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The psychedelic drug in magic mushrooms may have lasting medical and spiritual benefits, according to new research from Johns Hopkins School of Medicine.

The mushroom-derived hallucinogen, called psilocybin, is known to trigger transformative spiritual states, but at high doses it can also result in “bad trips” marked by terror and panic. The trick is to get the dose just right, which the Johns Hopkins researchers report having accomplished.

In their study, the Hopkins scientists were able to reliably induce transcendental experiences in volunteers, which offered long-lasting psychological growth and helped people find peace in their lives — without the negative effects.

“The important point here is that we found the sweet spot where we can optimize the positive persistent effects and avoid some of the fear and anxiety that can occur and can be quite disruptive,” says lead author Roland Griffiths, professor of behavioral biology at Hopkins.

Giffiths’ study involved 18 healthy adults, average age 46, who participated in five eight-hour drug sessions with either psilocybin — at varying doses — or placebo. Nearly all the volunteers were college graduates and 78% participated regularly in religious activities; all were interested in spiritual experience.

Fourteen months after participating in the study, 94% of those who received the drug said the experiment was one of the top five most meaningful experiences of their lives; 39% said it was the single most meaningful experience.

Critically, however, the participants themselves were not the only ones who saw the benefit from the insights they gained: their friends, family member and colleagues also reported that the psilocybin experience had made the participants calmer, happier and kinder.

Ultimately, Griffiths and his colleagues want to see if the same kind of psychedelic experience could help ease anxiety and fear over the long term in cancer patients or others facing death. And following up on tantalizing clues from early research on hallucinogenic drugs like LSD, mescaline and psilocybin in the 1960s (which are all now illegal), researchers are also studying whether transcendental experiences could help spur recovery from addiction and treat other psychological problems like depression and post-traumatic stress disorder.

For Griffiths’ current experiment, participants were housed in a living room-like setting designed to be calm, comfortable and attractive. While under the influence, they listened to classical music on headphones, wore eyeshades and were instructed to “direct their attention inward.”

Each participant was accompanied by two other research-team members: a “monitor” and an “assistant monitor,” who both had previous experience with people on psychedelic drugs and were empathetic and supportive. Before the drug sessions, the volunteers became acquainted enough with their team so that they felt familiar and safe. Although the experiments took place in the Hopkins hospital complex in order to ensure prompt medical attention in the event that it was needed, it never was.

As described by early advocates of the use of psychedelics — from ancient shamans to Timothy Leary and the Grateful Dead — the psilocybin experience typically involves a sense of oneness with the universe and with others, a feeling of transcending time, space and other limitations, coupled with a sense of holiness and sacredness. Overwhelmingly, these experiences are difficult to put into words, but many of Griffiths’ participants said they were left with the sense that they understood themselves and others better and therefore had greater compassion and patience.

“I feel that I relate better in my marriage. There is more empathy — a greater understanding of people and understanding their difficulties and less judgment,” said one participant. “Less judging of myself, too.”

Another said: “I have better interaction with close friends and family and with acquaintances and strangers. … My alcohol use has diminished dramatically.”

To zero in on the “sweet spot” of dosing, Griffiths started half the volunteers on a low dose and gradually increased their doses over time (with placebo sessions randomly interspersed); the other half started on a high dose and worked their way down.

Those who started on a low dose found that their experiences tended to get better as the dose increased, probably because they learned what to expect and how to handle it. But people who started with high doses were more likely to experience anxiety and fear (though these feeling didn’t last long and sometimes resolved into euphoria or a sense of transcendence).

“If we back the dose down a little, we have just as much of the same positive effects. The properties of the mystical experience remain the same, but there’s a fivefold drop in anxiety and fearfulness,” Griffiths says.

Some past experiments with psychedelics in the ’60s used initial high doses of the drugs — the “blast people away with a high dose” model, says Griffiths — to try to treat addiction. “Some of the early work in addictions was done with the idea of, ‘O.K., let’s model the ‘bottoming-out’ crisis and make use of the dark side of [psychedelic] compounds. That didn’t work,” Griffiths says.

It may even have backfired: other research on addictions shows that coercion, humiliation and other attempts to produce a sense of “powerlessness,” tend to increase relapse and treatment dropout, not recovery. (And the notorious naked LSD encounter sessions conducted with psychopaths made them worse, too.)

Griffiths is currently seeking patients with terminal cancer to participate in his next set of experiments (for more information on these studies, click here); because psychedelics often produce a feeling of going beyond life and death, they are thought to be especially likely to help those facing the end of life. Griffiths is also studying whether psilocybin can help smokers quit.

Griffiths and other researchers like him are hoping to bring the study of psychedelics into the future. They want to build on the promise that some of the early research showed, while avoiding the bad rep and exaggerated claims — for example, that LSD was harmless and could usher in world peace — that became associated with the drugs when people started using them recreationally in the 1960s. The resulting negative publicity helped shut down the burgeoning research.

