Shrooms helped critically ill cancer patients overcome the anxiety of coping with their last days, according to a 2005 study. Tuesday there was a study released by Los Angeles researchers. This study explained that psilocybin is the active ingredient in magic mushrooms. When it is given to sufferers who are critically ill, it helps stop depression making it easier for individuals to deal with the sure death that is ahead of them. Drugs for instance lysergic acid diethylamide that alter the mind became illegal in the 1970s which is when psychedelic drug research came to a halt. The magic mushroom study is considered a milestone for scientists working to return research on the clinical use of hallucinogens back to respectability.
Hallucinogens make the last part of life easier
The magic mushroom study results were posted within the Archives of General Psychiatry. This can be a prestigious psychiatric journal that posted it. CNN reports that 12 patients struggling with their terminal diagnosis took a small dose of psilocybin under clinical supervision. A control group took a placebo, which had little effect. The mood of patients was better while there was less anxiety after one to three months of taking psilocybin. 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.
Psychedelic drug study continues to be planned
The magic mushroom experiment researchers are trying to get more funding to conduct more experiments. Psilocybin works within the brain where nonverbal imagery and emotion is controlled, explains ABC News. Numerous cultures have used magic mushroom hallucinogens for a long time. Within the 1970s, psychedelic drug study stopped because of cultural and political conflict. 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 manage these compounds in a safe and structured manner,” as he lead the shrooms studies.
Don’t use at home
When used clinically, the shrooms analysis shows hallucinogens are helpful. It also showed that psilocybin, according to Roland Griffith of Johns Hopkins University, could be used in studies safely. The research 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” according to Griffiths who is doing his own psilocybin study reports the Los Angeles Times. The Times said Griffiths and Grob had to satisfy numerous federal and local regulators to get approval for the experiments. 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
