Magic Mushrooms helped terminally ill cancer patients overcome the anxiety of coping with their last days, as outlined by a 2005 study. Tuesday there was a study released by Los Angeles researchers. This study explained that psilocybin is the active ingredient in hallucinogenic mushrooms. When it is given to sufferers who are critically ill, it helps stop depression making it easier for patients to deal having the sure death that is ahead of them. Within the 1970s, the federal government made a law that stopped the legal use of mind altering drugs for instance Lysergic acid diethylamide. This is also when psychedelic drug research had to stop. Scientists who want to make hallucinogens something that could be used clinically consider the magic mushroom study a milestone.
Hallucinogens make it easier to die
The Archives of General Psychiatry is a prestigious psychiatric journal that has the magic mushroom study results published in it. Under clinical supervision, 12 patients that had a terminal diagnosis got small doses of psilocybin, reports CNN. A placebo was given to a control group. There was little effect with this. One to three months after taking psilocybin, patients said they were less anxious and their overall mood had improved. There was a 30 percent drop in depression amongst the group after only six months. Some patients said their experience with psilocybin gave them a new perspective on their illness and brought them closer to family and friends.
Planned study on psychedelic drugs
The researchers who did the shrooms study hope to be able to continue. In fact, they are trying to get funding right now. ABC News reports that psilocybin acts on the region of the brain responsible for nonverbal imagery and emotion. Magic mushroom hallucinogens are used by native cultures for centuries. There was a lot of cultural and political conflict in the 1970s. This is why study on psychedelic drugs was stopped. A professor of psychiatry at Harbor-USLA Medical Center called Dr. Charles Grob said to ABC News that “40 years later, society has reached a point where it is sufficiently mature to handle these compounds in a safe and structured manner,” as he lead the shrooms studies.
Don’t do on your own
The magic mushroom research, apart from offering proof that clinical use of hallucinogens can be beneficial, demonstrated that studies having psilocybin could be done safely, as outlined by Roland Griffiths of Johns Hopkins University. The Los Angeles Times talked to Griffiths who said the research on drugs done within the 1950s and ’60s “was promising, however by no means did it reach the kinds of scientific standards that we would expect today.” He also explained that he was doing his own studies having psilocybin. Federal and local regulators were expected to approve the experiments. That is the only reason Griffiths and Grob could do their research. The researchers discouraged cancer patients from using magic mushrooms on their own. There were minimal amounts of bad trips within the studies. This is because doses were carefully regulated.
CNN
cnn.com/2010/HEALTH/09/06/magic.mushrooms.ease.anxiety/?hpt=T2
ABC News
abcnews.go.com/Health/ucla-study-finds-magic-mushrooms-curb-anxiety-advanced/story?id=11568335
Los Angeles Times
latimes.com/news/science/la-sci-magic-mushrooms-20100907,,4230087.story?track=rss
