Science

FDA recognizes psilocybin as ‘breakthrough therapy’ for depression

The only reference to psilocybin on the Food and Drug Administration’s website appears in the agency’s Bad Bug Book: Handbook of Foodborne Pathogenic Microorganisms and Natural Toxins, where the psychedelic compound is described as a “neurotoxin” found in mushrooms.  The FDA’s dueling portrayals of psilocybin as a scary fungal neurotoxin and a promising treatment for depression…

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‘Magic mushroom’ chemicals could be legal sooner than you think, if scientists have their way

*mushroom picture not for identification purposes So if the called-for reclassification does indeed take place, psilocybin would go from being treated like an outlawed narcotic to – basically – a prescription sleeping pill. “We should be clear that psilocybin is not without risks of harm, which are greater in recreational than medical settings,” Johnson says.…

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Magic mushrooms should be less illegal, scientists argue

There is still a lot of social stigma and fear surrounding psychedelic drugs. But properly-conducted clinical trials are rapidly replacing assumptions with solid scientific knowledge, the researchers say.“This area of regulatory science has the potential to facilitate innovative therapeutic breakthroughs by replacing fear and misinformation with scientifically based conclusions and facts,” they write. Based on…

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Science

Outdoor-grown weed is not only better for the environment…

The state wasn’t going to allow outdoor farming until… people successfully convinced the regulators to allow sun-grown weed. It’s also the more environmentally friendly choice. Outdoor farming will always use less energy. Indoor farmers need a lot of power to run their lights and fans. Just like the grape vines for winemaking, pot plants absorb…

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Ayahuasca may help patients with treatment-resistant depression, study finds

In this new study, a large group of Brazilian scientists carried out the first randomized placebo-controlled trial with ayahuasca, treating 29 patients with treatment-resistant depression.​ Half of the patients were treated with ayahuasca, and the other half with placebo. “We observed a significant placebo effect, but the effects of ayahuasca were superior, and lasted longer,”…

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Brain scientists meet to share data on magic mushrooms…

About 500 brain experts from 29 countries are attending the group’s annual meeting, CNS 2018 (27th Annual Computational Neuroscience Meeting), which has been jointly organized by the Allen Institute for Brain Science and the University of Washington. [An] experiment took advantage of functional MRI brain scans to document how psilocybin changed brain activity. The psychedelic drug reduced the activity of…

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