“I wouldn’t want members of the public thinking they can treat their own depressions by picking their own magic mushrooms. In spite of the outcome, the researchers urged people not to try magic mushrooms themselves. Magic mushrooms have lifted severe depression in a dozen volunteers in a clinical trial, raising scientists’ hopes that the psychedelic experiences beloved of the Aztecs and the hippy counter-culture of the 1970s could one day become mainstream medicine. He said he was nervous about taking part and had never taken magic mushrooms, but said the friendly staff, the room layout and the music had relaxed him by the time he came to swallow the capsules. The study was part of a research collaboration between Imperial and the Beckley Foundation, a thinktank that focuses on drugs policy.

Source: The Guardian May 17, 2016 03:19 UTC