As a war veteran (Somalia 1993) I know from personal experience that posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) can be devastating. Conventional treatments are often unsuccessful, which is why I took an interest in the excellent results of a trial of MDMA-assisted psychotherapy conducted by MAPS in the USA. In late 2010 MAPS founder and Executive Director Rick Doblin spoke about the trial at a conference in Melbourne and offered $25,000 to seed an Australian study into MDMA-assisted psychotherapy for war veterans with PTSD. Since then I’ve been helping to get this study off the ground with a small team of volunteers. We’ve formed a non-profit association called Psychedelic Research in Science & Medicine Inc (PRISM) and we’re working very closely with Rick and his staff at MAPS to establish the first Australian clinical trial. If you’re interested in this trial or in psychedelic research generally, please connect with PRISM via www.prism.org.au. You’ll find social media links on the home page of the website.

A word of caution on MDMA or ecstasy: Since MDMA became a prohibited drug in the mid 1980s, law enforcement activity has reduced the availability of pure MDMA. Much of what’s sold illegally as MDMA or ‘ecstasy’ is either not pure, or is an entirely different substance altogether. Until MDMA becomes a legal medicine once again and can be quality controlled, it’s safety can’t be guaranteed. The only exception is during legal clinical trials.