Shrooms helped terminally ill cancer patients overcome the anxiety of coping with their last days, according to a 2005 study. Los Angeles researchers released a study Tuesday showing the active ingredient in shrooms, psilocybin, when given to a critically ill patient, will help them deal with the depression making it easier to deal with the whole ordeal. Research about the therapeutic use of psychedelic drugs was derailed in the 1970s when the federal government outlawed mind altering drugs for instance LSD. Scientists feel like the shrooms study is certainly a milestone. Of course, these are the scientists that want to be able to use hallucinogens as a form of clinical use.
Death is easy with hallucinogens
Results of the magic mushroom study were published in the Archives of General Psychiatry, a prestigious psychiatric journal. CNN showed that 12 patients got small doses of psilocybin. All of these patients were having trouble with the diagnosis of being terminally ill. A control group took a placebo, which had little effect. Patients were talked to after one to three months of psilocybin. They reported better moods and hardly any anxiety at death. Six months later, the study group’s average score on a scale used to measure depression had dropped 30 percent. Some said that they were closer than ever with loved ones as they psilocybin gave them a different perspective on life.
Psychedelic drug research continues
The magic mushroom experiment researchers try to get more funding to conduct more experiments. ABC News reports that psilocybin acts on the region of the brain responsible for nonverbal imagery and emotion. Magic mushroom hallucinogens have been used by native cultures for centuries. There was a lot of cultural and political conflict in the 1970s. This is why research on psychedelic drugs was stopped. Dr. Charles Grob, a professor of psychiatry at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center who led the magic mushroom studies, told 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.”.
Don’t do on your own
The magic mushroom research, aside from offering proof that clinical use of hallucinogens could 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 in 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. The Times said Griffiths and Grob had to satisfy many federal and local regulators to get approval for the experiments. The researchers also warned cancer patients. They explained that cancer patients shouldn’t be trying magic mushrooms at home. There were minimal amounts of bad trips within the studies. This is because doses were carefully regulated.
Further reading
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
