Magic mushroom drugs could treat severe depression

Drugs made from magic mushrooms could help treat people with severe depression, a new study suggests.

Scientists believe that the chemical psilocybin, the psychedelic ingredient in magic mushrooms, can turn down parts of the brain that are overactive in severely depressive patients, the Guardian reported.

The drug appears to stop patients dwelling on themselves and their own perceived inadequacies.

However, a bid by British scientists to carry out trials of psilocybin on patients in order to assess its full medical potential has been blocked by red tape relating to Britain’s strict drugs laws.

Professor David Nutt, professor of neuropsychopharmacology at Imperial College London, said that because magic mushrooms are rated as a class-A drug, their active chemical ingredient cannot be manufactured unless a special licence is granted.

“We haven’t started the study because finding companies that could manufacture the drug and who are prepared to go through the regulatory hoops to get the licence is proving very difficult,” Nutt said.

“The whole field is so bedevilled by primitive old-fashioned attitudes. Even if you have a good idea, you may never get it into the clinic, it seems,” he added.

Research by Nutt has found that psilocybin switches off part of the brain called the anterior cingulate cortex.

It was known that this area is overactive in individuals suffering from depression.

In his tests on healthy individuals, it was found that psilocybin had a profound effect on making these volunteers feel happier weeks after they had taken the drug, Nutt said.

I wouldn’t count on every depressive personality to have the same underlying problems, some of which could be brought to the fore rather than alleviated. I also wouldn’t count on every batch of psilocybin to have the same effect on those who consume it. Psychoactives are not for people who have deep-seated fears and suppressed strong emotions. It will come out and it ain’t gonna be pretty. Maybe in a controlled environment with tightly controlled dosages and patients who have been screened for other underlying psychological problems it could be a good thing, but I’d still have my doubts.

As depression is a booming business and is massively expanding, I somehow doubt that the bulk of patients have inherited biochemical markers for depression.

However I do suspect the primary cause of depression is adrenal burnout. As a side note, Nutritional therapy with high enzyme foods with a high mineral content DOES rapidly replete the body and reduce depression symptoms far faster than any therapy that I know of. I know of a Naturopathic Doctor that is very excited because some of his patients are showing marked improvement in a few months eating some rather custom tailored sour Kraut recipes from a local home kitchen movement group.

While I know the theory and have felt the benefits myself, I am no where near ta Kraut maestro. I can share the basic premise with you if you wish.

I think most anybody with the least bit of an adventurous nature who attended college from the late sixties right on through the eighties had a brush with them. Mine came in an old “cracker” shack in Central Florida while on Spring Break. One of our group was from down there, we went out to visit and party. Nothing out of the ordinary at first, music, beer, a few shots of Jack, then a thunderstorm came up, ended, then one of the sort of hippyish chicks who actually lived in the shack got a gleam in her eye, went and got a basket and said come on, let’s go before the sun’s been out too long.

The shack was out in the middle of nowhere on the edge of a huge pasture, it’s big business down there, cattle in Central Florida. Looked like we were on the edge of the Everglades or something to me, palm trees, forest more like jungle, standing water here and there.

But, we went out and picked these little mushrooms, a specific kind that she pointed out, most were springing up out of cow patties but some weren’t and those were the ones we picked. Got her little basket about half full, went back to the shack on the edge of the pasture and she went to work. Washed them, trimmed the stems, discarded some, cut some of the larger ones into smaller pieces. Then she made a big boiling pot of grape koolaid, put them in there and let it simmer with the lid on for an hour or two, then let it cool.

We drank the koolaid. It was interesting to say the least. Everything was funny for a while, everything. That faded then colors started getting intense, like they were alive, it was like stepping out of black and white into the Land Of Oz. It got more peculiar after that, very meaningful behavior from wildlife, felt telepathic. Some of our group didn’t take it very well, and started getting afraid, which was like stepping back into black and white.

I won’t go on about it but I can see why certain creative types have done it. I can also see why some people do very disturbing things while on it. I wouldn’t do it again and do not recommend it at all, not because of what I experienced but because of what I saw others experience. I guess I’m not all that threatened by objective reality as I know it coming undone. Some are. Hard to know where you fall beforehand.

That’s my mushroom story.

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