SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — The Federal Drug Administration is allowing a team of San Francisco Bay Area psychotherapists to prescribe ecstasy to treat dying patients.
KNTV in San Jose reports Wednesday that ecstasy, or MDMA, is a recreational drug that brings on feelings of “loving and caring,” says Dr. Phil Wolfson, who is leading the 15-month experiment.
The federal government currently considers the recreational drug to have no therapeutic value, the stations reports.
Wolfson will conduct a clinical trial of 18 patients using the drug in conjunction with a number of intense therapeutic sessions.
Wolfson says he knows firsthand that ecstasy is effective in easing extreme anxiety. He says he used it when his son way dying from leukemia.
