Medical researchers in Boulder had an overflowing wait list for a study that combines the psychoactive drug MDMA with therapy to treat post-traumatic stress disorder.

“People with PTSD are suffering every single day, and so many people are taking their own lives,” said the study’s principal investigator, Marcela Ot’alora.

The study focuses on participants who have tried multiple forms of therapy and medications to combat their trauma and have not seen results, said Will Van Derveer, one of the lead researchers in the clinical trial.

MDMA is what people think they are buying when they get ecstasy on the street, said University of Colorado School of Medicine professor Jim Grigsby, but it is usually not what users end up with.

“More than half of the time, when people get ecstasy or molly off the street, there is no MDMA in it at all,” he said. “And if there is, it’s usually adulterated by stimulants like methamphetamine.”

Twenty-nine people — mostly from Colorado but a few from other states — first receive preparatory meetings that advise them of possible side effects from the psychoactive drug, followed by MDMA dosages concurrent with eight-hour therapy sessions.

The drug releases chemicals like serotonin, which Van Derveer said helps people feel relaxed, and oxytocin — a hormone that increases trust and decreases fear.

“One of the things that MDMA provides is a sense of bonding with the world, with people, with their therapist and with themselves,” Ot’alora said.

After participants are dosed, Ot’alora said therapy that was otherwise unavailable due to patients becoming numb or too overwhelmed with their trauma is made accessible.

“It’s like the first time they’ve been able to bring up their trauma in a setting where they feel a sense of well-being,” Ot’alora said. “Because of that, they’re able to go further in therapy than they ever have before.”

While the results for this study will not be complete until December, Ot’alora said that none of the more than 1,000 people involved in phase 1 and phase 2 of the study have had any adverse events and that no one has become addicted.

“If you do it in a controlled, clinical setting, you’re not having those kinds of issues that can happen with recreational use,” she said.

Researchers hope that by 2021, MDMA — which stands for methylenedioxy-methamphetamine — can become a prescription medication so long as the therapy protocol is followed.

“We don’t want this to be something you just take home with you,” Ot’alora said.

Elizabeth Hernandez: 303-954-1223, hernandez@denverpost.com or twitter.com/ehernandez