Ecstasy is Good for People That Suffer From Trauma The Ministry of Health is examining the possibility of using the active essence in Ecstasy to treat people suffering from trauma. In the United States, research will soon start in human beings. Dan Even Maariv November 15, 2002 The Ministry of Health is examining the possibility of using the active essence of Ecstasy to treat people whose trauma was caused by events of terror and war. On Sunday, the Ministry will examine the first research in this area that started in Spain and will soon continue in the United States. Yesterday, there was a special conference at the government psychiatric hospital, Beer Yakov. At the conference, recent research results from Spain were presented as were plans for the continuation of the research. "We hope that the treatment with MDMA, the active essence of Ecstasy, will help the pain of people who are treated and provide them with life with no fear," said Dr. Jose Carlos Bouso, University of Madrid. Bouso's research was conducted on women who developed trauma after sexual assault. This research was stopped because of political pressure. Nevertheless, in November 2001, research was approved in the United States and will start soon in South Carolina. Dr. Jorge Gleser, Director of Substance Abuse Treatment, Israeli Ministry of Health, says that the approval received for the research in the United States will help the process of getting approval in Israel. According to Dr. Gleser, ecstasy is controversial since it can cause death. In Israel, 8 people have died since 1999 due to ecstasy consumption. "It is important to emphasize that this is a proposal for research that is to be supervised by a medical committee. It is very important to say that everyone shouldn't take ecstasy as much as they want because the substance effects people in different ways. To some of the people, nothing happens but others can die. If we could help people this would be great. But it is important that we don't cause damage." Back to the Media Page