Free Republic

The Iowa House passed legislation Monday to legalize the use of psilocybin, the psychoactive compound found in “magic mushrooms,” for psychiatric treatment through a state program. House File 978, passed 84-6, would establish a Psilocybin Production Establishment Licensing Board within the Iowa Department of Health and Human Services, operating in a similar fashion to the existing Medical Cannabidiol Advisory Board that oversees Iowa’s medical cannabis program. The board would grant licenses for the production and administration of products with psilocybin to people with certain mental health needs in the state. The bill also sets new requirements for who can access...

Psilocybin could help people suffering from a mental health problem that can lead to eating disorders, a new study suggests. Psilocybin, the active chemical in "magic" mushrooms, significantly reduced symptoms in people with body dysmorphic disorder (BDD), researchers reported Tuesday in the journal Psychedelics. BDD causes an obsessive preoccupation with perceived flaws in one's physical appearance, and is frequently tied to eating disorders and other unhealthy behaviors, researchers said. For this pilot trial, eight people with hard-to-treat BDD received a single 25-milligram dose of psilocybin. Brain scans showed that the psilocybin treatment increased levels in connectivity between different brain regions...

Scientists have claimed that the consumption of the fungi psilocybin, also known as 'magic mushrooms,' influenced pre-human hominids' brains six million years ago.They analyzed dozens of studies involving psilocybin and consciousness, finding the fungi increased connectivity between networks in the frontal brain region associated with expressive language, decision-making and memory.These 'significant neurological and psychological effects' may have been the catalase ancient ancestors to interact with each other and the environment - spurring consciousness among our species.The idea that magic mushrooms sparked the pivotal point in humans has been touted by podcaster Joe Rogan, who has referenced the 'Stoned Ape Theory'...

Currently, there are more than 55 million people who suffer from dementia worldwide, and nearly 10 million new cases of dementia are diagnosed each year. Cognitive decline has become such a pervasive issue in modern society; it has become normalized across the political spectrum. Some of today’s government officials show serious cognitive decline, and even the de facto President of the United States routinely stumbles around in a stupor, taking cues from handlers and mumbling incoherently at times. Cognitive decline is a serious health issue worldwide, but in many cases, there are ways to reverse the damage, prevent the death...

Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain The latest study to examine how tiny amounts of psychedelics can impact mental health provides further evidence of the therapeutic potential of microdosing. Published in Scientific Reports this week, the study followed 953 people taking regular small amounts of psilocybin and a second group of 180 people who were not microdosing. This research, led by University of British Columbia Okanagan's Dr. Zach Walsh and doctoral student Joseph Rootman, is the latest study to come from the Microdose.me project. For the 30-day study, participants were asked to complete a number of assessments that tapped into mental health...

A new study published in the journal Current Biology found that an injection of psilocybin — the active ingredient in magic mushrooms — potentially provides long-lasting relief from chronic pain. Scientists at the University of Michigan injected the feet of rats with formaldehyde to simulate the effects of chronic inflammation. The rats were separated into three different groups. The first group was given a low dose of psilocybin, the second was given a high dose, and the third got a saltwater placebo. Scientists exposed the rats to pricks on their feet and hot plates to gauge their reaction.

In a world where boundaries and definitions are stretched to unrecognizable limits, a congregation of ex-Mormons has outdone itself in an unprecedented display of spiritual anarchy. Stepping far away from previously blasphemous Mormon roots, they’ve founded a “church” where their sacrament is not the bread and wine symbolizing Christ’s sacrifice, but psychedelic mushrooms. Yes, you read that correctly. They call themselves the “Divine Assembly,” trading in pews and hymnals for bean bags and trip guides. These spiritual “adventurers” claim they are communing directly with the divine while they’re tripping, but the only thing they are communing with is the surreal...

U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen accidentally eating magic mushrooms in China was not on anyone's 2023 bingo card. Last month, while discussing diplomacy overseas, Yellen dined at a restaurant during a visit to Beijing called Yi Zuo Yi (In and Out), a chain known for a Yunnan dish containing mushrooms called jian shou qing which means "see hand blue" in a rough translation. However, Lanmaoa asiatica mushrooms (the mushrooms that are used in the dish) are not your average fungi — they're known to have hallucinogen properties and turn blue when pressure is applied to them. Yellen didn't know this...

What a trip. Magic mushrooms may have been to blame for Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen’s mortifying bow before a Chinese official last week. Yellen, 76, gobbled four portions of jian shou qing, a type of wild mushroom, when she dropped in at a casual Beijing restaurant soon after she arrived there on July 6, Chinese state media reported in an effusive story that took care to praise the secretary’s chopstick skills. But the funky fungi are known in their native province of Yunnan for their unpredictable psychedelic effects, CNN reported. “You thought you were walking straight but you just fell...

"I can tell you none of us were affected by the mushrooms," Yellen insisted to CNN.America's chief macroeconomist accidentally microdosed on Chinese "magic mushrooms" last month. Well, sort of. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen accidentally dined on hallucinogenic mushrooms on a recent diplomatic trip to China. However, she swears she didn't actually get high from the dish. "There was a delicious mushroom dish. I was not aware that these mushrooms had hallucinogenic properties," Yellen told CNN's Erin Burnett. "I learned that later." "I can tell you none of us were affected by the mushrooms," Yellen added. "I read that if the...

