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Psilocybin Mushrooms Fact Sheet

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Psilocybin Mushrooms Fact Sheet Psilocybin Mushrooms Fact Sheet January 2017 What are psilocybin, or “magic,” mushrooms? For the next two decades thousands of doses of psilocybin were administered in clinical experiments. Psilocybin is the main ingredient found in several types Psychiatrists, scientists and mental health of psychoactive mushrooms, making it perhaps the professionals considered psychedelics like psilocybin i best-known naturally-occurring psychedelic drug. to be promising treatments as an aid to therapy for a Although psilocybin is considered active at doses broad range of psychiatric diagnoses, including around 3-4 mg, a common dose used in clinical alcoholism, schizophrenia, autism spectrum disorders, ii,iii,iv research settings ranges from 14-30 mg. Its obsessive-compulsive disorder, and depression.xiii effects on the brain are attributed to its active Many more people were also introduced to psilocybin metabolite, psilocin. Psilocybin is most commonly mushrooms and other psychedelics as part of various found in wild or homegrown mushrooms and sold religious or spiritual practices, for mental and either fresh or dried. The most popular species of emotional exploration, or to enhance wellness and psilocybin mushrooms is Psilocybe cubensis, which is creativity.xiv usually taken orally either by eating dried caps and stems or steeped in hot water and drunk as a tea, with Despite this long history and ongoing research into its v a common dose around 1-2.5 grams. therapeutic and medical benefits,xv since 1970 psilocybin and psilocin have been listed in Schedule I of the Controlled Substances Act, the most heavily Scientists and mental health professionals criminalized category for drugs considered to have a consider psychedelics like psilocybin to be “high potential for abuse” and no currently accepted promising treatments as an aid to therapy for a medical use – though when it comes to psilocybin broad range of psychiatric diagnoses. there is significant evidence to the contrary on both counts. What is the history of psychoactive mushrooms? What are the short term effects of psilocybin mushrooms? Psychoactive mushrooms have been used for vi thousands of years and have a long history of both The effects of psychedelic drugs like psilocybin medicinal and ceremonial use among indigenous mushrooms vary tremendously, and are difficult to peoples in many parts of the world, including Europe categorize – they affect different people, at different vii,viii,ix,x and the Americas. They were re-popularized in places, and at different times, with incredible 1957, when a photo essay featuring an American variability.xvi,xvii banker and mushroom enthusiast R. Gordon Wasson was published in LIFE Magazine.xi Four years earlier, However, psilocybin and other psychedelics are known Wasson had stumbled across an indigenous tribe for their profound changes in consciousness and using psychoactive mushrooms in Mexico while on perception. Psilocybin’s effects last around 4-6 hours, vacation and brought back a sample that he then sent with peak effects occurring 2-3 hours after ingestion. to the Swiss chemist known for discovering LSD, These effects include sensory enhancement, sense of Albert Hofmann. Hofmann isolated psilocybin and time changing (minutes can feel like hours), real or developed a synthesis for the drug in his lab at Sandoz imagined objects appear to be moving (flowing Pharmaceuticals, which then started producing 2 mg patterns and shapes) both with eyes open or closed, pills to be distributed for research purposes.xii Drug Policy Alliance | 131 West 33rd Street, 15th Floor, New York, NY 10001 Page 1 [email protected] | 212.613.8020 voice | 212.613.8021 fax unusual thoughts and speech, personal insight and Heffter Research Institute.xx reflection, and excited mood.xviii Individual reactions to these perceptual changes are How many people use psilocybin mushrooms? very much based on set and setting.xvi Set (or “mindset”) refers to the psychological state and the Psilocybin mushrooms are considered one of the most beliefs of the person taking the drug. Setting is the well-known psychedelics, but according to the external circumstances they’re in – the people around Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services them and their environmental surroundings. Administration (SAMHSA), which conducts the largest annual national survey on drug use, their use is not at Because set and setting vary so widely from person to all common. Psychedelic use is so low that several person, and even from experience to experience, each drugs are grouped under the category of psilocybin experience can produce vastly different “hallucinogens,” which includes LSD, peyote, outcomes – from frightening