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Thursday, December 1st, 2016

Ingredient in magic mushrooms is shown to ease anxiety and depression in cancer patients in one dose

Author:     Melissa Healy
Source:     Los Angeles Times
Publication Date:    
Link: Ingredient in magic mushrooms is shown to ease anxiety and depression in cancer patients in one dose
Stephan:   If you have ever watched somebody you cared about die of cancer you know how important this story is. That these natural therapies have been denied patients because Big Pharma wanted you to use their far less effective and often addictive drugs is one of the more loathsome aspects of that industry.
Credit: Peter Dejong / AP

A clinical trial found that cancer patients who took psilocybin, the active ingredient in magic mushrooms, experienced significant relief from anxiety and depression. Credit: Peter Dejong / AP

In findings that could pry open a door closed for nearly half a century, researchers have found that psilocybin — a hallucinogen long used in traditional healing rituals — eases the depression and soothes the anxiety of patients contending with serious illness and the prospect of imminent death.

In two separate studies published Thursday, researchers report that trial subjects who received a single moderate-to-large dose of psilocybin got substantial and lasting relief from their profound distress. Among 80 cancer patients who participated in the two trials, as many as 4 in 5 continued to feel measurably less hopeless and demoralized six months after taking the drug than they had upon their recruitment.

 And even years later, many reported they had gained — and retained — a profound sense of peace and meaning from the experience. Of 29 cancer patients who got psilocybin in […]

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1 Comment

  1. Rev. Dean on Thursday, December 1, 2016 at 4:02 pm

    I truly believe that Nature has a cure for everything if can find it. These mushrooms are very easy to find: just look in any cow pasture and you’ll find them growing in abundance and they’re free as long as you have permission from the farmer/rancher/owner of the pasture. Not that I am suggesting you do so, because they do have side effects that you may not be knowledgeable about or prepared for.