Category Archives: Psychedelics

Youre not being invited to tune in, turn on and drop out, or sit in a white room without curtains but the controlled use of psychedelics a counterpart to the LSD pill drop of the 1960s that sent many people into a kind of end-of-2001-Space Odyssey trip deep into their own mind ( some never recovered or went bats) is showing impressive results at Johns Hopkins University.

Scientist Roland Griffiths and his colleague Matthew Johnson have been giving what they call heroic doses of psilocybin, like the old magic mushrooms from Hippie times, to more than 350 volunteers over the last two decades, CBS News reported in a feature by Anderson Cooper.

The early results are encouraging, as are the experiences of the studies volunteers who go on a six-hour, sometimes terrifying, but often life-changing psychedelic journey deep into their own minds, the report said.

Among the volunteers was Jon Kostakopoulos, who said he wanted to end his daily binge drinking of beer and cocktails, usually vodka sodas, tequila sodas, scotch and sodas, as many as 20 a day he said was wearing him down and out, killing him slowly.

During one psilocybin session, he was flooded with powerful feelings and images from his past.Stuff would come up that Ihavent thought of since they happened, he told Cooper, who asked if old memories he couldnt remember returned again.

I felt, you know, a lot of shame and embarrassment throughout one of the sessions about my drinking and how bad I felt for my parents to put up with all this, said Kostakopoulos, who took the psilocybin in 2016 and stopped drinking on the spot.

Do you ever have a day where you wake up and youre like, man, I wish I could have a vodka right now or beer? asked Cooper.

Never, said KostakopoulosNot at all, which is the craziest thing because that was my favorite thing to do.

As the show noted, using psychedelic drugs in therapy is not new, with hundreds of scientific studies done on a similar compound LSD in the 1950s and 60s, tested on more than 40,000 people, some in controlled therapeutic settings like this one.

But there were also abuses. The U.S. military and CIA experimented with LSD sometimes without patients knowledge, said the report, and LSD took on a bad reputation as dangerous and even deadly in some cases.

When Harvard professor Timothy Leary urged people to turn on, tune in, and drop out during the counterculture movement that brought fear to the establishment, then-President Richard Nixon in 1970 signed the controlled substances act and nearly all scientific research in the United States into the effects of psychedelics on people stopped.

It wasnt until 2000 that Roland Griffiths won FDA approval to study psilocybin. This whole area of research has been in the deep freeze for 25 or 30 years. And so as a scientist, sometimes I feel like Rip Van Winkle, he said.

After the first results he said, The red light started flashing. This is extraordinarily interesting. Its unprecedented and the capacity of the human organism to change it just was astounding.

But he cautioned what he does is scientific in a very controlled setting and that, we are very aware of the risks, and would not recommend that people simply go out and do this.

Griffiths and Johnson screen out people with psychotic disorders or with close relatives who have had schizophrenia or bipolar disorder and volunteers are given weeks of intensive counseling before and after the six-hour psilocybin experience; the psilocybin is given in a carefully controlled setting one to three times. They said there hasnt been one adverse reaction but warn some people will find the experience terrifying and be taken into a hell realm of fear.

Everything is done the same way it was for the LSD experiments scientists conducted in the 1950s and 60s and some of the most dramatic results have been with terminal cancer patients struggling with anxiety and paralyzing depression.

Kerry Pappas, who was diagnosed with Stage III lung cancer in 2013 took the chance on the psilocybin. I start seeing the colors and the geometric designs and its like oh this is so cool, and how lovely and, and then, boom. Visions began, she said. During her psilocybin session, she found herself trapped in a nightmare her mind created. An ancient, prehistoric, barren land. And theres these me with pickaxes, just slamming on the rocks. So she said.

Cooper asked, and this felt absolutely real to you?

Absolutely real. I was being shown the truth of reality. Life is meaningless, we have no purpose. And then I look, and Im still like a witness, a beautiful, shimmering, bright jewel. And then it was sound, and it was booming, booming, booming. Right here right now.

That was being said? asked Cooper.

You are alive. Right here right now, because thats all you have. And that is my mantra to this day, she said. The cancer has spread to her brain but she said her crippling anxiety about death is gone.

Yeah, its amazing. I mean, I feel like death doesnt frighten me. Living doesnt frighten me. I dont frighten me. This frightens me. She added, to this day, it evolves in meIts still absolutely alive in me.

When Cooper asked if the drug had made her happier, she said, Yah. And and I dont necessarily use the word happy. Comfortable. Like, comfortable. I mean, Ive suffered from anxiety my whole life. Im comfortable. That, to me, okay. I can die. Im comfortable, she laughed.

She ended: I mean, its huge. Its huge. Shes freed.

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Mind Trip: Psychedelics Fighting Depression, Anxiety, Addiction - The National Herald

On his latest album, True Love, Devon Welsh is singular. Thats not to say that the incisive singer-songwriteris alone in the world, but it wouldnt be such a bad thing if he were. I think its been more solo than the first one, Welsh says of this release, his sophomore outing following the dissolution of his electro-pop group Majical Cloudz. Its safe to say that for Welsh, who moved from his native Montreal to rural Wisconsin before making this album (I think a change of scenery can give you a new perspective on who you could be, Welsh tells me) theres something about the broader concept of alone-ness that feels both vital and terrifying.