A select group of celebrities are chosen to throw out the first pitch at a Major League Baseball game. And not all of them maximize the experience—just ask 50 Cent. Almost no one, however, has had as much fun with the endeavor than rapper Wiz Khalifa—so he claims—did Monday evening. Khalifa, a military brat who grew up in Pittsburgh after moving around frequently as a child, threw out the first pitch ahead of the Pirates' series opener against the Guardians at PNC Park. The event was duly promoted across MLB's soc

Magic mushrooms may have been to blame for Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen’s mortifying bow before a Chinese official last week. Yellen, 76, gobbled four portions of jian shou qing, a type of wild mushroom, when she dropped in at a casual Beijing restaurant soon after she arrived there on July 6, Chinese state media reported in an effusive story that took care to praise the secretary’s chopstick skills. But the funky fungi are known in their native province of Yunnan for their unpredictable psychedelic effects, CNN reported.

Magic Mushrooms. LSD. Ketamine. The Drugs That Power Silicon Valley. Entrepreneurs including Elon Musk and Sergey Brin are part of a drug movement that proponents hope will expand minds, enhance lives and produce business breakthroughs Elon Musk takes ketamine. Sergey Brin sometimes enjoys magic mushrooms. Executives at venture-capital firm Founders Fund, known for its investments in SpaceX and Facebook, have thrown parties that include psychedelics. Routine drug use has moved from an after-hours activity squarely into corporate culture, leaving boards and business leaders to wrestle with their responsibilities for a workforce that frequently uses. At the vanguard are tech executives...

Sen. John Fetterman offered full-throated support for psychedelics as a form of mental health therapy, bringing the emerging drug reform movement to Capitol Hill. Fetterman, the junior senator from Pennsylvania, made the comments on Wednesday during Senate Agriculture subcommittee hearing, saying he’s “been an advocate of psychedelics in terms of magic mushrooms for PTSD and for veterans especially.” “I always thought it could be - and maybe I’m wrong - an amazing economic kind of boom for the mushroom [sector],” said Fetterman, as quoted by the website. “I think it could be a revolution in mental health.” Fetterman, a Democrat...

New research has uncovered that sleep can be detected by brief, millisecond-long brain activity, highlighting that individual brain regions can independently switch between sleep and wake states, which could impact the understanding of neurological diseases. =================================================================== The study broadly reveals how fast brain waves, previously overlooked, establish fundamental patterns of sleep and wakefulness. Scientists have developed a new method to analyze sleep and wake states by detecting ultra-fast neuronal activity patterns, just milliseconds long, challenging traditional understandings based on slower brain waves. This research also uncovered that individual brain regions can briefly transition between sleep and wake independently, revealing complex,...

In a pioneering study, a team of researchers from Massachusetts General Hospital and Boston Children’s Hospital have identified a brain network essential for human consciousness. Aided by advances in ultrahigh-resolution magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) technology, researchers discovered previously unknown pathways connecting various brain regions, forming what they termed the “default ascending arousal network” (DAAN). In findings published in Science Translational Medicine, researchers propose that this brain network plays a pivotal role in maintaining wakefulness and integrating arousal with awareness in the resting human brain. The discovery could be a significant breakthrough in understanding a range of neurological disorders while shedding...

Observing consciousness as physical allows insights not available to most. Ever since my NDE over 35 years ago, I've been observing and learning how consciousness flows in the human soul, and how it changes as it grows toward the Higher Consciousness many call God. Human consciousness, and the stored memories in people's souls became physical to me after the NDE. My comments below are a result of direct observation and experience, some involving exorcisms dealing directly with evil over the past 35+ years. I've been following the research on Artificial Intelligence (AI) since it began, beginning in the 1970's when...

Since Galileo’s time the physical sciences have leaped forward, explaining the workings of the tiniest quarks to the largest galaxy clusters. But explaining things that reside “only in consciousness”—the red of a sunset, say, or the bitter taste of a lemon—has proven far more difficult. Neuroscientists have identified a number of neural correlates of consciousness—brain states associated with specific mental states—but have not explained how matter forms minds in the first place. As philosopher Colin McGinn put it in a 1989 paper, “Somehow, we feel, the water of the physical brain is turned into the wine of consciousness.” Philosopher David...

One of the obvious reasons that human beings’ destiny after they shuffle off this mortal coil is such an enduring mystery is that nobody ever comes back to tell us what really happens. Or do they? This is a question that has been the subject of intense speculation, particularly among people who focus on paranormal phenomena. Referred to frequently as “near-death experiences,” (NDEs) people do sometimes undergo what most doctors would refer to as “death,” including a complete cessation of brainwave activity, but are then “brought back to life.” And some of them claim to have memories of that period...

P. maluti. (Cullen Clark) Planet Earth is home to possibly hundreds of species of magic mushroom that contain the hallucinogen, psilocybin. Systematic fieldwork surveys of the genus, Psilocybe, however, are "entirely lacking" for many regions of the world. Now, a new paper describes two species of magic mushroom in southern Africa that are wholly new to science. That brings the total number of reported Psilocybe mushrooms on the continent from just four to six. One of the species, called Psilocybe maluti, is the first scientifically documented magic mushroom with traditional, spiritual uses in Africa. P. maluti was originally photographed in...