Health and Healthcare

Can the Club Drug Ecstasy Help Problem Drinkers?

Colman Andrews

Published: July 25, 2019 10:36 am

Last Updated: January 6, 2020 3:02 am

Doctors and drug counselors have long warned the public about the dangers of drinking alcohol while taking the club drug MDMA, also known as Molly or Ecstasy. The combination, they say, can induce severe dehydration, which amplifies the toxic and sometimes fatal effects of the drug. It’s seldom a good idea to mix alcohol with any drugs. The side effects vary greatly and can be extremely menacing — these are the 25 most dangerous drugs on the market right now.  

Now, though, a small-scale study conducted by researchers at Imperial College London in cooperation with the U.K.’s National Health Service mental health trust in Bath, have suggested a way in which MDMA and alcohol might interact in a beneficial way. That’s by using one to help wean people off dependence on the other.

The study involved four people who engaged in “harmful” daily drinking, including one who had been imbibing for 30 years and another who had once been a heroin user. Three of them had previously tried to stop drinking and failed. 

Over an eight-week period, the four underwent weekly psychotherapy sessions and on two occasions over the course of the study took 99.9% pure MDMA along with the therapy.  

Nine months after the experiments had concluded, two of the subjects had remained completely sober and two had slipped up only once, taking a single drink. None of them experienced any cravings for MDMA or other negative side effects.

The authors of the study, which was published in the journal BMJ Case Reports, positioned it as a “first study of safety and tolerability” for the use of MDMA and therapy in treating “patients with alcohol use disorder.”

Follow-up studies to establish the role played by MDMA in the outcome will be conducted. “We conclude that the treatment is well-tolerated,” wrote the authors, “and are making plans to expand the project into a randomised placebo-controlled study.” 

Giving up the habit is a good idea for many people. And maybe coffee drinks are a good alternative. It has many health benefits that are derived from a number of the drink’s properties, not the least of which is its caffeine content — these are at least 18 reasons to drink coffee for your health.