Drug slang can help researchers understand drug trends. But if you’re taking a drug called by a street name, make sure you know what it is.
Research over the last decade has shown MDMA-assisted psychotherapy to be effective in treating PTSD from military combat, sexual assault and childhood abuse. Now researchers are trialing MDMA with couples and finding promising results.
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MDMA is better known as the party psychedelic Ecstasy or Molly. Used clinically, together with psychotherapy, it reduces symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder, and shows promise with couples.
Just around 3% of teens have used MDMA (ecstasy) in the past year.
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Few teens use MDMA and scare tactics, like those we’ve seen recently, are unlikely to reduce existing drug use further.
If NSW takes on the coroner’s recommendations, it will be among the most innovative and evidence-based states in Australia on drug policy.
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Most drug use among Australian festival goers appears to be occasional and isn’t problematic. But a small group experience higher rates of drug-related harms.
Festival goers bring their phones. So why not use them to receive tweets about high-dose drugs in circulation, as the UK is doing?
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There are many ways to reduce harm from drugs at music festivals beyond the much publicised pill testing. Here’s what else we can do.
Research has shown psychedelic drugs can have a positive effect on a range of mental health conditions, but there are side effects.
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Australia is about to start its first trial of psychedelic drugs for the treatment of anxiety and depression. If the results are positive, this could transform the way we treat mental illness.
Many brides are ecstatic when they marry, but few use the drug ecstasy on the big day. Kim Kardashian West recently divulged that she did. A drug expert explains the big risks of the party drug.
There is a growing research literature suggesting psychedelics hold incredible promise for treating mental health ailments ranging from depression and anxiety to PTSD.
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To know the real promise of psychedelic substances like LSD, mushrooms and MDMA, researchers must embrace the principles and practise of ‘open science.’
We’ve got better at managing the health risks of traditional drugs of abuse, but novel psychoactive substances, or ‘legal highs’, are a dangerous unknown.
Scientific pursuits need to be coupled with a humanist tradition — to highlight not just how psychedelics work, but why that matters.
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Once associated with mind-control experiments and counter-cultural defiance, psychedelics now show great promise for mental health treatments and may prompt a re-evaluation of the scientific method.