That comes across on True Love, a record with such a big name Googling What is true love? brings back 3,460,000,000 attempted articulations it could easily become an abstraction. But rather than preaching some grand theory, Welsh stresses the personal, thriving in the ever-changing grey-space of subjectivity. Songs like Grace, a meditative, acoustic track that sees Welsh attempting to distinguish between the real or the easy Grace, seem to prick gently at the impulse to give into outside forces before looking inward. Still, when I ask if his album intentionally grapples with looming structures and archetypes, he says no. When I sit down to write a song, there wont really be an intention, he says. Therell just be the intention to write a song. If anything, its just about concocting something thats easy to understand.

Ironically, its this earnest simplicity that makes Welshs music feel so definitive. The instinct to translate the personal to the public, to find the communal in the close-to-home, is what makes the album so effectiveand affecting. With this in mind, I asked Welsh his point of view on everythingfrom acid to Roswell to the Xeroxed drawing his dad framed when he was fiveall in the style of Glenn OBriens iconic 1977 interview with Andy Warhol. Fittingly, Welshs perspective(s) on how psychedelics shake things up could just as easily serve as his take on the true nature of true love: Its not set in stone, he says, thinking of our relationships to the world and to each other. Its certainly not objective. And then there were 3,460,000,001.

JADIE STILLWELL: What was your first work of art?

DEVON WELSH: Before I answer, Andy Warhol answers these questions with only a few words, and I know that thats his style, but I dont know if theres some sort of faux pas depending on how many words I use.

STILLWELL: Youre free to use as many words as you want. No judgement.

WELSH: Okay. The first thing that came to mind was just a drawing that I had made that my father then made Xerox copies of, and then he framed one of them when I was a kid. It was just, like, a stick figure, but he was very excited about it, and I think that made me feel excited about it, too.

STILLWELL: How old were you when you did that?

WELSH: I would say five.

STILLWELL: What did you do for fun as a teenager?

WELSH: I watched TV. I lived outside of a town, in the country, and so some people that I knew could hang out. But then when I was at home, I couldnt really go anywhere. So I watched a lot of TV, and I read a lot of books, and I spent a lot of time on MSN Messenger. Then I played sports, and then I started playing music. I played Diablo II and made music on the computer with my friend. And I smoked marijuana.

STILLWELL: Thats one of the other questions. Now youve answered it. Did people say you had natural talent?

WELSH: I was voted most dramatically talented at my high school prom.

STILLWELL: Did you do theater?

WELSH: I sort of did. My dad is an actor, and I grew up in a small town. He was on the CBC a lot in Canada, and so he was a well-known face and a well-known actor. A lot of people would say, Oh, youre going to be an actor when you grow up, arent you? That was something I always heard. And I accepted that up until a point, and then after that I was like, Im not going to be an actor. No way. Because thats not me. So then I didnt audition for the high school plays, but I really loved drama. In my classes, I really enjoyed it, and my drama teacher was the director. So he would always create little parts that I could play. It would be a background kind of thing. Like we did West Side Story, and I was one of the members of the Sharks that never actually had a line.

STILLWELL: Who was the first artist to influence you?

WELSH: The first artist that I ever remember enjoying as a child was Mariah Carey. I also remember the first CD that I ever wanted to listen to on my own was Sarah McLachlan. But the first thing that influenced me in terms of actually creating something myself was probably punk music in general. Because I didnt really know a lot about it, but other people that were making music were into different punk and hardcore bands. So then I started playing that music. Probably inspired by like just other local bands like, Oh, theyre playing music. We should play music, too.

STILLWELL: Did you go to the movies a lot?

WELSH: I did go to the movies a lot when I was young. Me and my friend, Nicholas, would go to the movies together all the time.

STILLWELL: Do you ever think about politics?

WELSH: All the time.

STILLWELL: Do you vote?

WELSH: Yes.

STILLWELL: What is your favorite of all of your work?

WELSH: Oh, thats such a tough question.

STILLWELL: They get harder.

WELSH: Theres probably an interesting answer to this, but I dont know what it is. If I had to say something, I would probably say the song, This Is Magic, from the first Majical Cloudz album because I remember the moment that I wrote it was kind of like a moment of flipping a lot of self-doubt into self-confidence. I was very insecure and scared and, at some point, I realized that there was really nowhere to go in that direction, and that there was nothing to lose by just deciding to reverse it. And I feel like writing that song, that was sort of a moment where that happened in my life.

STILLWELL: Whats your favorite color?

WELSH: My favorite color is green.

STILLWELL: A specific green or just green?

WELSH: Like a forest-y green. I dont know the names of the different colors, but something thats sort of dark, not very fluorescent.

STILLWELL: Have you ever taken acid?

WELSH: Yes. I think psychedelic drugs have had a positive effect on my identity and my life. When I was in high school, I remember I got into smoking pot, and then I watched Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, and things like that. So I found out about psychedelic drugs, and then I was like, Oh, this is interesting. What is this? Then I read the book, The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test by Tom Wolfe, and I decided that I really needed to try psychedelic drugs as a kind of exploration. It was like, Wait, I can eat this thing, and then I perceive everything differently? Thats pretty cool. So I tried it. I feel like so many formative experiences have involved something like that. And I think theyre important because they let you see that the way that you think of yourself, the way that you think of the world, the way that you think of your relationships, you can see it all differently. Its not set in stone. Its certainly not objective.

