Is there a researcher at the New York Times? If there is, please show reporters how to do it! It would really be more helpful to make sure that when things are done, and failed, they actually understand it did so for a reason!
First thing to notice, is the date of this article.
The Peace Drug
Washington Post
By Tom Shroder
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, November 25, 2007; Page W12
Post-traumatic stress disorder had destroyed Donna Kilgore's life. Then experimental therapy with MDMA, a psychedelic drug better known as ecstasy, showed her a way out. Was it a fluke -- or the future?
THE BED IS TILTING!
Or the couch, or whatever. A futon. Slanted.
She hadn't noticed it before, but now she can't stop noticing. Like the princess and the pea.
By objective measure, the tilt is negligible, a fraction of an inch, but she can't be fooled by appearances, not with the sleep mask on. In her inner darkness, the slight tilt magnifies, and suddenly she feels as if she might slide off, and that idea makes her giggle.
"I feel really, really weird," she says. "Crooked!"
Donna Kilgore laughs, a high-pitched sound that contains both thrill and anxiety. That she feels anything at all, anything other than the weighty, oppressive numbness that has filled her for 11 years, is enough in itself to make her giddy.
But there is something more at work inside her, something growing from the little white capsule she swallowed just minutes ago. She's subject No. 1 in a historic experiment, the first U.S. government-sanctioned research in two decades into the potential of psychedelic drugs to treat psychiatric disorders. This 2004 session in the office of a Charleston, S.C., psychiatrist is being recorded on audiocassettes, which Donna will later hand to a journalist.
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Then consider all the years beyond that article on this drug, and all the years between then and now. What do we arrive at?
Almost the same article 11 years later on the New York Times!
Ecstasy as a Remedy for PTSD? You Probably Have Some Questions.
New York Times
By Dave Philipps
May 1, 2018
The drug known by the street names Ecstasy or Molly could be a promising treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder, according to a new study.
Research published Tuesday in the British journal The Lancet Psychiatry found that after two sessions of psychotherapy with the party drug, officially known as MDMA, a majority of 26 combat veterans and first-responders with chronic PTSD who had not been helped by traditional methods saw dramatic decreases in symptoms.
The improvements were so dramatic that 68 percent of the patients no longer met the clinical criteria for PTSD. Patients taking the drug also experienced “drastic” improvements in sleep and became more conscientious, according to the study.
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Marine veteran helps I-25 rollover victim
NBC 9 News
Author: Jennifer Meckles
May 1, 2018
“The Marines, they teach you to stay calm. And in a situation like this, that’s the number one, most important thing – you’re not thinking straight unless you’re calm.”
On Tuesday morning, Ryan Erwin was in a meeting at work when he and his colleagues heard a crash outside their office at Metro Construction near downtown Denver. Looking across Interstate 25, they could see the aftermath.
“I looked over the highway and I saw a truck on its side,” Erwin said. “I just kind of jumped into that first response, which is, you better go make sure everybody’s OK!”
Erwin ran across the interstate to the scene of the crash. He found a truck on its side, and the driver trying to climb out. Several other people were gathering around also trying to help.
“At that point, [the driver] was halfway out, crawling out the top," Erwin explained. "I helped him to the ground, I asked him some questions to make sure he was coherent, that he didn’t have any head injuries. and he seemed ok – but you never, know.”
“I remember he took my face,” said Steve Holden, the driver.
He said Erwin gave him directions and took control of the situation until first responders arrived.
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Deadly military plane crash on Savannah, Georgia, road - live updates
CBS News
May 2, 2018
SAVANNAH, Ga. -- An Air National Guard C-130 cargo plane on a training mission crashed Wednesday along a road near a Georgia airport, killing at least five National Guard members from Puerto Rico, authorities said. Black smoke rose into the sky from a section of the plane that appeared to have crashed into a median on the road.
Firefighters later put out the blaze.
Capt. Jeff Bezore, a spokesman for the Georgia Air National Guard's 165th Air Wing, said the crash killed at least five people. He said he couldn't say how many people in total were on the plane when it crashed around 11:30 a.m.
Bezore said in a statement that the identities of those on the plane would be released upon notification of their next of kin.
The Air Force said the plane belonged to the 156th Air Wing out of Puerto Rico, and Puerto Rico National Guard Spokesman Maj. Paul Dahlen told The Associated Press that all those aboard were Puerto Ricans who had recently left the U.S. territory for a mission on the U.S. mainland.
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VA payments to wrongly charged veterans begin; Up to 1.3 million veterans eligible
Cherokee Tribune and Ledger News
Thomas Hartwell
May 1, 2018
According to Jim Lindenmayer, director of the Cherokee County Homeless Veterans Program and American Legion 9th District service officer, at least 750,000 veterans who received emergency care from non-VA medical centers and were billed through Medicare Part A or other insurance programs are eligible for reimbursement. He said there may be up to 1.3 million veterans affected by the Staab case going back several years.
BALL GROUND – After a three-judge panel on the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims ruled unanimously last year that the Department of Veterans Affairs wrongly charged VA-enrolled veterans millions in emergency medical bills, the government entity has begun to pay partial claims. Local veteran advocates say there are many Cherokee veterans who could be eligible for reimbursement.
The VA lost its fight in the Staab vs. Shulkin case (originally filed as Staab vs. McDonald) in April 2016. Air Force veteran Richard Staab served from 1952-1956 and was forced to use non-VA emergency care in 2010 when he had a heart attack and underwent open heart surgery. Medicare covered a portion of his $48,000 bill, but the VA medical center in St. Cloud, Minnesota denied his request for the reimbursement of the remainder. Staab filed a notice of disagreement in May 2012.
Until January the appeals court decision benefitted only Staab, but the VA has since revised a rule that allows payment of hundreds of thousands of claims like Staab’s.
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Airman intervenes after Reddit post, saves life of suicidal Air Force member
STARS AND STRIPES
By CHAD GARLAND
Published: May 1, 2018
In Georgia, the airman’s spouse and command thanked Woomer and Collins for intervening. Had they not stepped in, officials said, the airman could have left behind a spouse and two children under the age of 10.
Telephone number of the Veteran's Crisis Line is shown on this tag. The intervention of a rookie Office of Special Investigations officer on Reddit last week may have saved an airman's life.
PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY ZACHARY HADA/U.S. AIR FORCE
Online commenters worried about privacy might not like the idea of special agents among readers in online forums, but last week an Office of Special Investigations rookie on Reddit may have saved a fellow airman’s life after noticing signs of distress in a message board frequented by airmen.
On the social media site’s section for the Air Force, Senior Airman Charles Woomer noticed a subtle cry for help among posts complaining about LeaveWeb and inquiring about making the transition to the Guard and Reserve. Others did, too, according to an OSI statement issued Friday, but Woomer took action.
A poster asked how his group life insurance policy would pay out if “something” happened before he separated from the military. The person — he would turn out to be a suicidal husband and father — wanted to make sure his family would be comfortable.
Woomer, a special agent with the Air Force Office of Special Investigations Detachment 322 at Fairchild Air Force Base, Wash., was one of several “Redditors” who noticed a worrisome tone in the post. He notified his leadership, and with guidance from Senior Airman Justin Collins, he contacted officials with Reddit and Google to identify the original poster.
“These people literally saved my life this week,” wrote the user, who goes by the handle psychopete. “Today I scheduled myself for therapy and I’m active in an online support group at least until my first session. I won the battle and I’m prepped for war. I’m gonna make it.”
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