A year ago Rick Doblin pulled off a trick most thought was impossible. He convinced the US Food and Drug Administration to allow a clinical study on ecstasy as a treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder. Ecstasy, or MDMA, is one of the most demonised drugs in the world. And for years federal agencies had stalled research into marijuana, which is less controversial, as a treatment for conditions such as multiple sclerosis and extreme nausea. So winning government approval for a therapeutic study on MDMA was nothing short of astonishing. The question is: why has the research still not begun? The answer is that for the past 12 months Doblin has been locked in an extraordinary paper war over his experiment. His continuing difficulties suggest that ideological resistance to the legitimate medical use of recreational drugs remains as strong as ever, the FDA decision notwithstanding.
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