Looks like another illicit drug has medicinal potential

A decade after methylenedioxymethamphetamine, commonly known as MDMA or ecstasy, was hailed for its ability to enhance treatment of Parkinson's disease, an Australian scientist has managed to modify the drug, eliminating its harmful effects. This development means the illicit drug could after all be used to reduce the side-effects of the most common treatment, levodopa. Levodopa restores movement in Parkinson's patients but also causes the involuntary jerky movements commonly associated with Parkinson's. At the beginning of the century, a former professional stuntman proved that ecstasy could improve his treatment, but doctors warned it had no therapeutic value because it affected users' moods and killed brain cells. But by changing the structure of the drug, they now have a new compound which is structurally related to ecstasy, but not the other effects of ecstasy that are the reason why it's abused. The new compound is called UWA-101 and trials on rats have shown it is unlikely to be psychoactive or toxic to brain cells. So no more of that "but it affects users' moods and kills brain cells" rubbish.