I'm really glad that someone is doing this research. I first heard about the potential benefits of MDMA in therapy at a talk by David Nutt some years ago, but he was skeptical that we would be able to investigate it further because of tough restrictions around research into illegal drugs.
In case anyone is not already aware, David Nutt was the head of the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD), a scientific advisory body to the UK government. In 2009 he published an editorial comparing the harm from taking ecstasy (MDMA) to the harm from horse riding (in short, you can make a powerful case that horse riding is much more dangerous than taking ecstasy). In October 2009 he was dismissed from his position, because "he cannot be both a government adviser and a campaigner against government policy."
In my view it was a terrible decision by the UK government, and showcased their reluctance to make evidence-based decisions on politically charged subjects (like drugs, prison sentences, immigration etc). Since then, David Nutt has formed the Independent Scientific Committee on Drugs (ISCD), whose website [1] is well worth visiting if you want the most up to date and scientifically reliable information on drugs.
In case anyone is not already aware, David Nutt was the head of the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD), a scientific advisory body to the UK government. In 2009 he published an editorial comparing the harm from taking ecstasy (MDMA) to the harm from horse riding (in short, you can make a powerful case that horse riding is much more dangerous than taking ecstasy). In October 2009 he was dismissed from his position, because "he cannot be both a government adviser and a campaigner against government policy."
In my view it was a terrible decision by the UK government, and showcased their reluctance to make evidence-based decisions on politically charged subjects (like drugs, prison sentences, immigration etc). Since then, David Nutt has formed the Independent Scientific Committee on Drugs (ISCD), whose website [1] is well worth visiting if you want the most up to date and scientifically reliable information on drugs.
[1] http://www.drugscience.org.uk/