There’s a number of psychoactive compounds being studied for PTSD that have actually been used in the past in medical settings, then co opted by those just looking to get high, then made illegal, now making a comeback and being studied in large clinical trials.
Scientists are testing MDMA as a PTSD treatment for veterans
About three years after his discharge from the US Marine Corps, Nicholas Blackston is in an unfamiliar office, starting to feel the effects of an unfamiliar drug: as he watches, an old-fashioned banker’s lamp in the office suddenly bursts into kaleidoscope fractals. While the MDMA Blackston’s been dosed with is usually more associated with raves, glow sticks, and rap lyrics, the chemical also has a second life as a medication used to heal psychological wounds.
In some ways, Blackston is an ideal patient for MDMA — and one of a growing number of people with PTSD who are turning to the compound, as The Verge has previously reported. He wasn’t responding to the drugs that are typically prescribed for PTSD, and he has an open mind when it comes to alternative treatments. Blackston is part of a study that’s revived interest in the original use of MDMA: therapy.
Blackston joined the Marine Corps when he graduated from high school in 2004 — as the war in Iraq was steadily intensifying. On December 20th, 2006, during his second deployment, Blackston was in the passenger seat of a Humvee in Ramadi, acting as the machine gunner. The Humvee was struck by a rocket-propelled grenade fired by an insurgent. New armor was installed on the driver’s side of the truck, but the RPG caused a piece of metal to shoot underneath the driver’s window and through the driver’s lap. The shrapnel pierced ammo cans at Blackston’s feet and caused an explosion. “I took shrapnel to my butt, legs, and left testicle,” says Blackston. “My driver was killed.”
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http://www.theverge.com/2015/4/24/8471817/mdma-ptsd-therapy-veteran