to deeply meaningful and mescaline, psilocybin mushrooms, and “Ecstasy” or xxvi positive, life-changing experiences (though some parts “Molly” (MDMA). may still be overwhelming or psychologically jarring). In each year between 2002 and 2014, an annual average of 0.1% of people across all ages were Can psilocybin mushrooms be used as medicine considered to be current psychedelic users (meaning or therapy? they reported use within 30 days of completing the survey). In 2014, 0.3% of the 16,875 adolescent Strong evidence suggests yes. Fully legal, well-funded respondents (12 to 17 year-olds) in the US were research programs in the mid-20th century found that considered to be current users of psychedelics, 0.3% carefully monitored and controlled use of psilocybin of the 11,643 young adult respondents (18 to 25), and may be beneficial for many psychiatric disorders, 0.1% of 33,750 adult respondents aged 26 or older.xxvii personal and spiritual development, and creative However, from 2004–2005 (the last year data for this enhancement.xix However, after psilocybin was banned specific question were available), around half of the in 1970, clinical research to evaluate its medical safety people who reported trying a psychedelic for the first and efficacy of psychedelics was effectively halted until time used psilocybin mushrooms (out of approximately the late 90s and early 2000s.xx 67,000 respondents).xxviii Today, there are dozens of studies taking place to Data from people reporting lifetime use of psychedelics evaluate the medical safety and efficacy of shows similar rates across most age ranges, meaning psychedelics, including psilocybin. Much of the early just as many young adults in the 21st century have research did not stand up to today’s standards, as they used psychedelics as older adults who lived through often lacked a placebo control group or double-blinding the 1960s and 70s.xxix procedures (in which neither the subject of the research nor the investigators knew whether the What are the long term health impacts of subject received psilocybin or placebo). Nevertheless, psilocybin mushrooms? their promising findings have been revisited and spurred a resurgence of new, more rigorous research The risks associated with psychedelic drugs are mostly on the potential benefits of psychedelics as a psychological, not physical. Physically, psilocybin treatment for cluster headache,xxi anxiety,ii,iii,iv addiction mushrooms are considered to be one of the least toxic xix to alcohol and other drugs,xxii depression,xxiii drugs known. Although lethal doses have been obsessive-compulsive disorder,xxiv as well as determined from experiments in several animal models,xxx recorded cases of death exclusively neuroimaging experiments furthering the attributed to usual doses of psilocybin mushrooms in understanding of its effects on the brain.xxv humans are extremely rare.xxxi Because of the expensive and labyrinthian approval Physical effects are minor but varied and can be process for research with Schedule I drugs, as well as unique from person to person. The most consistent the political influence of the war on drugs, research reactions, such as dilated pupils, elevated blood evaluating psilocybin’s beneficial uses does not pressure, and increased heart rate, are usually mild, receive funding from academic or government and considered side effects of emotional institutions, and instead relies on nonprofit intensification. However, these along with other reported symptoms like nausea, increased organizations like the Multidisciplinary Association for perspiration, numbing and tremors, can sometimes Psychedelic Studies, the Beckley Foundation, and the make psychological symptoms like anxiety, panic Drug Policy Alliance | 131 West 33rd Street, 15th Floor, New York, NY 10001 Page 2 [email protected] | 212.613.8020 voice | 212.613.8021 fax attacks, paranoia, and mood swings seem worse.xxxii Are psilocybin mushrooms addictive? Long-term physical effects directly attributed to the pharmacology of psilocybin are rare, and research Psilocybin is not considered to be addictive nor does it suggests they may also be due to latent psychological cause compulsive use.xxxviii One reason is that the disorders. intense experience, which can be physically and mentally challenging, may cause people using Comprehensive reviews of the thousands of sessions psilocybin to limit their frequency of use.xixxix Another using psilocybin and other psychedelics in legal clinical reason is that the human body quickly builds tolerance research settings during the 1950s and 60s have to psilocybin, such that people require much higher consistently found extremely low incidences of acute and chronic problems among individuals lacking pre- doses after only a few days of repeated use, making it existing severe psychopathology.xix
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