Various types of hallucinogenic mushrooms or psilocybin fungi containing psilocybin in their composition. Psilocybin is a hallucinogenic substance that is found in more than 180 types of mushrooms.
Even a single use of psychedelic mushrooms forever changes a person’s life. And after a year, people consider the experience with mushrooms one of the most important events in their life. Moreover, they are sure that this experience has benefited them.
According to the latest data from psychopharmacologists from the Johns Hopkins American School of Medicine, in the case of fungi of the genus Psilocybes, stocking up for the future is not necessary at all – a certain effect persists for a year.
The fact is that all representatives of this genus, among which Psilocybe semilanceata, contain psilocybin, which became after LSD the second most famous among all psychedelic srooms.. The pioneer of both compounds is Albert Hofmann, who went down in history and as the first person to describe his feelings after taking LSD – the famous Bicycle Day.
Half a century later, Roland Griffiths and co-authors of a paper published in Psychopharmacology decided to repeat the experiment of their eminent colleague – though not on their own, but on volunteers. The reason for the interest of the latter is not mentioned in the article – it is argued that they all did not have experience receiving psychedelics up to that point.
Under the close supervision of specialists, 36 men and women were offered one dose of psilocybin, after which they were kept in the laboratory for 8 hours, carefully recording not only physiological, but also mental indicators. If there is no doubt about the objectivity of the former, the latter were evaluated solely by questionnaires.
The comments of the participants did not differ much from the literary descriptions of half a century ago: I felt … as if I were being lifted, beautiful colors, reality brighter and more colorful than ours. Not surprisingly, 2 months later, all participants praised their experience. But the latest data really struck scientists.
14 months after a single dose – at least according to the participants – of psilocybin, 58% of them considered this event to be one of the 5 most important in their lives.
64% of volunteers said that taking psychedelics improved their general perception of life and satisfaction with everything that happens around. According to Griffiths, in terms of significance for the psyche, this event is even comparable to the birth of the first child.
Now tireless researchers plan to evaluate the mystical aspects of psychedelic reception. Indeed, it is with the help of mushrooms and cacti that shamans and priests fall into a state of trance, in which “they have a vision of the future.” “Will psilocybin act equally on atheists and believers,” Griffiths plans to find out in the very near future.
Scientists have more mundane tasks: like LSD, psilocybin can be used in case of chronic pain or depression. In particular, Griffiths believes that even the rare use of drugs of this substance can significantly improve the life perception of cancer patients.
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