Abstracts Health Sciences

Risk assessment of MDMA

by L.B. van Engelen

The therapeutic properties of MDMA were discovered by Alexander Shulgin in 1965, after which it was used in more than a thousand therapy sessions in the United States of America. The high potential for abuse of MDMA led to questions about illegalization of MDMA. Eventually, the neurotoxic effects and the illicit use have led to the illegalization in 1988 and from then on MDMA was classified as a schedule 1 drug by the DEA. This classification prohibits the therapeutic use of MDMA and further testing in clinical trials. Therefore it was no longer possible to study or make use of the potential medical properties of the drug. During the last decade in Switzerland and other countries, clinical trials with MDMA have been performed. This research is heavily criticized by some people who argue that even a single dose of MDMA possesses neurotoxic properties (Parrott 2012). Nevertheless, promising results have been found in a clinical trial on MDMA as a treatment for individuals suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). In the light of those findings, a risk assessment of MDMA is necessary (M. C. Mithoefer et al. 2013). The dose of MDMA used in PTSD therapy is around 1-2 mg/kg body weight (BW) and will be considered as the standard in the present study. The safety of this dose in the clinic will be assessed via a scientific literature review. This review will treat MDMA as if it was a new drug to enter the market. All use of ecstasy or MDMA as a party drug is beyond the scope of this risk assessment, and therefore the emotions often related to the use of illicit drugs will not influence this review. Since the ‘war on drugs’ has tried to put all drugs in a negative ambience, this research pays extra attention to the backgrounds and positions of the authors to make a well-weight risk estimation. Disclaimer: Any information given in this risk assessment cannot be used to justify the illicit use of MDMA.