On February 28, 2013, the protocol (full protocol | synopsis) for our planned study of MDMA-assisted therapy for social anxiety in autistic adults was submitted to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for review. This will be a MAPS-sponsored collaborative study between Los Angeles Biomedical Research Institute at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center and the Stanford University School of Medicine. Social anxiety is prevalent in autistic adults, and often compounds the considerable social challenges faced by autistic adults. The main objective of this study is to collect data on the safety of MDMA-assisted therapy in autistic adults, and to use standard clinical measures to estimate the extent to which MDMA-assisted therapy may reduce social anxiety symptoms in this group. Even though we did attempt to obtain external funding from a private foundation, our letter of intent was rejected. Please consider donating to help complete this study.

Alicia Danforth, Ph.D.(c), will present the results of her research on the MDMA experiences of adults on the autism spectrum on Saturday, April 20 at Psychedelic Science 2013.