Etheridge Foundation Supports Innovative MDMA Study at UNM

The Etheridge Foundation is excited to announce a $25,000 contribution to the University of New Mexico (UNM) for their pilot study of MDMA-Assisted Therapy (MDMA-AT) for the treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in people with Opioid Use Disorder (OUD). 

The first study of its kind, the “MAT-POD study” is a collaboration between the UNM Psychedelic Assisted Therapy Research Program and and Lykos Therapeutics (formerly the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies [MAPS] Public Benefit Corporation), which is providing the MDMA at no cost to UNM. 

The study will work exclusively with people who are 6-12 months post-childbirth and have both PTSD and OUD. It was developed by a team in the UNM Milagro Perinatal Substance Use program who have worked over the last twenty years with thousands of pregnant people with OUD and their newborns. 

The study team includes physicians, midwives, and therapists who have dual training in addiction care and psychedelic-assisted therapies. It will examine the outcomes of MDMA-AT including effects on PTSD, resumption of opioid use, and parent-infant bonding, including looking at the ways in which this therapy may potentially mediate these effects. 

“I have seen many pregnant and postpartum individuals with OUD who have been able to transform their lives during pregnancy and the early postpartum time,” said Principal Investigator Dr. Larry Leeman. 

“Yet, I have seen that the presence of underlying trauma, including PTSD, often leads to a resumption of drug use. This can further the intergenerational transmission of trauma which extends deep in our communities in New Mexico.” 

While New Mexico is a beautiful state with a multicultural heritage and population, it is also an epicenter of the current opioid epidemic as well as a chronic heroin epidemic that has affected families for fifty years. The state has also been severely impacted by poverty and the collective and intergenerational effects of trauma from systemic racism. 

Reflecting New Mexico’s demographics, the participants in this study will be primarily Latina and Native American, unlike many studies of psychedelic-assisted therapy.

Multiple studies have demonstrated the potential of MDMA-AT to interrupt cycles of trauma through its beneficial effects on PTSD (with FDA approval pending for 2024). 

However, prior studies of MDMA-AT for PTSD have excluded people with substance use disorder. This study will address that important gap by examining whether MDMA-AT can have positive benefits for people with substance use disorders that are strongly associated with PTSD. 

The UNM Foundation will continue working on fundraising efforts to complete the MDMA Study. For more information and to donate, visit: https://impactunm.unmfund.org/s/1959/22/interior.aspx?sid=1959&gid=2&pgid=707

The Etheridge Foundation is proud to support this groundbreaking effort!