Very greatful that Science Friday asked me to contribute to this discussion as a methodologist. I hope I do the many critical voices in the field justice with the concerns I raised. You should give it a listen either way, given that Sarah, as per usual, makes many crucial points

Approved or not, FDA should address problems w/ the MDMA-AT research: unethical conduct, poor design/data collection, unsubstantiated conclusions designed to spark hype & donations. MAPS should be held accountable for the harms they have caused. U.S. FDA should audit ALL videos.

“An important thing to remember is that this is a very sick population of people that we’re taking care of” Dr. Alia Lilienstein, Lykos senior medical director. Dehumanizing framing aside, Lykos is testing a drug, not "taking care" of people. archive.is/2vxMr

True believers everywhere, and by no accident. It's been part of Rick Doblin, Ph.D., of MAPS and MAPS's "political science" strategy for years. Independent experts gave a psychedelic treatment for PTSD a scathing review. Some in Congress want it approved anyway. politico.com/news/2024/08/0…

“An important thing to remember is that this is a very sick population of people that we’re taking care of” Dr. Alia Lilienstein, Lykos senior medical director. Dehumanizing framing aside, Lykos is testing a drug, not "taking care" of people. wsj.com/health/healthc…

Great threat summarising the issues.

I know the internet isn’t much for nuance but: it’s possible to believe MDMA has tremendous therapeutic potential and shouldn’t land you in jail while also believing that Lykos may have downplayed adverse outcomes and overstated the reliability of standardized treatment.

MDMA-AT has never been proven to have «almost DOUBLE the efficacy of existing treatments». U.S. FDA judgement and decision is in line with an almost unanimous group of independent, non-partisan scientific committees judging the evidence for MDMA-AT as insufficient.

“Randomized trials are outdated” This is cargo cult behavior

Somehow it's gotten lost in the mix that plenty of people critiquing MDMA-AT are concerned that (among other things) approval and scaling up would result in veterans and other patients getting hurt, possibly getting worse, and that suicide rates could rise.

My favorite post-FDA decision thread.

The MDMA saga - Comments from Sarah McNamee - one of the participants in the MDMA arm of the MAPP1 trial. 🚨 Though my clinical training and research experience absolutely inform my perspective, I think it’s important to note that other trial participants without this

Littlefoot's mom in Land Before Time. 😭

👇

For anyone wanting to get into the specifics of MAPS's flawed methodologies, we covered a lot of ground back in 2022 with New York Magazine. David Nickles. thecut.com/article/mdma-p…

I suppose now's as good a time as any to announce that I resigned from Psymposia in April, 2023, 7 months before David Nickles. I appreciate that he stuck around to try and get accountability. I had to get out. Check out our new website: secondhallway.com

A Brief Statement on My Resignation from Psymposia secondhallway.com/blog/a-brief-s…