The illegal party drug MDMA – also known as ecstasy – may have led to an astonishing turnaround for a former white supremacist, according to one study. The man, referred to only by his first name, Brendan, took MDMA in February 2020 as part of an University of Chicago research project about whether the drug increased the pleasantness of social touch, Rachel Nuwer, author of new book I Feel Love: MDMA and the Quest for Connection in a Fractured World, wrote for the BBC. Brendan had become indoctrinated into white supremacy while at university in Illinois and gone on to become active within extremist circles, even attending the infamous 2017 rally in Charlottesville and taken on midwestern leadership roles within his organisation. After using MDMA and filling out the standard questionnaire at the end of the study, run by psychiatry and behavioral science professor Harriet de Wit, he added in bold letters: “This experience has helped me sort out a debilitating personal issue. Google my name. I now know what I need to do,’” Ms Nuwer reported. Upon googling his name and realizing his connection to white supremacy, the researchers contacted Brendan to ensure his cryptic message did not refer to violence or other worrying behaviour – but he told a research assistant: ‘Love is the most important thing. Nothing matters without love,” Ms Nuwer wrote. Prof de Wit, speaking to the author nearly two years later, still expressed astonishment at the results. “Isn’t that amazing?” she said. “It’s what everyone says about this damn drug, that it makes people feel love. To think that a drug could change somebody’s beliefs and thoughts without any expectations – it’s mind-boggling.” The use of MDMA and psychedelics such as psilocybin – the hallucinogenic component in magic mushrooms – is gaining traction in the medical community, showing promising results for the treatment of disorders such as PTSD and alcoholism. Brendan later told the author that the MDMA “helped me see things in a different way that no amount of therapy or antiracist literature ever would have done. “I really think it was a breakthrough experience,” he said, while explaining that many white supremacists had used MDMA previously and the drug alone was unlikely to spontaneously change minds. Ms Nuwer’s new book explores the uses of MDMA and whether it could “transform people’s beliefs too”. “MDMA does not seem to be able to magically rid people of prejudice, bigotry, or hate on its own,” she wrote. “But some researchers have begun to wonder if it could be an effective tool for pushing people who are already somehow primed to reconsider their ideology toward a new way of seeing things. While MDMA cannot fix societal-level drivers of prejudice and disconnection, on an individual basis it can make a difference. In certain cases, the drug may even be able to help people see through the fog of discrimination and fear that divides so many of us.” Read More Oregon's magic mushroom experiment steps toward reality Psychedelic drugs to treat depression without causing hallucinations may finally be near ‘Mystical’ experience using psychedelics may improve mental health, study reveals Dealer who bought 100,000 paracetamol he thought were diazepam given away by blue lips Psychedelic drug trip improves symptoms of depression for six months, breakthrough study finds Trump can’t bully his way out of his latest legal woes | Andrew Feinberg The 25-year-old party chairwoman who wants to turn North Carolina blue Trump floats special counsel conspiracy as he claims Fox abandoned ‘King’ of Maga

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Volodymyr Zelensky said he has lost count of the number of attempts on his life, comparing them to catching the Covid-19 infection. “The first one is very interesting, when it is the first time, and after that it is just like Covid,” he told The Sun in an interview. The first attempt carried panic, he added. The president of Ukraine claimed Vladimir Putin still wanted “very much” to topple him as the war raged on for 21 months. As per Russia, the deadline for that operation was by the end of the year, Mr Zelensky told the British daily. At least “five or six” plots to kill the war-time president have been thwarted as Mr Zelensky revealed the name of Russia’s latest mission to oust him from Kyiv. “First of all people don’t know what to do with it and it’s looking very scary. And then after that, it is just intelligence sharing with you that one more group came to Ukraine to [attempt] this,” he told the tabloid. “The name of the operation is Maidan 3. It is meant to change the president. It’s bye bye. Maybe it is not by killing. I mean it’s changing. They will use any instruments they have,” he said. “So that’s the idea, to the end of the year. They have even named the operation. But you see we can live with it.” The Ukrainian president added that Russia parachuted special forces into Kyiv to assassinate him on the first day of Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine last year. From there began the operation to turn Mr Zelensky’s office and each of his next locations into a fortress. His closest team was handed rifles and body armour and his bodyguards shut off any access to his office using makeshift barricades and bits of plywood. On being asked how many attempts he has dodged, the president says he really doesn’t know. The Ukrainian president did not answer the question on whether or not Ukraine had also planned similar assassination plots in response to Russia. Mr Zelensky yet again denied the assessment on the conflict hitting a stalemate, which Ukrainian commander-in-chief Valery Zaluzhny said is due to technological and tactical parity between Russian and Ukrainian forces. “In the morale, there is no stalemate. We are at our home. Russians are on our land. Therefore there is no stalemate in this. As regards the sky, there is no stalemate. Russians have more power in that. And really, how to move forward when you can’t control the sky? (sic)” he told the paper. Ukrainian officials have strongly pushed back on suggestions they are in a stalemate with Russia after a long-awaited counteroffensive over the summer did not radically change the battle lines on the ground. In a visit to Washington last week, Andriy Yermak, head of the president’s office, provided no details but confirmed that Ukrainian forces had finally pushed through to the east bank of the Dnieper River, which has essentially served as the immovable front line between Ukrainian and Russian forces for months. However, as winter sets in it will become more difficult for either side to make large gains due to ground conditions. Read More What the papers say – November 21 Zelensky thanks world’s media for fostering support for Ukraine David Cameron meets Volodymyr Zelensky in Ukraine in first visit as foreign secretary David Cameron meets Zelensky as new foreign secretary makes first trip to Ukraine Russia admits Ukrainian troops crossed Dnipro river but says ‘fiery hell’ awaits them Ukraine declares major breakthrough in southern counteroffensive ‘against all odds’

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