Legalize this life-saving treatment for PTSD

Re: “Ecstasy as a treatment moves ahead in legislature,” April 6 news story

This is a fervent plea for Coloradans to support bipartisan House Bill 1344 — sponsored by State Reps. Patrick Neville and David Ortiz, both U.S. Army veterans. This bill legalizes therapeutic use of MDMA, or “ecstasy” to treat post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). As reported recently in The Post, use of MDMA in a controlled therapeutic environment has shown dramatic success in treating this scourge. After treatment, a substantial majority of participants in a recent study no longer met the clinical criteria for PTSD. The Post cites a study participant as saying that the treatment “made me not want to die anymore!”

The Federal Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is expected to allow this use of MDMA for therapeutic use as soon as next year. Unfortunately, the drug would still be illegal in Colorado. HB-1344 would remove this state restriction, as soon as federal approval occurs.

There is a desperate need for effective treatment of PTSD, which must also be seen as a communicable disease. We send our young men and women of to fight our wars, many of whom return with PTSD.

All too often one of these folks “goes off” and does something violent that makes the local news. These acts must often be dealt with by our peace officers, for whom trauma is a daily fact of life. Many of these public servants themselves end up experiencing PTSD, and the cycle goes on.

Please don’t wait, or you may forget! Contact your Colorado state senators and representatives and demand that they pass this life-saving, life-altering bill!

Richard Parsons, Pine