It's the Brian Laird Show on WNYC.

Good morning again, everyone.

If you were listening to our HIV-related segment before the news,

here's another very different public health topic.

The Food and Drug Administration of the federal government

is currently considering MDMA as a treatment

for post-traumatic stress disorder.

But the agency raised concerns last week, citing flaws in the studies

that they're looking at to decide on regulating or deregulating.

You might know of MDMA as ecstasy or Mali.

Sometimes ecstasy is used to talk about the pill form of MDMA,

while Mali is usually referring to a powder,

sometimes put into a capsule for ingestion, and is supposed to be a

purer form of MDMA. According to the National Institutes of Health, MDMA's effects may include,

quote, feeling more energetic and alert and having an increased sense of well-being, warmth,

and openness toward others. The NIH also says, while rare,

overdoses can happen. The FDA has said that bias has seeped into the studies, herein lies the

problem, because both participants and therapists were able to figure out who got MDMA versus a placebo. They also pointed out

some what they call significant increases in blood pressure and pulse rates that could trigger

cardiovascular events, this according to recent reporting on those studies in the New York Times.

The fight to get MDMA in front of the FDA goes back decades. And here to

explain how we got to this moment and what comes next is Anna Silman, features correspondent at

...