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Magic mushrooms point to new depression drugs (Hope yet for Reid, Pelosi & Debbie Blabbermouth?)
msnbc.com ^ | 1/23/12 | Reuters

Posted on 01/23/2012 6:57:34 PM PST by NormsRevenge

LONDON — The brains of people tripping on magic mushrooms have given the best picture yet of how psychedelic drugs work and British scientists say the findings suggest such drugs could be used to treat depression.

Two separate studies into the effects of psilocybin, the active ingredient in magic mushrooms, showed that contrary to scientists' expectations, it does not increase but rather suppresses activity in areas of the brain that are also dampened with other anti-depressant treatments.

"Psychedelics are thought of as 'mind-expanding' drugs so it has commonly been assumed that they work by increasing brain activity," said David Nutt of Imperial College London, who gave a briefing about the studies on Monday. "But, surprisingly, we found that psilocybin actually caused activity to decrease in areas that have the densest connections with other areas."

These so-called "hub" regions of the brain are known to play a role in constraining our experience of the world and keeping it orderly, he said.

"We now know that deactivating these regions leads to a state in which the world is experienced as strange."

(Excerpt) Read more at msnbc.msn.com ...


TOPICS: Chit/Chat; Health/Medicine; Science
KEYWORDS: depression; drugs; magicmushrooms; psychedelics
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Could explain a lot, perhaps the Dhimmi leadership has been part of a clinical trial for years?
1 posted on 01/23/2012 6:57:40 PM PST by NormsRevenge
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reckun this be why she didn’t drain the swamp when she had a chance. didn’t want to disturb the habitat.

Nancy Pelosi’s plan for becoming Speaker again
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2012/01/23/MNUE1MS9CK.DTL

House minority leader Nancy Pelosi is predicting that Democrats will recapture the House in November, a move that could open the possibility of the San Francisco Democrat regaining the speakership and becoming the first politician to return to that office after a defeat since Texas Democrat Sam Rayburn in 1955.

Pelosi, 71, needs a net gain of 25 Democrats nationwide, a goal she calls her “Drive for 25.” She has predicted gains as large as 35, produced in part by a Democratic romp through California, where the redrawing of legislative districts by a nonpartisan citizens commission promises the biggest shakeup in the state’s congressional delegation in two decades, along with gains in Texas, New York, Illinois and Florida.

Independent analysts said Pelosi is dreaming. Unless, that is, the Republican presidential nominee, whoever it is, implodes.


2 posted on 01/23/2012 7:03:28 PM PST by NormsRevenge (Semper Fi ... Godspeed .. Monthly Donor Onboard .. Obama: Epic Fail or Bust!!!)
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To: NormsRevenge

It’s fitting the culture that invented ‘mind expanding’ is in fact doing the exact opposite. Speaks volumes about the fallacies of their approach.


3 posted on 01/23/2012 7:06:47 PM PST by Track9 (The revolution IS brewing..)
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To: NormsRevenge

Popular folk medicine has said for years that a bottle of strawberry wine, a sunny day, some Shrooms, a 19 year old girl, and a little skinny dipping, can alleviate depression.


4 posted on 01/23/2012 7:07:49 PM PST by ansel12 (Romney is unquestionably the weakest party front-runner in contemporary political history.)
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To: ansel12

Would a 40-45 year old girl be acceptable? Anything younger would prolly kill me.


5 posted on 01/23/2012 7:11:55 PM PST by bigheadfred
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To: ansel12
Carlos Castaneda's description of Juan's Yaqui experience was pretty much the same as that being reported with drugs that suppressed brain activity.

Is this simply a more formal scientific review of this far older discussion?

6 posted on 01/23/2012 7:12:05 PM PST by muawiyah
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To: Track9
It’s fitting the culture that invented ‘mind expanding’ is in fact doing the exact opposite. Speaks volumes about the fallacies of their approach.

I think that crowd confused expansion with diffusion.

7 posted on 01/23/2012 7:17:20 PM PST by Smokin' Joe (How often God must weep at humans' folly. Stand fast. God knows what He is doing)
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To: bigheadfred

40-45 year old girl is fine; however, at your age be advised that if you maintain a trip for more than four hours, seek medical attention.


8 posted on 01/23/2012 7:19:09 PM PST by Rebelbase
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To: Rebelbase

Soooo, after 4 hours the trip turns into a bummer and I should see my proctologist?


9 posted on 01/23/2012 7:23:23 PM PST by bigheadfred
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To: NormsRevenge
"We now know that deactivating these regions leads to a state in which the world is experienced as strange."

You mean it's not?
10 posted on 01/23/2012 7:26:46 PM PST by aruanan
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To: muawiyah

It has been so many years since I speed read that book on a 30 minute bus ride that I couldn’t say.


11 posted on 01/23/2012 7:27:42 PM PST by ansel12 (Romney is unquestionably the weakest party front-runner in contemporary political history.)
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To: bigheadfred

Only if the trip involved eating raw jalapenos.


12 posted on 01/23/2012 7:31:17 PM PST by Rebelbase
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To: bigheadfred

I always understood the recipe called for 19 year old, and Boone’s Farm, but that may just old Texas folklore, I guess one could alter the recipe to fit the times and market available of the various ingredients.

Frankly I would be willing to try the recipe and go so far as to leave off the shrooms.


13 posted on 01/23/2012 7:33:01 PM PST by ansel12 (Romney is unquestionably the weakest party front-runner in contemporary political history.)
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To: Rebelbase

Well, on this kind of deal, if anyone eats raw jalepenos, EVERYONE is going to the doctor...


14 posted on 01/23/2012 7:41:00 PM PST by bigheadfred
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To: NormsRevenge

Interesting. There has been some similar research into “ayahuasca” a psychedelic brew made in some parts of Peru (and maybe elsewhere, I’m not sure).

There was also some work done in the U.S. in the 50’s and 60’s (IIRC) using small amounts of LSD in psychotherapy and treating addiction. As I recall, the experiments generally either didn’t work out or were conducted with such sloppy controls that they were basically useless.


15 posted on 01/23/2012 7:52:57 PM PST by DemforBush (Are you any better off than you were $6 trillion ago?)
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To: ansel12

Wasn’t a bus; wasn’t a ride; wasn’t 30 minutes.......................... That place you thought was a bus stop out in the desert was really the Peyote Way Church at Odo ~ see: http://www.peyoteway.org/index.php These guys are for real ~ Bill Clinton fought for them and all the other Church of the First Born/Native American Religion affiliates who use peyote. You better believe that dude knows who Juan is!


16 posted on 01/23/2012 8:01:27 PM PST by muawiyah
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To: NormsRevenge

Actually I think Reid, Pelosi & Debbie Blabbermouth have already been using magic mushrooms


17 posted on 01/23/2012 8:09:50 PM PST by bigbob
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To: bigheadfred
Would a 40-45 year old girl be acceptable? Anything younger would prolly kill me.

I hear ya. Not wired for 2-20 anymore myself.

18 posted on 01/23/2012 8:22:20 PM PST by Pearls Before Swine
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To: NormsRevenge
"Psychedelics are thought of as 'mind-expanding' drugs so it has commonly been assumed that they work by increasing brain activity," said David Nutt of Imperial College London,...

The error in that assumption is that brain and mind are not the same thing.

19 posted on 01/23/2012 9:01:29 PM PST by TigersEye (Life is about choices. Your choices. Make good ones.)
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To: ansel12
“alleviate”?

That there, my FRiend, is the cure for nearly everything.

20 posted on 01/23/2012 9:08:38 PM PST by varyouga
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