STILLWELL: Do you make music every day?

WELSH: Not every day.

STILLWELL: Would you like to live in outer space?

WELSH: Absolutely not. I feel like existence would lose all meaning, and I would be afraid to know what direction that would take.

STILLWELL: Do you know how to drive?

WELSH: Yes. Ive driven across Canada with other people twice, and then Ive driven all across the United States many, many times.

STILLWELL: Do you look in the mirror when you get up in the morning?

WELSH: No.

STILLWELL: How much time do you spend on the phone every day?

WELSH: Oh. Either looking at it or talking? I dont know, but probably a lot of time.

STILLWELL: Do you think youre a father figure to anyone?

WELSH: I dont know. I would say, if anything, maybe an older brother figure. I dont think Im at father status yet. I dont think the age discrepancy between my myself and anyone I know is that far away yet.

STILLWELL: Have you ever gone to see a psychiatrist?

WELSH: Yes.

STILLWELL: Have you ever hated anybody?

WELSH: Yes.

STILLWELL: Have you ever been in love?

WELSH: Yes.

STILLWELL: Have you ever tried to grow a mustache?

WELSH: Yes.

STILLWELL: How did that go?

WELSH: It went very well. I loved it. Its just that everyone in my life whose romantic affection I was interested in was not interested in me having it.

STILLWELL: So it went well and not well?

WELSH: I really enjoyed it. It was a nice time in my life.

STILLWELL: Do you believe in flying saucers?

WELSH: No.

STILLWELL: No? You dont think there are aliens?

WELSH: I mean, Im sure there are aliens. But do I believe in, like, the Roswell story? I certainly think the probability is very high that theres some kind of other life in the universe. But the Roswell thing probably didnt happen.

STILLWELL: Do you know how to dance?

WELSH: Yes.

STILLWELL: Do you dance well?

WELSH: I think so. Ive been complimented on it before, and I think my best attribute as a dancer is my endurance and commitment.

STILLWELL: Do you believe in the American dream?

WELSH: I think I believe in the American dream in the sense of the Declaration of Independence and the idea of liberty. I believe in that. I believe in the principles that America presents.

STILLWELL: I sense a but coming.

WELSH: But I dont know. Its obviously not real. I mean, its as real as any of our aspirations are, so its always possible, and maybe its a good thing to put on the horizon.

STILLWELL: Do you think the world can be saved?

WELSH: I hope so. I guess the only thing that could save it is itself.

STILLWELL: Do you believe in God?

WELSH: I do in a sense that I trust in my total ignorance of reality, and that makes me sort of believe in God. Or just in my total ignorance as to the nature of reality and of existence. My total ignorance is an experience of God, in a way.

STILLWELL: Do you have any secrets that youll tell after everyone else is dead?

WELSH: I would tell them all, but who would I tell them to?

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Devon Welsh on Growing a Mustache, Psychedelics, and Other Complicated Things - Interview

Johns Hopkins Medicine/Wikimedia CommonsRoland Griffths/psilocybin mushrooms

Roland Griffiths is a Johns Hopkins University professor, researcher and expert in the field of pharmacology. He is best known for his research into the beneficial effects psilocybin on cancer patients.

He began his research into psilocybin and other psychedelics when he began meditation. He is a proponent of the connection between science, spirituality and mysticism. Griffiths is continuing his psilocybin research and hopes to complete larger scale trials to produce conclusive data. Preliminary data shows promising results.

Griffiths is also the founder and director of the Johns Hopkins Center on Psychedelic and Consciousness Research. He appears on 60 Minutes in an episode that airs on CBS at 7:30 p.m. EST Sunday, October 13, 2019.

Heres what you need to know:

Studies into the effects of psilocybin predated the Controlled Substances Act, which President Richard Nixon signed into law in 1970. Psilocybin was also used as a substance for healing and spiritual connection in ancient times. The Controlled Substances Act labeled psilocybin a Schedule 1 controlled substance, meaning it has high potential for abuse and does not serve a legitimate medical purpose. Griffiths acknowledges there are risks associated with psilocybin, but his preliminary data shows that there are benefits which he believes outweigh the risks when it is used in a controlled environment.

Researchers conducted studies before the Controlled Substances Act, but their studies required further research. The law effectively prevented studies into whether psilocybin did, in fact, have any medical benefits. His research into the effects of psilocybin began in 1999 after he received FDA approval to conduct studies, he said on a TED Talk in 2015.

His profile on the Johns Hopkins Center on Psychedelic and Consciousness Research says:

In 1999 he initiated a research program investigating the effects of the classic psychedelic psilocybin that includes studies in healthy volunteers, in beginning and long-term meditators, and in religious leaders. Therapeutic studies with psilocybin include treatment of psychological distress in cancer patients, treatment of cigarette smoking cessation, and psilocybin treatment of major depression. Other studies have examined the effects of salvinorin A, dextromethorphan, and ketamine which produce altered states of consciousness having some similarities to psilocybin. Drug interaction studies and brain imaging studies (fMRI and PET) are examining pharmacological and neural mechanisms of action. The Hopkins laboratory has also conducted a series of internet survey studies characterizing various psychedelic experiences including those associated with acute and enduring adverse effects, mystical-type effects, entity and God-encounter experiences, and alleged positive changes in mental health, including decreases in depression and anxiety, decreases in substance abuse, and reductions in death anxiety.

