Reply #30: "Ecstasy May Help Cancer Patients In Their Dying Days: Harvard Med"

[VolcanoJen]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2004/12/29/we29.xml&sSheet=/news/2004/12/29/ixworld.html

The illegal drug ecstasy is to be given to cancer patients in America in a pilot study to investigate whether it can help the terminally ill to cope with their final days.

The trial by researchers at Harvard Medical School will test the drug's effects in helping to alleviate patients' fears, overcome any thoughts of suicide they have and make it easier for them to deal with their loved ones.

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Dr John Halpern, a Harvard research psychiatrist leading the four-month trial, said some hallucinogenic drugs, when used properly, could have medical benefits.

Ecstasy is "ego-friendly" and, unlike some painkillers, did not over-sedate people and make them foggy and unsteady, he said. Instead, it could reduce stress and increase empathy.

He cited stories of people dying of cancer who took ecstasy and afterwards were able to talk to their family and friends about death and other subjects they could not broach before.

"End-of-life issues are very important yet there are very few options for patients who are facing death," he said.