After entering the FDA, MDMA will no longer be considered a common drug

2024 was supposed to be the year that MDMA, perhaps better known as “ecstasy” or “molly,” made its big breakthrough.

Until this summer, the drug had been emerging from the underground and entering mainstream mental health care. Amid a lack of new PTSD treatments and alarming suicide rates among veterans, results from late-stage clinical trials seemed promising, and supporters hoped the FDA would approve the drug for medical use.

Then an FDA advisory panel warned of trial methods, bias and potential data withholding that could jeopardize MDMA’s medicinal prospects. Now the psychedelic drug is at a make-or-break point, with the FDA set to announce this month whether it’s ready for use as a PTSD treatment.

In this three-part series, Explain todayHalima Shah reports on the promise and precariousness of MDMA. Beginning with the rogue chemists and therapists who believed in the 1980s that MDMA could transform psychotherapy, the series traces the decades-long effort to turn the dancefloor drug into a medicinal drug, through the war on drugs, the rave era, and the psychedelic renaissance, explaining how a once-maligned drug became an icon of healing—and how, no matter what the FDA decides, healing will never be the same.

Listen to the first two episodes below or wherever you find your podcasts. The final episode of the series will be released on Thursday, August 8.