The chemical in “magic mushrooms” holds promise for terminally ill cancer patients or drug addicts, researchers at Johns Hopkins found.
Volunteers who received psilocybin, the hallucinogenic substance contained in certain mushrooms, reported having a mystical experience ? effects of the drug that seem to persist a year later.
“Even 14 months later, people find this experience continues to be very salient and interesting, and they continue to make claims of improved attitudes and moods,” said Roland Griffiths, a professor and lead researcher.
This long-lasting effect could mean relief to patients facing a grave illness or even drug or alcohol addiction, Griffiths said.
The findings, which were a follow-up to a 2006 study, were published in the Journal of Psychopharmacology.
In 2006, 36 volunteers were given the hallucinogen in a day-long session, and 60 percent reported having a “full mystical experience,” meaning they felt a sense of unity, sacredness or reverence, researchers said.
The single experience can be transformative, giving patients a “touchstone experience” to help cope with the stress of the illness, Griffiths said.
The experience also may serve drug addicts struggling with the spiritual component of a recovery program, he said. The event could provide that insight and connection needed to better engage the treatment.
The research demonstrates a resurgence of interest in the effects of hallucinogenic drugs. A backlash to 1960s psychedelic drug culture caused a research standstill.
As more researchers initiate hallucinogen studies, great care must be taken to avoid a “bad trip,” said Matthew Johnson, an instructor in the Johns Hopkins psychiatry department who wrote an accompanying paper in the journal
outlining how to administer the drugs.
Hallucinogenic drugs don?t appear to cause physical harm, but they can have damaging psychological effects and must be administered in a highly controlled and comfortable environment to patients who don?t have a history of psychotic disorders, Johnson said.
“In a laboratory, we want to minimize even the relatively rare dangerous reactions people can have.”
