The university is part of a new national study looking at MDMA, better known as the street drug ecstasy, for post-traumatic stress disorder. The Food and Drug Administration has already labeled the drug a “breakthrough therapy” for PTSD.

“These are extremely potent psychoactive compounds,” said Dr. Steven Garlow, a UW Health psychiatrist who has been treating Ferguson and others with ketamine. “It seems perfectly reasonable, in a responsible fashion, to look at how they can be used in a beneficial way.”

Psilocybin, MDMA and most other psychedelics are illegal and not approved for any medical condition. They are officially available only in research settings.

Ketamine, however, is approved by the FDA as an anesthetic. That means doctors can use it in other ways, such as for depression.

‘Like flipping a switch’

Garlow has been giving ketamine to patients with depression since 2012, when he was at Emory University in Atlanta. After coming to UW Health in 2015, he started a ketamine program in Madison early last year.