Griffiths founded the Johns Hopkins Center on Psychedelic and Consciousness Research and continues to serve as its director. He is also a Professor in the Departments of Psychiatry and Neurosciences at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, according to his Johns Hopkins University profile.

Roland Griffiths, Ph.D., is a Professor in the Departments of Psychiatry and Neurosciences at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, and founding Director of the Johns Hopkins Center on Psychedelic and Consciousness Research, the profile says. His principal research focus in both clinical and preclinical laboratories has been on the behavioral and subjective effects of mood-altering drugs.

He is also a member of the Expert Advisory Panel on Drug Dependence for the World Health Organization, and he has been a consultant to the National Institutes of Health and to pharmaceutical companies regarding the development of new psychotropic drugs. He has also conducted research into sedative-hypnotics, caffeine and other mood-altering drugs.

Griffiths has written more than 380 journal articles and book chapters, his profile says. He holds a Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, Minnesota, which he obtained in 1972, and he has a bachelor of science degree from Occidental College in California, which he earned in 1968, according to a separate Johns Hopkins University profile.

Roland Griffiths said his interest in research into the beneficial properties of psychedelic drugs began when he started a meditation practice, he said in a 2009 interview with Mulidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies journal. He was trained as a psychopharmacologist, with training in both experimental psychology and pharmacology.

He said in the 2009 interview:

About fifteen years ago, I took up a meditation practice that opened up a spiritual window for me, and made me very curious about the nature of mystical experience and spiritual transformation. It also prompted an existential question for me about the meaningfulness of my own research program in drug abuse pharmacology. On reflecting about the history of psychopharmacology and the claims that had been made about the classical hallucinogens occasioning mystical and spiritual experience, I became intrigued about whether I could turn the direction of some of my research program toward addressing those kinds of questions. Through a confluence of interactions and introductions, I first met Robert Jesse of the Council of Spiritual Practices, and he introduced me to Bill Richards, who had a long history of working with these compounds from the 1960s and 70s. We decided that we would undertake a research project characterizing the effects of psilocybin.

His foray into meditation was a life-changing experience for him, which shifted his outlook on life, he said in a 2015 TED Talk.

Roland Griffiths discussed his research into the effects of psilocybin on a TED Talk in 2015, framing the discussion as a connection between science and spirituality or mysticism. You can watch the full TED Talk here.

Its like trying to mix oil and water. Most people assume that science and spirituality dont play well together, but its not true. Einstein said that the most beautiful and profound emotion we can experience is the sensation of the mystical. He said its the source of all true science, Griffiths said.

Griffiths discussed details about his studies, which showed promising results in studies on healthy participants, cancer patients and smokers. He noted his data is preliminary and the drug must be used in a controlled environment to reduce risks. He wants to conduct large-scale trials to show more conclusive results, but those require a substantial amount of funding. His research, he said, is only the tip of the iceberg.

Further research will surely reveal underlying biological mechanisms of action, will likely result in an array of therapeutic applications, and more importantly, because such experiences are foundationally related to our moral and our ethical understandings, further research may ultimately prove to be crucial to the very survival of our species, he said.

While Roland Griffiths became most well known for his study into the effects of psilocybin on patients with life-threatening cancer and death anxiety, he started his research on healthy patients. You can read the results of his cancer trial here.

The study on cancer patients showed more than 80 percent of participants experienced positive changes in attitudes about life, self, mood, relationships and spirituality, and many of them reported it was one of the most profound experiences of their lives, comparing it to the birth of a child. Studies on healthy participants also showed promising results with participants reporting similar effects. A high number of smokers quit smoking after participating in the study, he said on his TED Talk.

While the Johns Hopkins Medicine study on the effects of psilocybin showed very promising results in treating patients suffering from depression and anxiety related to life-threatening cancer diagnoses, the study only included 51 cancer patients.

Griffiths wants to conduct a much larger study, but that would require between $20 and $40 million. Without government funding, those funds would have to come from private donors or foundations, he told SciPol, a Duke University science and technology publication.

The larger study would be considered Phase 3. Multiple sites across the country would host studies including a much larger participant pool.

Ross, the NYU researcher, and Roland R. Griffiths, a professor of psychiatry and neurosciences at the Johns Hopkins medical school who led the study there, each said they would pursue a Phase 3 study enrolling a larger group of patients at multiple sites nationally, the publication said. That effort would take between $20 million and $40 million, and with government funding for a psychedelic research study unlikely, at least in the short term, that money would have to come from foundations and private donors.

The study involving Kerry Pappas and featured on 60 Minutes October 13, 2019 was Phase 2 of the study. It was led by the Heffter Research Institute and the RiverStyx Foundation, which are both non-profit organizations.

READ NEXT: Psilocybin: 5 Fast Facts You Need to Know

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Roland Griffiths: 5 Fast Facts You Need to Know - Heavy.com

If you were an American scientist interested in hallucinogens, the 1950s and 1960s were a great time to be working. Drugs like LSD and psilocybinthe active ingredient in magic mushroomswere legal and researchers could acquire them easily. With federal funding, they ran more than a hundred studies to see if these chemicals could treat psychiatric disorders.

