[disgruntledphd2]

Yeah, placebo controlled studies of mind-altering chemicals are hard. I've done quite a lot of research on placebo, and would never expect to be able to blind effectively without using an active drug (low dose). Something like methylphenidrate might work, as noted by the top comment, but even then you don't really have a control, as you really are just estimating the effects of one chemical against another (which tends to require far larger studies to demonstrate an affect).

Speed would probably work. One thing that interests me though is whether or not the patients were treated seperately. Having been surrounded by people on MDMA while not partaking myself, at least in my anecdotal experience it can affect your state of mind, which could be one reason for the rather large placebo effects (given that the treatment is so obvious, one would expect placebo effects to be artificially lowered.