Why We Need to Take Magic Mushrooms Seriously

[n2doc]

Psilocybin. It's the psychoactive substance in those "sacred mushrooms" that causes hallucinations and other novel mental experiences. The effects of those mushrooms have been explored and appreciated by members of the ancient Capsian culture in North Africa, Aztec shamans, and modern college students. But they're now the subject of serious study by scientists.

A team from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine recently published results from a roughly year-long experiment. The researchers worked with 18 volunteers who were given pure psilocybin to measure how it affected people and how different dosages changed the experience. The subjects were screened for psychological health and given the drug in a pleasant environment, after preparatory guidance. They even had a soundtrack consisting of "classical and world music chosen to complement the arc of the psilocybin action, from onset, through the peak of the effects, and subsiding back to baseline."

The results? At high dosages people occasionally experienced fear, anxiety, or delusions. But the negative effects of those "bad trips" were easily mitigated by the reassuring researchers and didn't outlast the session. At more moderate doses, the results were almost unambiguously positive. Moreover, people didn't just appreciate the experience as fun; they found it spiritually meaningful, with lasting benefits.

As a piece on Newswise explains:

Looking back over a year later, most of the experiment’s 18 volunteers (94 percent) rated a psilocybin session as among the top five most or as the topmost spiritually significant experience of his or her life. <...> Most volunteers (89 percent) also reported positive changes in their behaviors, and those reports were corroborated by family members or others, the researchers say. The behavior changes most frequently cited were improved relationships with family and others, increased physical and psychological self-care, and increased devotion to spiritual practice.


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http://www.good.is/post/why-we-need-to-take-magic-mushrooms-seriously/

[shireen]

1. wow! sounds good!

Where can i get some? :D

[Lochloosa]

2. Cow shit

[formercia]

24. Actually, it's the Indole Acetic Acid in Cow shit that does the trick

If you look at the chemical structure of the psychoactive compound and compare it to Indole Acetic Acid, you can see the similarity.
The IAA comes from plants that the Cattle eat. It's the same compound that cause plants turn toward a source of Light. The shrooms metabolize the IAA.

[Duppers]

31. ?

what's with the sarcasm?

[Lochloosa]

32. I was not being sarcastic. shireen asked where they could get some.

Cow shit.

[Duppers]

34. sorry. me bad.

You're right; manure does grow 'rooms!!

[BadGimp]

3. Cuz the're magic?

:-/

[tridim]

4. Psilocybin and Cannabis are the two drugs I think should be 100% legal.

I only tried shrooms a few times in college, but that was enough to know that the propaganda we are force-fed is BS.

[Harry J Asslinger]

5. Some of our most powerful medicines

Are on that pretty Schedule I list.

[Snoutport]

6. On Tuk Tuk Island in the middle of Lake Toba, in the middle of a volcanic crater in the middle of

the jungle, in the middle of Sumatra the people grow mushrooms and sell them. As you walk down the streets you see many of the native houses with a little bed of mushrooms growing. If the owner sees you looking at them he will ask, "Mussroom?"

The people seem pretty happy and calm...though, 100 years ago they were cannibals and ate the first set of missionaries that came to visit them.

Mushrooms, therefor, probably cause cannibalism and should be banned.

[Taverner]

7. One of my favorite "highs" is a small, but noticeable dose of shrooms

It's almost as if it turns on a 'happy' button

[tridim]

9. Being happy is extremely BAD...

for big-pharma.

[Taverner]

12. Exactly. We have to give them SSRIs and MAOIs that give suicidal thoughts

Wouldn't want anyone to escape that now...

[Gregorian]

10. That was totally my experience.

I'm a little bit reticent to admit something here. I used to take psilocybin, and go to work. I never felt more centered than those days. And it was an office setting, of all places. I've often thought I should start again, as I've never been as happy as those days.

[Taverner]

11. In low doses, it is an excellent Anti-Depressant

None of the suicidal thoughts of Prozac, Zoloft or the other MAOI or SSRI drugs

I totally agree with you - and during those heady days when I was in sales, a small bit of shroom would give me that confidence needed to make the sale

[Gregorian]

13. What a trip!

I know. Pun intended.

And I thought I was the only one.

[Motown_Johnny]

17. actually I like to fly (on airplanes) that way

just a little bit taken about 45 minutes before scheduled take off and the flight is much more enjoyable for me.


I am not afraid to fly but CAT can get me nervous after a while, not if I am properly medicated though.

Also, slight trails from ground level while flying are fun.

[madokie]

20. In my case I was construction

Never did I endanger anyone else either or for that matter did others even have a clue as to where I was.

[spanone]

8. i took psilocybin in the late 60's. it was fabulous. insightful and downright fun.

[bengalherder]

14. Never laughed so effen hard.

That is the past effect of shrooms on moi.

And the harmony you feel with yourself and the earth, priceless.

[MuseRider]

15. They always made me throw up.

Never failed. Still, after all that was over the experience was pretty nice. I remember it fondly, except the puking ;).

[Taverner]

18. Every time I got sick, it meant I had too much

But that's just me

[MuseRider]

22. Probably that way for most

but I have a very delicate stomach apparently :) Ahh well, sometimes you must take the good with the bad and there was plenty of good back then.

[Motown_Johnny]

16. I can't even imagine having a bad trip on mushrooms. The closest I have seen

is when I had a friend of mine laughing so hard (and I kept doing whatever it was that was making him laugh) that I feared for his well being.

I honestly thought he was going to stop breathing from the convulsions.


I had to leave the room for a while until we both chilled out and things got back to normal.



Maybe it was their freaky music that caused the problems in the experiment. I suggest trying it again without the distraction.

[Taverner]

19. I did - but I had taken too much

I've learned over a gram is too much for me

[napoleon_in_rags]

28. Bad ones happen.

Is with booze or anything, its all about crossing the line to too much.

[napoleon_in_rags]

29. Absolutely. EVERYBODY has horror stories from alcohol, from death to domestic abuse

to an endless list of bad things. The weed and shrooms are simply much, much better for the individual taking them. But we have this policy based on getting out of the way psychopaths. So because drunks were hardcore with a Tommy gun but pot smokers are peaceful, guess which one is legal today.

[intaglio]

21. Personally, I couldn't stop laughing

... not that I have ever taken anything like that, not even as a rich, hot, tasty soup.
.
..
...
....
.....
Honestly.

[Liquorice]

23. Ectasy is much better IMO. nt

[War Horse]

25. Interesting

No doubt in my mind that Psilocybin and other "Entheogens" can be very helpful, and increase the quality of people's lives.

They can also wreak serious havoc on those that are not prepared for it.

[defendandprotect]

26. All of nature -- and its plants which are our medicines -- needs to be taken seriously....

but we have been disconnected to our right to nature by corporate/fascism --

[Withywindle]

27. I really enjoyed them in my tripping days.

I honestly never heard of anyone having a really bad trip on them. Some people got overwhelmed and a little scared, but there were none of the vicious-cycle thought patterns you can get into with LSD. Mostly, it was just pure joy, and the sense that yes, the Earth really IS this beautiful all the time, it's just a matter of learning how to live in such a way that you can see it.

[slay]

30. I will always be glad I did them

i learned a lot about myself, and the universe. very spiritual.

[B Calm]

33. Sex under the influence of psilocybin is indescribable.