Hallucinogenic mushrooms as psychoactive drugs

An effect of spiritual well-being that lasts over a year after intake. It is caused by hallucinogenic mushrooms, used for millennia in many populations for mystical-religious purposes, but also by young and old in search of alternative experiences to hard drugs . And today the relaxing and anti-anxiety properties of these yeasts are seen in another light: they could in fact be used for medical purposes, for example as a treatment against drug addiction or depression and anxiety in cancer patients.

The duration and characteristics of the effects of psilocybin, the hallucinogenic alkaloid compound contained in the "mushrooms", were analyzed by experts from Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore (USA), who published their observations in the Journal of Psychopharmacology. In 2006, the researchers enrolled a group of 36 healthy people of good socio-cultural background, inviting them to take a dose of these substances.

After 14 months, the same participants answered a questionnaire asking if and how much that experience had given them a sense of well-being: 60% replied that they had experienced a deep sense of psychological satisfaction for over a year after taking of hallucinogenic mushrooms, counted among the five most rewarding experiences in the life of "human guinea pigs".

«Very important results», comments Roland Griffiths, head of the study, «because rarely in research such as this one obtains such a persistently positive effect in a single laboratory experiment. These kinds of mystical experiences could be useful for cancer patients with anxiety and depression or as drug addiction treatment. We want to deepen these first observations ».