Magic Mushroom's Magic Lasts A Full Year

For all those who thought magic mushrooms were merely about getting high and enjoying psychedelic trips, here is some interesting news. US researchers have come up with definitive proof about the persistent positive spiritual effects induced by psilocybin, a plant alkaloid occurring naturally in ‘sacred’ mushrooms, the other name for magic mushrooms.

The new study, which is being hailed as a landmark, translates into hope for patients struggling with depressiondefine or anxiety in the end-stages of dreaded diseases.

The mushrooms have been traditionally in use for divine and spiritual purposes since ages. The element psilocybin, found in these mushrooms, acts like serotonin on the brain, just in the manner of certain other hallucinogens.

Roland Griffiths of Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland, and colleagues administered psilocybin to 36 healthy, well-educated volunteers, who had prior practice of spiritual experience and gauged their responses in 2006. Most of them rated the effect of psilocybin as positive, ‘mystical’, or ‘spiritual’.

When the researchers assessed the volunteers again after a period of 14 months, they were surprised to find many of them still reporting elevated levels of well-being and satisfaction. In fact, many had altered lifestyles and attitudes, as corroborated by family members and associates.

Once the tests were completed successfully, Griffith noted, “…while some of our subjects reported strong fear or anxiety for a portion of their day-long psilocybin sessions, none reported any lingering harmful effects, and we didn't observe any clinical evidence of harm."

The volunteers in fact rated the effect of psilocybin as the most or one of the five most significant life experiences, akin to the birth of the first child, or death of a parent. In a statement, Griffiths said, "This is a truly remarkable finding. Rarely in psychological research do we see such persistently positive reports from a single event in the laboratory."

Griffiths and his team had gone into the experiment with ‘a healthy skepticism.’ The team prepared for exigencies like possible anxiety or paranoia by putting into place a system of monitors to counteract the possibility. They also told the volunteers about the possible risks associated with the drug intake.

Spelling out hope for patients of end-stage diseases, Griffiths said, "This (study) gives credence to the claims that the mystical-type experiences some people have during hallucinogen sessions may help patients suffering from cancerdefine-related anxiety or depression and may serve as a potential treatment for drug dependence."

This isn’t the first time that tests with psilocybin have been undertaken. But earlier events were not so systematically formulated, tracked, and documented. The findings of this research, funded by the U.S. National Institute on Drug Abuse have been published in the current issue of the Journal of Psychopharmacology.