EXAMINING ECSTASY

Bad trip" has long meant something other than a lousy vacation. But
the shady past of psychedelic drugs shouldn't dissuade the medical
community from seeing whether such drugs have legitimate therapeutic
use.

This month, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration agreed to allow
doctors at Harvard University to investigate whether the
hallucinogenic methylenedioxymethamphetamine can help cancer patients.
This drug is better known by its street name ecstasy, or "Ex," as many
teenagers call it. Users claim that it induces feelings of euphoria
and peace of mind. The Harvard researchers believe it might also
alleviate the intense anxiety that accompanies end-stage cancer.

Harvard has a rather dubious record when it comes to playing with
hallucinogenics. Forty years ago, faculty member Timothy Leary, a
psychologist, conducted a series of "experiments" in which he fed LSD
to students, friends -- basically anyone who happened by his office.
When it became clear that Leary ingested a fair bit of the stuff
himself, and was really little more than a stoner with a PhD, Harvard
fired him, whereupon he became an international drug guru.

This time around, Harvard promises to conduct the experiments in a
more controlled and clinical setting. It will recruit 12 subjects from
cancer wards and give them relatively low doses of ecstasy,
accompanied by counselling and psychological testing. An ethics review
board has approved the pilot project. It's a far cry from the
free-for-all laboratory of Timothy Leary.

Drug abusers unfortunately give drugs a bad name. Opponents of
medicinal marijuana, for example, often have trouble seeing beyond
images of Cheech an d Chong. Or they fear that to acknowledge the
medical benefit of certain drugs somehow legitimizes their
recreational use. These are misguided arguments. Even over-the-counter
medication such as Tylenol can be abused, but that doesn't discredit
Tylenol as a headache remedy. Admittedly, if Harvard scientists show
that ecstasy improves quality of life for cancer patients, the study
could have the effect of legitimizing ecstasy use -- but for cancer
patients, not 17-year-old nightclubbers.

In addition to the ecstasy study, the FDA has also approved an
investigation into the healing properties of psilocybin, the
ingredient that makes "magic mushrooms" magic. This study is already
underway at UCLA, and the psychiatrist in charge recently told The
Washington Post that the drug, administered to terminally ill cancer
patients, has resulted in "amelioration of anxiety" and "significant
and lasting reductions in pain."

Relief of pain and anxiety in dying patients is a worthy goal, so the
FDA is right to permit this kind of research. But the UCLA
psychiatrist heading up the study has hinted at larger ambitions. He
also told the Post the drug may even help "induce spiritual or
religious experiences" in cancer patients, so as, apparently, better
to prepare them for death.

Mr. Leary got into trouble because he thought spiritual transformation
could come in a pill. Doctors have a duty to discover and perfect new
treatments, but they should always remember that they're not clergy.