Agony and Ecstasy

The December 18th issue of The Economist features an interesting article written by Craig Ward. In it, he describes a movement to alter the legal ban of the drug ecstasy (MDMA). There is, apparently, a significant amount of anecdotal and experiential evidence showing that MDMA can be used by psychotherapists to help treat their patients who suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder. According to Ward:

...in the 1980s MDMA, which at the time was still unregulated, escaped its semi-underground psychotherapeutic milieu and began to be taken by young people for the sheer fun of it. In a panic, America’s Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA), unaware of the therapeutic MDMA network, made an emergency classification in 1985 that placed MDMA in Schedule I—the most restrictive category for drugs with “a high potential for abuse” and “no currently accepted medical use”...Although 500,000 doses of MDMA had by this point been used in therapeutic settings, the compound was thereafter banned worldwide.

Rescheduling MDMA as schedule II would allow psychotherapist (under close DEA supervision) to resume legally using the drug for treating their patients. This article is a great follow-up to the Newsweek article that was assigned for reading in anatomy class.

Neckties

Today I talked to my classes about the necktie I was wearing, which I received as a Christmas gift. The small purple designs on it were actually drawings of Giardia lambia, which is an intestinal parasite. If anyone out there is experiencing tie jealousy and would like to order their own infectious disease tie, you can do so from the Infectious Awareables website.

One of my all time favorites:




In honor of today's Great American Smokeout. Almost 50 million Americans smoke. Half of all adult smokers were regular smokers by the time they turned 18. Every day, 4000 adolescents aged 12-17 smoke their first cigarette. 1300 of these will become lifetime smokers, and half of those will die from a smoking related condition. (Do the math, that's 650 adolescents per day who are taking their first steps down a road that will eventually kill them.)

If you haven't started, use today as a reminder of why you haven't. If you have started, today is a great day to stop.