New Zealand approves MDMA for severe PTSD treatment

New Zealand has approved the use of pharmaceutical-grade MDMA to treat severe post-traumatic stress disorder, with two psychiatrists allowed to prescribe it under controlled conditions.

The approval by Medsafe, New Zealand's pharmaceutical regulator, makes the country the second worldwide to approve MDMA for PTSD treatment, after Australia in 2023.

New Zealand's Ministry of Health said MDMA-assisted treatment would be combined with psychotherapy and take place in a controlled clinical setting under an authorised psychiatrist as part of a wider treatment plan. It said patients would not be supplied drugs to take home and must be aged 18 or older.

Deputy Prime Minister David Seymour said PTSD was difficult to treat and that MDMA could be effective through psychedelic-assisted therapy.

Clinical trials are continuing in the United States after the Food and Drug Administration rejected legalising MDMA's medicinal use in 2024, saying there was not enough evidence that it was safe or effective.