Psilocybin-containing mushrooms and truffles for smoking addiction

International Mushroom Day 920

To be honest, we didn't know, but apparently it was on September 20th. ‘'International Psilocybin Mushroom Day'’. Yes indeed, for the fourth time already, the infamous magic mushroom was put in the spotlight on 9/20. The idea of psilocybin lobbyist Nicholas Reville and his all-volunteer '920 Coalition'. This year, they ensured that events were organized in more than 20 places around the world under the motto: 'Mushrooms are Medicine'.

Mushrooms for nicotine addiction

That this is by no means hot air is evident, for example, from research by Dr. Matthew Johnson, who investigated the effects of psychedelic mushrooms as a treatment for nicotine addiction. Johnson is a behavioral pharmacologist at Johns Hopkins' Behavioral Pharmacology Research Unit in Baltimore, in the American state of Maryland.

For 20 years, he has been researching the relationship between drugs, the brain and
human behavior. Over the last decade, he has focused almost exclusively on
psilocybin, the psychedelic component that occurs naturally in
mushrooms – well, the magic mushrooms after all.

12 out of 15 test subjects quit smoking permanently.

From 2009 to 2015, the researchers worked with a group of 15.
participants to find out whether
controlled psilocybin treatments could help them with
quitting smoking. Their findings were remarkable.

Among the participants were 10 men and 5 women, all mentally healthy. Their average age was 51 years, and on average they smoked 19 cigarettes a day, every single day, for 31 years. They had all tried to quit multiple times, in vain.

But lo and behold; after using psilocybin under strict supervision and combining it with cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), 12 out of 15 participants had completely quit tobacco after six months! The researchers say that the quitting rate is also much higher than with conventional cessation methods that use only CBT.

How do magic mushrooms help end an addiction?

This current John Hopkins research
that was published in June in the journal 'Journal of Psychopharmacology'
published, builds on scientific research from the 1950s
and 60 of the last century regarding the use of psilocybin and LSD in the
treating addictions. But the drugs knew from the laboratories
to find their way to the 'counterculture' and as a result became
They were heavily criminalized. Research into their usefulness as medicine disappeared,
according to Johnson, 'in the freezer'.

Until now, that is, because under Johnson's leadership, this ancient work is being
reanimated, so to speak. The Americans themselves prefer to speak of
‘'Psychedelic therapy', by the way.

The participants received high doses of psilocybin capsules. And in
in contrast to conventional cognitive behavioral therapy, the
participants not encouraged to change their smoking habits
talk. Instead, the researchers encouraged them to 'listen
to enter', especially when the effect of the mushrooms became noticeable.

Lasting benefits of 'introspection'‘

That inner introspection, Johnson and co. argue, leads to
profound and mystical experiences that prompt people to
reassess why they smoke. According to the scientists, the
participants in the trial that they felt 'vivid' through the mushroom sessions
gained insights regarding their self-identity and reasons for
smoking'.

Even more importantly, those involved say that the insights also persisted. once
The effects of the drug had worn off. For some, the
insights from the mushroom sessions also for positive outcomes in others
aspects of their lives: from appreciation for art to altruism
(selflessness) and pro-social behavior!

Enormous potency of magic mushrooms

Besides the Johns Hopkins Institute, work is currently also being done at the famous New York University
Research has been conducted with magic mushrooms. There, they are looking at the
influence of psilocybin on anxiety in cancer patients and others
health problems.

In other words, the active ingredient in magic mushrooms has enormous therapeutic potential, and we may only be at the beginning of that journey of discovery. In fact, we are standing where we stood a few decades ago with… cannabis.

Source: www.cnnbs.nl