That heyday ended in 1970, when Richard Nixon signed the Controlled Substances Act. It completely banned the use, sale, and transport of psychedelicsand stifled research into them. There was an expectation that you could potentially derail your career if you were found to be a psychedelics researcher, says Jason Slot from Ohio State University.

For Slot, that was a shame. He tried magic mushrooms as a young adult, and credits them with pushing him into science. It helped me to think more fluidly, with fewer assumptions or acquired constraints, he says. And I developed a greater sensitivity to natural patterns. That ability inspired him to return to graduate school and study evolution, after drifting through several post-college jobs. (They are not for everyone, they entail risks, theyre prohibited by law in many countries, and only supervised use by informed adults would be advisable, he adds.)

Ironically, he became a mycologistan aficionado of fungi. And he eventually came to study the very mushrooms that he had once experienced, precisely because so few others had. I realized how pitifully little we still knew about the genetics and ecology of such a historically significant substance, he says.

Why, for example, do mushrooms make a hallucinogen at all? Its certainly not for our benefit: These mushrooms have been around since long before people existed. So why did they evolve the ability to make psilocybin in the first place?

And why do such distantly related fungi make psilocybin? Around 200 species do so, but they arent nestled within the same part of the fungal family tree. Instead, theyre scattered around it, and each one has close relatives that arent hallucinogenic. You have some little brown mushrooms, little white mushrooms ... you even have a lichen, Slot says. And youre talking tens of millions of years of divergence between those groups.

Its possible that these mushrooms evolved the ability to make psilocybin independently. It could be that all mushrooms once did so, and most of them have lost that skill. But Slot thought that neither explanation was likely. Instead, he suspected that the genes for making psilocybin had jumped between different species.

These kinds of horizontal gene transfers, where genes shortcut the usual passage from parent to offspring and instead move directly between individuals, are rare in animals, but common among bacteria. They happen in fungi, too. In the last decade, Slot has found a couple of cases where different fungi have exchanged clusters of genes that allow the recipients to produce toxins and assimilate nutrients. Could a similar mobile cluster bestow the ability to make psilocybin?

To find out, Slots team first had to discover the genes responsible for making the drug. His postdoc Hannah Reynolds searched for genes that were present in various hallucinogenic mushrooms, but not in their closest non-trippy relatives. A cluster of five genes fit the bill, and they seem to produce all the enzymes necessary to make psilocybin from its chemical predecessors.

After mapping the presence of these five genes in the fungal family tree, Slots team confirmed that they most likely spread by jumping around as a unit. Thats why theyre in the same order relative to each other across the various hallucinogenic mushrooms.

These genes seem to have originated in fungi that specialize in breaking down decaying wood or animal dung. Both materials are rich in hungry insects that compete with fungi, either by eating them directly or by going after the same nutrients. So perhaps, Slot suggests, fungi first evolved psilocybin to drug these competitors.

His idea makes sense. Psilocybin affects us humans because it fits into receptor molecules that typically respond to serotonina brain-signaling chemical. Those receptors are ancient ones that insects also share, so its likely that psilocybin interferes with their nervous system, too. We dont have a way to know the subjective experience of an insect, says Slot, and its hard to say if they trip. But one thing is clear from past experiments: Psilocybin reduces insect appetites.

By evolving the ability to make this chemical, which prevents the munchies in insects, perhaps some fungi triumphed over their competitors, and dominated the delicious worlds of dung and rotting wood. And perhaps other species gained the same powers by taking up the genes for those hallucinogens. Its not clear how they did so. Some scientists think that fungi can occasionally fuse together, giving them a chance to share their DNA, while Slot prefers the idea that in times of stress, fungi can soak up DNA from their environment. Either way, the genes for psilocybin have spread.

Much of this is speculation, based on circumstantial evidence. Since psilocybin is still a controlled substance, Slot cant legally make it in his lab, which means he cant prove that the gene cluster he identified actually produces psilocybin in mushrooms. Still, his team have done as much as they can, says Jennifer Wisecaver, an evolutionary biologist from Purdue University who studies fungal genes. Given the other evidence they provide, I'd say the hypothesis is very compelling, she says.

This work is part of a resurgence of psilobycin research. Just last week, a German team led by Dirk Hoffmeister identified four enzymes that can produce the drug, paving the way to manufacture it without growing shrooms. Other scientists have shown that psilocybin could have potential for treating depression, helping smokers to quit, and relieving the anxiety felt by cancer patients. The science thats being done on [magic mushrooms] has taken on more of an air of respectability, says Slot.

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How Mushrooms Became Magic - The Atlantic

Psychedelics (specifically LSD and Mushrooms) can be extremely helpful to artists or anyone working on creative projects. Because psychedelics help us to see and think without our usual defenses, the artist's ideas are able to sidestep their normal defensive filters (anxiety, competition, fear) resulting in truer, freer, creation. Simply put, the artist is able to hear their own voice more clearly. They know more immediately when they are being real, or being false.

Psychedelics allow us to think outside of the normal framework of time, space, language and the sensory. We may see sounds, or feel colors etc. This opens a new way of thinking about and communicating emotions and ideas. The artist is essentially given a new language. Psychedelics may also bring forth a new understanding of an individuals psyche, the physical world, emotional world, spiritual world, and the artists role in all four.

