University Showcase 4/21 8a: On this episode Dr. Larry Leeman is medical director for the University of New Mexico’s Milagro Program where he treats expectant mothers experiencing opioid use disorder. But he found that after being stabilized and giving birth, many patients resumed using opioids because of untreated post-traumatic stress disorder. He and his colleagues are launching a pilot study that combines trauma-focused therapy with doses of the psychedelic MDMA – also called ecstasy or molly – to see if this can help new mothers permanently overcome their drug dependency. Leeman says MDMA temporarily increases production of oxytocin, a hormone that promotes a sense of connectedness.
Also on this episode Emily Lena Jones is associate professor and Regents’ Lecturer in Archeology at UNM. She is the co-editor of a new book “Questioning Rebound: People and Environmental Change in the Protohistoric and Early Historic Americas.” She and co-author Jacob L. Fisher, professor of Anthropology at California State University, Sacramento, explore the archaeological record of the Americas during the period immediately following European contact, a time when the human footprint on the land abruptly shifted.
The book began when they both observed remains at archeological sites of larger game animals that immediately post-dated European arrival on this continent.
