GOLDEN VALLEY, Minn. - A pill that's known as the "party drug" has been approved for large-scale trials to treat post-traumatic stress disorder.
Ecstasy, commonly known as Molly or the chemical MDMA, has been a popular club drug for decades.
According to the National Institutes of Health, the man-made drug was created in Germany in the early 1900s. A small number of U.S. psychiatrists started using it on patients in the 1970s under the government's radar. Then, as the drug hit the underground scene in the 80s, it was banned by the government.
On Tuesday, the Food and Drug Administration approved phase 3 large clinical trials of Ecstasy to be used on patients with PTSD.
In one previous trial, Ecstasy was given to patients by the psychiatrist during therapy sessions as part of a larger treatment schedule. According to the New York Times, the patients reported a 56-percent decrease in severity of symptoms on average and by the end of the study, two-thirds of the patients no longer met the criteria for PTSD.
