Magic Mushroom Resurgence

Magic mushrooms are having a resurgence for their potential to help cancer patients. People who take it describe 'trips' or hallucinations that can be both wonderful and disturbing.

Its active ingredient is psilocybin, listed as a schedule one drug in the same category as cocaine. Psilocybin activates proteins called serotonin receptors in the prefrontal cortex. This part of the brain controls mood, cognition and perception.

The new studies look at how the drug can treat depression and anxiety in cancer patients who become distressed, hopeless and isolated when they're facing death. The study used a single dose of psilocybin and control patients got vitamin B until week seven when they also received psilocybin. When researchers checked at seven weeks and then at six months, patients felt less anxiety about death and weren't as hopeless.

What's surprising is at two and four years, long after psilocybin had left their bodies, up to eighty percent of the surviving patients continued to have significantly less depression symptoms and anxiety. The results are remarkable given that these patients had just a single dose of the drug. Nearly all describe positive lifestyle changes and rated the experience among the 'most personally meaningful and spiritual experiences of their lives'. Even though modern medicine continues to amaze us, this ancient remedy could be the balm that helps millions facing terminal disease.