This is a heavy subject. Some researchers just revisited the psychedelic effects of the psilocybin mushroom:Many of the 36 volunteers rated their reaction to a single dose of the drug, called psilocybin, as one of the most meaningful or spiritually significant experiences of their lives.Well, duh, we had sample sizes almost that big in some hippie pads I lived in.
Even two months after taking the drug, pronounced SILL-oh-SY-bin, most of the volunteers said the experience had changed them in beneficial ways, such as making them more compassionate, loving, optimistic and patient. Family members and friends said they noticed a difference, too.On the warning side, though:
Almost a third of the research participants found the drug experience frightening even in the very controlled setting.Some personalities don't respond well, especially the first time, to the loss of ordinary control and perceptual strangeness of the experience. Much has been written about the importance of (mind) set and setting: eating beforehand, being in a good mood to start, being among supportive friends in a non-threatening environment, having come-down aids like wine and even tranquilizers if necessary, and so on.
The psilocybin mushroom experience is the shortest in duration, the least threatening, and the most humorous, as compared to the possible nausea from mescaline cactus and the profound personality self-examination more typical of LSD. I hope responsible adult use of this magic mushroom will be legal wherever and whenever I retire. I might like to try it again then.
UPDATE: New, July 2008 CNN video report on a Johns Hopkins study of the psychedelic mushroom experience.
In Amsterdam the head shops advertise Orange Juice or some heavily sugared food to bring trippers down to earth.
ReplyDeleteI studied the chemical effects of all these in a Mind Brain & Behavior class my senior year in college.
The problem with all of them is that with overuse even those who initially have positive experiences can have negative returns from messing too heavily with seratonin levels in the brain: depression, confusion, etc.
My professor didn't advocate use, but it was clear that he thought use was a benign recreation. As is the case with just about all our other intoxicants, the dangers are in abuse.
To some degree, the way these drugs interface with seratonin recptors (causing them to temporarily decrease in numbers) makes abuse more difficult as the drug's effects are reduced, or negated, with repeated use in a given time frame. Hardcore users continue to up the dose, which isn't physically dangerous like a heroin or coke addict upping a dose, but it can play hell with our chemical transmitters and receptors, and lead to trouble.
And if they were legal, that would be a great birthday treat.
Once a year--- plenty.
I'm reading an interesting book, Graham Hancock's Supernatural, in which the author relates religious experience and religions themselves to the use of pychoactive plants. Many descriptions of religious experience in holy texts, including the Old Testament, and elsewhere are the same as what people who have ingested hallucinogenic plants report, with each plant delivering a separate, common experience identifiable with the plant.
ReplyDeleteMe, I'm too sensitive to any drugs to mess with any of it.
Oh, one other thing. In his book, Hancock gets into the idea that interactive video of sorts is hard-wired into our DNA itself -- which raises the questions, why and by whom? Hancock experimented with many of these psychoactive plants, by the way, and, based on the physical effects he reports, I hope he thinks it was worth it.
ReplyDeletethey're wonderful,
ReplyDeletethese mind opening plants. Could do without the man made Drugs though.