A groups of researchers would like to find out if Ecstasy could help adults with autism deal with social anxiety.
The team wrote up a proposed study for Science Direct, stating that MDMA, the medical name for Ecstasy, in controlled doses could ease social anxiety. MDMA has been illegal in the U.S. since the 1980s, and is a popular party drug, with users experiencing euphoric highs. The researchers wrote that MDMA has the capacity to "help people talk openly and honestly about themselves and their relationships, without defensive conditioning intervening," and the team would look at using MDMA as a way to reduce social anxiety in adults with autism, not as a treatment for autism itself, Time reports.
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