Scientists to launch trials to treat alcohol addiction with MDMA

Researchers in the UK are readying to begin the “world’s first” clinical study that will see psychoactive drug MDMA used in a treatment programme for alcohol addiction.

Doctors are expecting to administer the first dose of MDMA within two months

After receiving ethical approval last month, doctors at Imperial College London are expecting to administer the first dose of MDMA, or ecstasy, within the next two months.

Twenty patients have been recruited through the recreational drug and alcohol services in Bristol. The criteria is that they are heavy drinkers, consuming the equivalent of five bottles of wine a day on average, who have relapsed repeatedly after trying other forms of treatment.

The group will undergo a physical detox and will be given two standard therapy sessions without the drug. This will be followed by an day session where they are given a high dose of MDMA and will spend some time talking to a therapist and some time in a state of meditation.

“We know that MDMA works really well in helping people who have suffered trauma and it helps to build empathy,” said Ben Sessa, a clinical psychiatrist on the trial and senior research fellow at Imperial College London, told The Guardian.

A misconception is that the treatment is “all about the drug”, he added: “It’s using drugs to enhance the relationship between the therapist and the patient, and it allows us to dig down and get to the heart of the problems that drive long-term mental illness.”

On his website, Sessa states: “Forget what you know about the popular use of this compound in the context of the recreational drug ecstasy.

“MDMA is a medical drug that started its life in the clinical setting. It has a unique receptor profile that makes this drug, when combined in a supervised clinical setting with experienced psychotherapists, the perfect tool to enhance trauma-focused psychotherapy.”