This time around, caution may be paying off. Dr. Jerome Jaffe, America’s first drug czar, who was not involved with the research, said in a statement, “The Hopkins psilocybin studies clearly demonstrate that this route to the mystical is not to be walked alone. But they have also demonstrated significant and lasting benefits. That raises two questions: could psilocybin-occasioned experiences prove therapeutically useful, for example in dealing with the psychological distress experienced by some terminal patients?

“And should properly-informed citizens, not in distress, be allowed to receive psilocybin for its possible spiritual benefits, as we now allow them to pursue other possibly risky activities such as cosmetic surgery and mountain-climbing?”

The study was published in the journal Psychopharmacology.

What do you all think of this? I think it's amazing that this stuff exists purely in nature, yet our laws don't allow us to reap any benefits from it. Since I have had firsthand experience with mushrooms I can say that, what the participants were talking about happening to them, such as reducing their anxiety, depression, and helping them break an addiction are all things that happened to me as well.

Is there a chance that doctors can utilize this as treatment in the future? I think that further research is required to find any major side effects of using these magic mushrooms and if there are long-term negative effects as well.

holy fuck weed doesnt cure cancer get a job stoner fag

I just sat in my room and giggled for 3 hours.

>doing any substance that is illegal

lol

Quote from: Z♡n on March 04, 2015, 09:52:06 PM

Quote from: RomanGladiator on March 04, 2015, 09:50:43 PM

>doing any substance that is illegal

lol

>bitches about his life sucking constantly
>not willing to try things that could actually make you happier as a person

>using drugs to make you happy

L M F A O
M
F
A
O

There's a difference between using a drug to make you happy, and using a drug which enhances psychological processes that can help you help yourself become a better person.

But since you're jim I'll just assume you're le rusing

OP does shrooms

Only done them twice, and the second time was almost 2 months ago

Quote from: DemonicChronic on March 04, 2015, 09:58:18 PM

Quote from: Officer Dank on March 04, 2015, 09:52:58 PM

Enhanced introspection can really help people with a variety of problems.

This is true. Luckily my introspection was sharpened significantly by studying Buddhism and Zen, so I don't really need a catalyst like a psychedelic.

However, I'm still fascinated by the experiences whether they be my own or someone else's. I've become somewhat of a psychonaut, although I haven't really 'tripped' in ages unless you count high second 2nd to low 3rd plat DXM.

>studying Buddhism with their intense anti-drug beliefs

Truly, if I was to live on a monastery as a monk, I'd probably never see a recreational drug again.  The whole premise behind the religion and philosophy is to ultimately rid yourself of distractions, abandon attachments to this world, and be at peace.

I don't deny that altering perception, especially with psychedelics, is a distracting experience. LSD isn't going to help you calm your mind. But I'm not trying to live as a monk. I respect and admire their beliefs and resolve, but that doesn't mean I have to abide by them. There's nothing in Buddhism that I've found so far that damns me for using any drug recreationally. All it has told me is that there are consequences for doing so and I will have to deal with them, whether they be helpful, harmful, or neutral.

What fascinates me about psychedelics is that they tend to have sort of an opposite effect on perception as meditation, however both meet at the same end, that being ego loss.

I need to kick my butt into high gear and finally get around to having some mushrooms. Been talking about it for months with friends

I know that feel, it's extremely difficult to find someone who grows and sells them where I am so it's a very rare occasion for me.

...but I still consider the night I tripped on shrooms with my 4 friends one of the best experiences of my life. We still talk about that night.

Quote from: Officer Dank on March 04, 2015, 10:34:31 PM

Quote from: Jive Turkey on March 04, 2015, 10:24:46 PM

I need to kick my butt into high gear and finally get around to having some mushrooms. Been talking about it for months with friends

I know that feel, it's extremely difficult to find someone who grows and sells them where I am so it's a very rare occasion for me.

...but I still consider the night I tripped on shrooms with my 4 friends one of the best experiences of my life. We still talk about that night.

Yup I feel you. A lot of the drug dealers in my area are pretty shady, even for drug dealers haha.

Is there anything special you would recommend doing in preparation? Stuff like where to do it, things to bring, any precautions, what to eat(if anything) the time leading up to it? I've been doing research but it's always great hearing it from someone who did it

It's recommended to grind up the mushrooms you want to eat, mix that with orange juice, and then drink it, there's something about vitamin C enhancing your experience and reducing the chance of a bad trip.

Both times I ate mushrooms it was at my friend's apartment, but the best places are A) somewhere that you feel comfortable or B) out in the woods or at the beach.

I recommend bringing comfortable clothes and a nice pair of headphones, because listening to your favorite music while tripping is an experience within itself.

For precautions, I would make sure you're not in a depressed mood or with people you don't feel 100% comfortable with because that's how you get a bad trip.