For creative work we recommend lower doses, so that you are able to focus. Wed suggest LSD doses at or under 50 mcg, and mushroom doses under .5 grams (roughly 2 small caps or an equivalent amount). As everyones sensitivity differs, you may need to experiment to find the right amount for you. When working on a low-dose your goal is not to trip but to open yourself to your own ideas.

Because you may be sitting unmoving for long periods of time as you work, your body may be very stiff toward the end of the day. To reduce stiffness or water retention drink plenty of fluids and try to take several stretching breaks. You may even want to work at a makeshift standing desk for short periods of time. Have snacks or light meals readily available. If you havent eaten all day and still dont feel hungry, eat a banana anyway -- keep your energy up! Hunger affects the mood of your psychedelic experience.

Psychedelics have been misunderstood and misrepresented for decades. That's changing. Please help us share safe, responsible information on using psychedelics by sending this page to friends, and posting to Facebook, Twitter, and Google:

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Using Mushrooms and LSD to Enhance Creativity - How to Use ...

Commonly known as acid, LSD is an illegal drug that produces potentially dangerous hallucinogenic effects in its users.

LSD is a psychedelic drug that is commonly referred to as acid. This is one of the most common hallucinogens and has been widely abused since the early 1950s when it was thought that LSD may have beneficial uses in the clinical field. This psychedelic drugis also known as a hit, dose, microdot or sugar cube on the streets referring to the various methods of which the liquid form of the drug is placed on elements for consumption.

LSD is a drug that is found in ergot, a fungus that grows on rye plants. When the fungus is chemically compounded and manufactured it is made into lysergic acid which can produce a powerful euphoric effect which includes both a body high and a mind high.

LSD is odorless and colorless which means that it can be placed on just about any food or drink or anywhere to be consumed. It is often placed on heavy paper with a distinct image on the paper. The paper is called blotter paper and it is absorbent. When divided into pieces and sold individual as hits LSD is often named for the type of paper that it is on.

No matter how LSD is taken, whether its placed on paper and swallowed or dropped into a drink or absorbed through the skin the powerful effects are quite similar. Some users will drip LSD into the eyes in hopes of creating a strong effect and producing more hallucinations but there is no scientific evidence to support this nor is there evidence that suggests such a practice is safe for the users eyes.

The effects of LSD, like other psychedelic drugs, are unpredictable and dangerous. The effects that a user will experience depend on the individual user, the amount of LSD that was taken, the surroundings of the user while under the influence and the mindset of the user when he or she takes the drug.

Most of the effects of LSD will wear off after a few hours of taking the drug but if a user takes LSD repeatedly or for a prolonged period of time the effects of the drug may persist of stick around even when the drug is not being used. Some people report seeing trails or visual lines that extend when colors are moved even after they have stopped using LSD. Flashbacks are also a common outcome when LSD has been used repeatedly. A flashback occurs when a user experiences a similar situation in which they experienced while under the influence of LSD in the past. Flashbacks can occur a few days, weeks or even years after the last use of LSD.

Although LSD is not considered an addictive substance it can lead to some mental instability problems. Most people who take LSD will not repeatedly take the drug due to the rapid increase in tolerance that develops with each subsequent use of the drug. Generally speaking, LSD will not lead to addictive behavior such as drug seeking or adverse reactions when the drug is not being used.

Unfortunately, using LSD can have an adverse effect if you are not careful. Because there are no regulations on the drug that can pinpoint the amount of LSD that is being consumed with each dose, there is no way to regulate how it will affect you if taken. Likewise, the unpredictable nature of the high associated with LSD use makes it difficult to know how you will react from one use to the next. Even people who have taken LSD many times in the past are likely to suffer from adverse effects of the high in certain situations which cannot openly be determined upfront.

Like other psychedelic drugs, LSD also has a risk of causing underlying mental instabilities to come to the surface and cause problems for the user. People who already suffer from anxiety or schizophrenia are likely to experience heightened effects associated with these mental illnesses if they use LSD. For some, there is no underlying evidence of the mental instability until the drug is used and symptoms later come out as a result of the drug usethis is where the greater danger tends to come into play.

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LSD - Psychedelics

Philosopher Chris Letheby believes that psychedelic drugs are a legitimate way to achieve a spiritual and therapeutic transformation. His doctoral research at the University of Adelaide was the first systematic attempt to relate psychedelic experience and 21st century philosophy of cognitive science. He argued in his thesis that psychedelics can be rightfully regarded as bringing a deeper understanding of our selves and the world around us. In fact, he says, the use of psychedelics is very much consistent with philosophical naturalism and our current scientific knowledge.

While using psychedelics, Letheby maintains, subjects gain knowledge of their own psychological potential and the fact that their selves are constructed. He expanded on these ideas in his recent interview with the 3:AM Magazine.

Letheby says that as recent scientific evidence shows, psychedelic sessions can lead to the reduction in the symptoms of anxiety, addiction and depression. Since these activities prevent people from engaging with the world, our normal way of gaining knowledge, psychedelics provide what Letheby calls epistemic benefits - allowing the patients to get reconnected and be able to once again take in information.

Chris Letheby.

The philosopher described his philosophy as physicalism or materialism that basically says the mind and consciousness emerge from the complex organisation of non-minded, non-conscious things. He thinks that from that standpoint, psychedelic states can allow the subjects to gain genuine knowledge of psychology.

