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He said he'd been prescribed so many different drugs by team doctors -- including stomach coaters and nerve blockers so he could take more painkillers -- that his body started to experience terrible side effects. Once, he said, he had such a bad reaction to a combination of painkillers he'd been given, he needed medical attention after he sweated through his clothes and began to have trouble breathing. The psychedelic effects of psilocybin can also disconnect a person from reality, which can lead people to do dangerous things, like running into traffic or jumping out a window.

Finding the right combination of existing drugs to alleviate symptoms can take months of trial and error. That’s why the potential benefits of psilocybin mushrooms have fascinated researchers for some time. Psilocybin[a] (/ˌsaɪləˈsaɪbɪn/ sy-lə-SY-bin, /ˌsɪl-/) is a naturally occurring psychedelic prodrug compound produced by more than 200 species of fungi. The most potent are members of genus Psilocybe, such as P. azurescens, P. semilanceata, and P. cyanescens, but psilocybin has also been isolated from approximately a dozen other genera. Psilocybin is itself biologically inactive but is quickly converted by the body to psilocin, which has mind-altering effects similar, in some aspects, to those of lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), mescaline, and dimethyltryptamine (DMT). In general, the effects include euphoria, visual and mental hallucinations, changes in perception, distorted sense of time, and perceived spiritual experiences.

The team behind the study believes it may have untangled how psilocybin exerts its therapeutic effects on the brain. Psilocybin is a hallucinogenic chemical found in some kinds of mushrooms. It belongs to the same chemical family as LSD, so its effects are quite similar. While the psilocybin mushroom is native to Mexico, other kinds of magic mushroom grow in other parts of the world and there are several species growing wild in Australia.

Ketamine, traditionally used as an anesthetic but also acting as a hallucinogenic, received FDA approval in 2019 to use with oral antidepressants in people with treatment-resistant depression. How might psychedelics ease feelings of hopelessness, emptiness, and apathy? By triggering hours-long periods where reality is altered — leading users to report a profound sense of connectedness, joy, and peace — the compounds may break longstanding thought patterns fueling depression. The state of Colorado decriminalised the possession and use of small amounts of natural psychedelic substances for those 21 and over.

Books describing methods of cultivating large quantities of Psilocybe cubensis were also published. The availability of psilocybin mushrooms from wild and cultivated sources has made them one of the most widely used psychedelic drugs. These "magic mushrooms" have been successfully used as a treatment for mental health concerns such as anxiety, PTSD, depression and alcoholism. One condition reported by some users of magic Burmese Dream Mushrooms is hallucinogen persisting perception disorder (HPPD), which causes visual disturbances and flashbacks even after the effects of a drug have worn off. The Johns Hopkins Center for Psychedelic and Consciousness Research is currently conducting a study of people with symptoms to help understand the condition better, and the risk factors. A 2011 study by Johns Hopkins School of Medicine researcher Katherine MacLean found that one dose of psilocybin induced long-term changes in an adult’s personality, with 61% of subjects reporting increases in "openness" one year later.

Poisonous mushrooms can cause stomach pains, vomiting and diarrhoea, while some can cause permanent liver damage, respiratory failure, unconsciousness and even death. "It’s impossible to overstate the importance of collections for doing studies like this. The authors found that Psilocybe arose much earlier than previously thought—about 65 million years ago, right around when the dinosaur-killing asteroid caused a mass extinction event. A team of researchers led by the University of Utah and the Natural History Museum of Utah (NHMU) has completed the largest genomic diversity study for the genus Psilocybe. Their genomic analysis of 52 Psilocybe specimens includes 39 species that have never been sequenced. For example, antidepressants have a black box warning from the FDA about the potential of increasing risk of suicidal thoughts and suicide in young adults.