sell pills.

The first can be beneficial, the latter is very profitable. And because of the profit motive, millions of poor people with serious conditions go untreated.

What is really bad is the complete absence of any public debate about prevention. Individuals are completely blamed for mental health issues and society gets a pass.

> and are constantly challenged about their self-identification.

Huh? What are you talking about??

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