Specifically, I think psychedelic subjects gain what philosophers call knowledge by acquaintance of their own vast psychological potential, says Letheby. They become directly acquaintedbecause it becomes manifestwith the modal or dispositional fact that there are vastly many, often very unusual, possible ways that their minds can be.

This is why, he claims, many spiritual seekers of the 60s ended up dedicated to meditation to expand upon the potential they realized existed while tripping.

He also thinks psychedelics can illustrate to people that the self is constructed. He thinks the drugs can offer a quicker path than meditation to having a transformative ego dissolution experience.

To those who criticize psychedelics as not providing a true experience since its not grounded in reality, Letheby says such drugs can really lead to real knowledge.

My claim is not just that psychedelic experience involves meaning, but that psychedelic transformation does, expounds Letheby. I mean something very specific by this: that the causal process leading from psychedelic ingestion to psychological benefit (be it therapeutic or cosmetic) essentially involves phenomenally conscious mental representations. This is important because it is a way of making precise the claim that psychedelic transformation is a distinctive type of psychopharmacological intervention.

In a Matrix-like twist, the philosopher also argues that psychedelic experiences can show that the ordinary waking perception is actually a controlled hallucination. What psychedelics do is disrupt this illusion and could draw peoples attention to the constructed or simulated nature of the reality in which they live. The drugs can show that the entire world they inhabit is produced by and exists within their consciousness.

Check out the full interview here, with a fascinating discussion of other topics like the role of neuroscience and antidepressants in our lives.

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This Philosopher Thinks Psychedelic Drugs Lead to the Truth of Experience - Big Think

Rachaels teenage years were dominated by her addiction to stimulants. It was her fiance at the time who introduced her to psychedelics It was crazy to experience a drug that didnt numb me. Since that first trip, Rachael took psychedelics regularly. After a few years, she had a profound experience that laid out the patterns of behavior that caused much of the pain in her life.

It was then that Rachael realized she needed help for her mental instability. She sought treatment and continued self-medicating with psychedelics to help battle her demons. Now theyre vital to my survival.

Rachaels friends and family were initially skeptical about her use of psychedelics. Many just assumed she was misusing substances again. It was particularly hard to talk to her father, who had helped her recover from her drug addiction. However, she managed to convince people that psychedelics were showing her how to break free of her addictions and showed her that the underlying cause for her substance misuse was an attempt to self medicate a disease she wasnt even aware she had.

Rachael only recently discovered microdosing and was instantly attracted to the idea of psychedelic medicine as an alternative to the prescription medication she was suggested to take. Ive been microdosing for two months now and havent had a severe episode this is unusual for me. Before, Rachael would rely on a high-dose experience every month, which was exhausting. Now, she microdoses 17ug every three days and it reduces her symptoms dramatically. Ive felt generally normal for two months and that hasnt happened to me since I was 12 years old.

Click here to read more about psychedelics and mental health

Rachael hopes that more research will be done on the potential of psychedelics for Bipolar Disorders and Personality Disorders. Everyone Ive spoken to with a mental illness is afraid to use psychedelics. If research can show theyre safe and effective, more people would be willing to take the leap. Even if psychedelics take you somewhere dark, I cant see it going somewhere that wont benefit you. They will show you what you need to see, negative or positive.

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Can Psychedelics Treat Bipolar Disorder?

In the 1960s, intellectuals such as Aldous Huxley were fascinated by the effects of LSD, but today most professors are far too worried about respectability and tenure to investigate psychedelics themselves. Which is somewhat ironic, given that the field of Western philosophy has a huge debt to psychedelics, according to Peter Sjstedt-H, a philosophy doctoral candidate at University of Exeter who has written a book on the philosophical significance of drugs. In fact, one of Platos most-cited theories may have been a direct result of hallucinogenics.

In Platos Phaedo, the philosopher says he was inspired by the Eleusinian Mysteries, an ancient religious ceremony where participants took kykeon. Its widely believed (thought cannot be definitively proven) that kykeon was a psychoactive substance, which would explain the visions that participants experienced during the ceremony. Sjstedt-H notes that Plato references the Mysteries and seeing that his body is but a shell, which one can escape through these experiences, before he introduces his landmark notion of substance dualism: Namely, the idea that body and soul are distinct.

Under psychedelic experience, you can completely lose the link between you, yourself as a body; and you, yourself as the person that you think you are, including your memories, says Sjstedt-H. Theres this loss to the self, and the self is often associated with the body, so I can certainly see why a psychedelic experience would incline one towards a more dualistic view of the world.

If the Mysteries did indeed involve psychedelics, Sjstedt-H says we can credit them with inspiring some of the greatest and most influential thoughts in history.

[Alfred North] Whitehead famously said, Western philosophy is a series of footnotes to Plato. If Plato was inspired by psychedelics, then the whole of the Western canon is unwittingly inspired by these experiences, Sjstedt-H adds.

More than 2000 years later, Sjstedt-H believes that its absolutely essential to understand psychedelic experiences in order to develop a thorough philosophy of how the mind functions. You havent fully explained the mind until youve explained all facets of it, he says.

