Shrooms helped terminally ill cancer patients overcome the anxiety of coping with their last days, according to a 2005 study. The whole ordeal of being critically ill can be helped by stopping depression with the active ingredient in shrooms, psilocybin, reports a study in Los Angeles that was released Tuesday. Within the 1970s, the federal government made a law that stopped the lawful use of mind altering drugs such as Lysergic acid diethylamide. This is also when psychedelic drug study had to stop. Scientists who want for making hallucinogens something that could be used clinically consider the magic mushroom study a milestone.
Hallucinogens make the last part of life easier
Results of the magic mushroom study were published within 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 difficulty having the diagnosis of being terminally ill. 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. Perspectives on life were changed for some of these patients. They grew closer to family and friends as well.
Psychedelic drug study continues to be planned
Researchers who conducted the magic mushroom experiment are seeking funding for more studies. 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 manage these compounds in a safe and structured manner.”.
Home not the place
Roland Griffiths of Johns Hopkins University explained that psilocybin studies are easy to do safely considering the magic mushroom analysis, not even taking into account that hallucinogens are beneficial in a clinical use. Griffiths, who is conducting his own study using psilocybin, told the Los Angeles Times that the study conducted on psychedelic drugs in the 1950s and ’60s “was promising, but by no means did it reach the kinds of scientific standards that we would expect today.”. Federal and local regulators were expected to approve the experiments. That is the only reason Griffiths and Grob could do their research. Cancer patients are told not to use magic mushrooms by themselves. There were minimal amounts of bad trips in 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
