(Wall Street Journal) – Participants in studies of the psychedelic, which is up for U.S. approval, tell WSJ they felt pressure to report positive outcomes.

Studies being used to decide whether the U.S. should authorize an ecstasy-based drug for traumatized patients missed serious side effects and were marked by bias. The Food and Drug Administration is expected within days to decide whether to approve the drug, known as MDMA, for treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder. Approval would be a milestone in decades of efforts to decriminalize the use of psychedelics. 

Three people who were subjects in the studies told The Wall Street Journal that their thoughts of suicide worsened during or after testing, but their downward slides weren’t captured in trial data and therefore not reflected in the final results. (Read More)