Psychedelics create a peak type of mind, a peak type of experience and, as such, theyre a valuable consideration in certain philosophical mysteries, like understanding the relationship between the brain and the mind. Research has shown that parts of the brain are less active during psychedelic experiences, which is the inverse of what one might expect for a period of heightened consciousness. This finding highlights the complexities of explaining how the mind and brain relate, which is one of the great philosophical challenges, known as the hard problem of consciousness.

But even among non-philosophers, Sjstedt-H believes that a lifetime without trying psychedelics is unnecessarily narrow. Experientially, it would be a pity to live ones life without having experienced the potentials of the human mind, he says. Its a bit like living in the same country all ones life and not going on holiday, not seeing the rest of the world. Its a loss. By having this experience, one experiences more reality because the mind is part of reality.

He adds that psychedelics can open your mind to new beliefs, increase appreciation for nature, and lead to completely new feelings. As well as being intellectually stimulating, Sjstedt-H says that psychedelics can be a sublime aesthetic experience.

Despite the potential benefits, Sjstedt-H does not believe that everyone should take psychedelics. Nor does he insist, as was common in the 60s, that doing so would lead to world peace. When I told Sjstedt-H that I was too afraid of my own mind to risk exploring its suppressed depths, he agreed that was a valid concern. Bad trips are a serious risk, and more troubling for some than others. Those who are religious (and so would be more profoundly affected by visions of devils, for example), are especially anxious, or have suffered serious traumas, could well find psychedelics to be harmful rather than enlightening.

We have no clear idea of how psychedelics produce their effect; but its thought that changes in brain activity create an altered state of consciousness. For those who are able to have a positive experience on psychedelics, Sjstedt-H says taking the drugs can be as profound as reading Nietzsche. Both the philosopher and the substance lead to questioning ones cultural values and societal rules, he notes.

Arguably, taking psychedelics can also enhance the experience of reading philosophy; Sjstedt-H points to the psychologist and philosopher William James, who claimed to only fully understand Hegel after taking nitrous oxide. (Though drugs havent improved Sjstedt-Hs own reading of Hegel.)

Though other philosophers are interested in hearing about his work and experiences with psychedelics, Sjstedt-H acknowledges that few are prepared to try the drugs, at least for now. Many are worried about the psychological risks, put off by their illegality, or simply dont want to mess with their brains.

But Sjstedt-H hopes that growing acceptance of the drugs will allow for a study of how psychedelics could shape the opinions and outlooks of great contemporary thinkers. They were good enough for Plato, after all.

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The foundation of Western philosophy is probably rooted in psychedelics - Quartz

Mike McQuade

The world is in the throes of a mental-health crisis, as depression and dementia afflict spiralling numbers of people.

In March 2017, the World Health Organization declared that depression is the leading cause of ill health and disability worldwide. More than 300 million people are living with it, an increase of more than 18 per cent between 2005 and 2015. But help is at hand - if we can reach out and grasp it.

A group of drugs long considered taboo is poised to transform the way we treat mental health. Recent research suggests that psychedelics - once regarded as a relic of the hippy-dippy 60s - could prove powerful tools not only to treat, but also potentially cure, many mental health problems regarded as chronic.

Psychedelics do something that our current go-to psychiatric drugs cannot: transform hardwired neural patterns to reroute the very architecture of the brain, sometimes in a single dose. Roland Griffiths, a professor in the Departments of Psychiatry and Neurosciences at Johns Hopkins University in Maryland, has likened psychedelics' ability to bring about neural rerouting as akin to a "surgical intervention".

Take psilocybin, better known as magic mushrooms. A single dose of the drug can do "in 30 seconds what it takes antidepressants three to four weeks to do", according to David Nutt, professor of neuropsychopharmacology at Imperial College London.

A study published in the Journal of Psycho-pharmacology on people with anxiety associated with life-threatening illness suggested that LSD-assisted psychotherapy was successful in almost 70 per cent of subjects, with the positive effects lasting more than a year and causing no lasting adverse reactions.

Given the overwhelmingly positive results of these and other trials, one would think the clinical use of psychedelics would represent a sea change in our approach to mental-health treatment. But, sadly, outdated societal prejudice against psychedelics is proving a formidable handicap, hampering research and keeping many in need from reaping the benefits.

Strict anti-drug legislation that still criminalises the use of such substances has pushed psychedelic-assisted treatments underground: unless you are among the lucky few accepted into a clinical trial, your only options are to find an unlicensed practitioner, attempt to do it yourself illegally or travel to places where the compounds are legal.

Growing numbers of people are doing just that, and in recent months, there has been flurry of articles on the topic which have stoked curiosity about the potential of psychedelics. In April of this year, the Psychedelic Science Conference in California was attended by more than 3,000 people who travelled from across the globe to learn about recent advances. Although it's heartening that more people are finding relief, ad hoc experimentation is not the way to go. We must bring this research into the mainstream, guarantee adequate funding and shield well-intentioned facilitators from criminal prosecution.

I should know. I was once the victim of a violent robbery, which left me shattered. Out of desperation I turned to psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy. It helped saved my life.

Mental-health practices around the world are in desperate need of an overhaul, and psychedelics could be just the hack we need to achieve such fundamental - and indispensable - change. I believe mental health to be a human right, and as such it is nothing short of our duty to follow, and fund, the science.

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Psychedelic drugs saved my life. So why aren't they prescribed? - Wired.co.uk