Medicine/Healing

[Australian] hospital will trial magic mushroom therapy for dying patients

…[the] study has finally been approved by ethics committees and state and federal authorities, and will see a number of terminally ill patients being given a single dose of synthetic psilocybin—the psychoactive ingredient in mushrooms—under the supervision and guidance of psychiatrists to help them come to terms with their own mortality.  Dr Margaret Ross [says],…

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Politics

Oregon initiative would decriminalize psilocybin

The changes in the state’s criminal code would be significant, the primary goal of the petitioners is to clear the way for the therapeutic use of psilocybin via licensed and regulated producers, processors, and therapists. An initiative that would decriminalize most psilocybin offenses and open the door to regulated production and therapeutic use of the…

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Psychology

‘Microdosers’ of LSD and magic mushrooms are wiser and more creative

Psychedelics microdosing can mean taking five to 20 micrograms of LSD, 0.1 – 0.3 grams of dried psilocybin-containing mushrooms.  We compared people who microdose — that is, who take a psychedelic substance such as LSD (lysergic acid diethylamide) or “magic” mushrooms (psilocybin) in very small quantities — with those who don’t, and found that microdosers had healthier scores on…

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Science

Alleged magic mushrooms (Psilocybe cubensis) test as ergosterol, a compound present in ergot and many other fungi

“We’re not sure what to say about this result. Plant-based and fungal materials pose special challenges. Ergosterol is a substance that is present in the cell membranes of fungi.” EcstasyData entry shows a brown, yellow and off-white dried fungal matter that was sourced in Dallas, TX as “Psilocybe cubensis grown with DiPT,” but which tested as nothing more…

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Modern Culture

Could Oregon legalize magic mushrooms… ?

This week we moved one step closer to some form of this becoming a reality, with Oregon’s Attorney General approving the language for a ballot measure to allow licensed medical professionals to administer psilocybin for therapeutic purposes. There will, of course, be those who will vigorously oppose the passage if it makes the ballot, and…

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Medicine/Healing

This is your brain on microdoses of psilocybin

In describing their new study, Prochazkova and co-authors said, “Taken together, our results suggest that consuming a microdose of [psychedelic] truffles allowed participants to create more out-of-the-box alternative solutions for a problem, thus providing preliminary support for the assumption that microdosing improves divergent thinking.”​Although there’s lots of anecdotal evidence about the “mind-expanding” powers of psilocybin,…

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