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American Morning

'Ecstasy' Benefit?

Aired February 26, 2004 - 08:43   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Dr. Gupta is out today, but there is a new study that says the use of Ecstasy among American teenagers is declining, but the drug remains a very real health threat. So it may come as a bit of a surprise to learn that the government has decided to study Ecstasy to see if it has a real healing power.
Dr. Drew Pinsky, author of the book "Cracked," is an expert on addiction.

He is live in L.A.

Good to see you, Dr. Drew.

DR. DREW PINSKY, AUTHOR, "CRACKED": Good morning.

HEMMER: Welcome back here to AMERICAN MORNING.

PINSKY: Thanks for having me here.

Thank you.

HEMMER: So the study goes, they're going to study a group of women and see if Ecstasy helps them with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.

Is this crack science to you or is it legit?

PINSKY: No, it's quite legitimate. People need to not become confused about the danger of drugs and their potential therapeutic value, understand there are very dangerous medications like morphine or Oxycontin that are tremendously powerful and important medications. And here is an example of a medication, Ecstasy, which we know has some addictive potential. We know it's potentially neurotoxin. We know people can get hypothermia and die from even as much as one exposure. And yet there is a growing sort of body of evidence that there may be some therapeutic value for this drug in desperate situations.

Really, we're talking about studying it in very limited use for people that have recalcitrant Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. And there is some anecdotal evidence throughout the world that this may help in some way. It's hard for me to reconcile the biology with the pharmacological effects of this drug, because we're really talking about the treatment of a trauma which is creating a reintegration of certain brain mechanisms. How an over stimulating chemical is going to result in brain growth, quite literally, is very hard to reconcile.

HEMMER: So this next question may be tough to answer, then.

What is it within Ecstasy that may be able to treat women who suffer from this disorder?

PINSKY: That's what we don't know. It clearly causes what we call serotinergic stimulation and, in fact, serotinergic hyper stimulation to the point that parts of the brain that normally use serotonin as its communicating chemical, those parts of the brain can actually be damaged permanently. So it's something about the over activity of that part of the brain, perhaps knocking off or decreasing the activity of parts of the brain that are over active as a result of trauma.

I think the idea that it creates a psychological effect may be somewhat naive, the idea that somehow people are more open to looking at the narrative around their trauma because of the sort of subjective effects of the drug, that, to me, is kind of naive because it's so biologically powerful.

It's almost like looking at electric shock therapy again. There is a very, very powerful and potentially dangerous intervention that we use now with quite great effects on recalcitrant cases of depression.

Well, this Ecstasy may become our sort of fallback position for severely recalcitrant cases of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.

HEMMER: Are you worried about the impact on society? There may be some people who look at this study and say well, if the DEA said you can go ahead and do it, then maybe it's all right after all?

PINSKY: Listen, you have, you make a good point here. Whenever there is a medication out there that doctors can prescribe, there's a concern that people are going to overuse it, merely because they were just doing what a doctor said or how bad can it be because, after all, it's pharma -- it's commercially available?

The fact is that potential -- listen, you wouldn't go take a chemo agent, either, and yet that's something that's -- it's a poison, but it's pharmacologically and commercially available to you. But it's not something you wouldn't use -- you would use outside of very, very controlled situations. And the same is going to be true for this drug.

Whether or not it becomes sort of a defense or a way of fueling denial of people who just want to use Ecstasy, yes, probably it will.

HEMMER: Thanks.

Good to talk to you.

Appreciate your thoughts.

PINSKY: My pleasure.

Good morning. HEMMER: Drew Pinsky in L.A.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com







Aired February 26, 2004 - 08:43   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Dr. Gupta is out today, but there is a new study that says the use of Ecstasy among American teenagers is declining, but the drug remains a very real health threat. So it may come as a bit of a surprise to learn that the government has decided to study Ecstasy to see if it has a real healing power.
Dr. Drew Pinsky, author of the book "Cracked," is an expert on addiction.

He is live in L.A.

Good to see you, Dr. Drew.

DR. DREW PINSKY, AUTHOR, "CRACKED": Good morning.

HEMMER: Welcome back here to AMERICAN MORNING.

PINSKY: Thanks for having me here.

Thank you.

HEMMER: So the study goes, they're going to study a group of women and see if Ecstasy helps them with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.

Is this crack science to you or is it legit?

PINSKY: No, it's quite legitimate. People need to not become confused about the danger of drugs and their potential therapeutic value, understand there are very dangerous medications like morphine or Oxycontin that are tremendously powerful and important medications. And here is an example of a medication, Ecstasy, which we know has some addictive potential. We know it's potentially neurotoxin. We know people can get hypothermia and die from even as much as one exposure. And yet there is a growing sort of body of evidence that there may be some therapeutic value for this drug in desperate situations.

Really, we're talking about studying it in very limited use for people that have recalcitrant Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. And there is some anecdotal evidence throughout the world that this may help in some way. It's hard for me to reconcile the biology with the pharmacological effects of this drug, because we're really talking about the treatment of a trauma which is creating a reintegration of certain brain mechanisms. How an over stimulating chemical is going to result in brain growth, quite literally, is very hard to reconcile.

HEMMER: So this next question may be tough to answer, then.

What is it within Ecstasy that may be able to treat women who suffer from this disorder?

PINSKY: That's what we don't know. It clearly causes what we call serotinergic stimulation and, in fact, serotinergic hyper stimulation to the point that parts of the brain that normally use serotonin as its communicating chemical, those parts of the brain can actually be damaged permanently. So it's something about the over activity of that part of the brain, perhaps knocking off or decreasing the activity of parts of the brain that are over active as a result of trauma.

I think the idea that it creates a psychological effect may be somewhat naive, the idea that somehow people are more open to looking at the narrative around their trauma because of the sort of subjective effects of the drug, that, to me, is kind of naive because it's so biologically powerful.

It's almost like looking at electric shock therapy again. There is a very, very powerful and potentially dangerous intervention that we use now with quite great effects on recalcitrant cases of depression.

Well, this Ecstasy may become our sort of fallback position for severely recalcitrant cases of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.

HEMMER: Are you worried about the impact on society? There may be some people who look at this study and say well, if the DEA said you can go ahead and do it, then maybe it's all right after all?

PINSKY: Listen, you have, you make a good point here. Whenever there is a medication out there that doctors can prescribe, there's a concern that people are going to overuse it, merely because they were just doing what a doctor said or how bad can it be because, after all, it's pharma -- it's commercially available?

The fact is that potential -- listen, you wouldn't go take a chemo agent, either, and yet that's something that's -- it's a poison, but it's pharmacologically and commercially available to you. But it's not something you wouldn't use -- you would use outside of very, very controlled situations. And the same is going to be true for this drug.

Whether or not it becomes sort of a defense or a way of fueling denial of people who just want to use Ecstasy, yes, probably it will.

HEMMER: Thanks.

Good to talk to you.

Appreciate your thoughts.

PINSKY: My pleasure.

Good morning. HEMMER: Drew Pinsky in L.A.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com