That headline is no typo, it is true that ecstasy could have positive benefits for some people.
The first clinical trial of ecstasy in the UK to discover if the drug can help victims of child abuse, rape and war is being planned.
Public concerns and media exposure has made it almost impossible to explore the therapeutic benefits of ecstasy, claim scientists.
But they believe that the illegal drug and others like LSD and magic mushrooms could useful in the treatment of people with serious psychological issues who cannot face their problems.
The Test
They hope to repeat successful U.S. trials on 20 patients in South Carolina who had suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder for an average of 19 years. One of the patients was an army veteran, while the others had been victims of sexual abuse or rape.
Twelve were given MDMA, or 3,4- methylenedioxymethamphetamine, the chemical compound found pure in ecstasy tablets.
The rest had placebo pills but were later also given the chance to take MDMA. Each patients had a therapy session, lying back in a reclining chair in a pleasant flower-decorated room wearing an eye mask.
They listened to music on headphones or talked to a therapist while thinking about the events they had been unable to contemplate in past consultations.
Ten out of the 12 patients showed dramatic improvement to their condition two months after the second of two MDMA sessions.
That figure compared with 25 per cent of those on the placebo. There were no serious side-effects and no long-term problems.
Mr. Michael Mithoefer, the psychiatrist who ran the U.S. study and carried out the psychotherapy with his wife, Ann, said he expected the trials to be a success.
He described the improvement in the patients' condition as 'the icing on the cake.'
Shrooms Medicinal Too
Meanwhile, a single high dose of so-called 'magic' mushrooms has been found to change people's personalities, not for a few hours, but for at least a year - making them more 'open'.
The personality disruptions were so intense they were equivalent to the slow changes that occur in people over entire decades - and the researchers found that even after terrifying drug trips, the changes were the same.
The mushrooms - which grow wild in the UK and parts of the US, as well as countries such as Mexico and Thailand, contain the hallucinogen psilocybin.
The experiment with a high dose was enough to bring about a measurable personality change lasting at least a year in nearly 60 per cent of the people.
If these two drugs are medicinal they need to be highly-regulated. I would like to see how these studies work out.