Why soldiers should take MDMA to treat trauma
This Is Why
Sky News
4.0 • 552 Ratings
🗓️ 29 April 2026
⏱️ 18 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
The party drug ecstasy is usually associated with packed nightclubs and panicked politicians talking about the dangers involved in taking it.
However, a former head of the UK’s armed forces believes the drug’s active ingredient, known as MDMA, could be key to treating veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder.
General Sir Nick Carter is now calling on the government to relax restrictions in order to reduce the crippling cost of clinical trials. What evidence is there to suggest this treatment could be effective and what’s been the reaction from the few former soldiers who have benefitted so far?
Niall is joined by Sky’s science correspondent Thomas Moore.
Warning: Contains references to drug taking, depression and suicide.
Have you got a question for Niall? Email the show: why@sky.uk
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Sky News, the full story first. |
| 0:11.3 | It's illegal, it's Class A and it's better known as ecstasy. |
| 0:15.1 | But a former head of the armed forces wants to give MDMA to traumatise soldiers. |
| 0:19.5 | And this is why. |
| 0:24.5 | Hello. wants to give MDMA to traumatise soldiers. And this is why. Hello, I'm Beth Rigby. |
| 0:26.1 | I'm Ruth Davidson. |
| 0:27.0 | And I'm Harriet Harmon. |
| 0:28.1 | We're the host of electoral dysfunction, |
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| 1:03.3 | Tough laws, strict controls, zero tolerance. But what happens when those same rules start getting |
| 1:09.8 | in the way of treating the people we send to fight our actual wars? |
| 1:13.6 | No one really talks about it. |
| 1:15.6 | It's a massive, shunned, dark area where, from my time in the military, there is definitely people who have mental health issues, who have PTSD, but they can't talk about it. |
... |
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