Ex-British army chief urges UK ministers to back cheaper MDMA-assisted therapy trials for veterans with PTSD

MDMA-assisted therapy for PTSD is gaining support from Sir Nick Carter, a former British chief of the defence staff, who is urging ministers to ease restrictions so trials can be run more cheaply. Carter says current UK rules make medical-grade MDMA extremely expensive, noting that a single gram can cost around 10,000 pounds versus roughly 40 pounds on the street, inflating research costs. He points to a Nature Medicine study where PTSD symptoms were eliminated in 71% of the 52 cases tested with MDMA-assisted therapy. The article explains how MDMA-assisted therapy typically involves two or three 8-hour sessions with therapists to help patients access difficult underlying material, with supervision framed as clinically essential rather than recreational use. It also mentions fundraising for a further Cambridge-linked trial via the charity Supporting Wounded Veterans and includes a veteran’s account of PTSD symptoms, prior treatment failures, and interest in MDMA-assisted therapy.