Magic mushrooms are vilified, as is cannabis, despite the health benefits it also possesses. Used for thousands of years in various cultures, psilocybin can be found in over 200 species of magic mushroom. In recent years, scientific studies have come out to support the wisdom of ancestors in how magic mushrooms are an effective therapeutic treatment for mental health.
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Denver, Colorado, and all of Oregon are voting to legalize magic mushrooms later this year. If things progress positively for the fungus, there could be another wave of legalization and health improvements to sweep the nation. Hopefully.
The safest intoxicating substance in the world, cannabis, is still federally classified as a Schedule I drug. And so too is psilocybin. Schedule I substances are supposed to provide no medical benefit and high abuse potential, yet both cannabis and psilocybin do provide health benefits and are low in addiction potential. Cigarettes are more addictive.
The benefits are being outstripped by a authoritarian policy to demonize the helpful plant and fungus. Classifying them both as Schedule I drugs is ignorant and harmful to anyone who has these laws imposed upon them. Millions of people have criminal records or have gone to jail for simply having pot or shrooms. What a mad world.
Magic mushrooms are being shown to be beneficial for helping to beat depression, anxiety, addiction and even cancer in various studies and trials. They also increase joy, laughter, peace and altruism. One study notes:
"Both creative, flexible thinking and empathy deficits have been found in stress-related psychopathologies like depression, anxiety disorders, and post-traumatic stress disorder."
This building of empathy is how it can also be used to treat Asperger's. Asperger's is now being classified in the ASD (Autism Spectrum Disorder) as a mild form of ASD, so psilocybin is treating autism. Asperger's is applied to define someone who has rigidity of thought and routine, and by a lack of empathy and social/emotional awareness. And shrooms can help treat this, according to a January 2019 study titled Sub-Acute Effects of Psilocybin on Empathy, Creative Thinking, and Subjective Well-Being:
Examples of processes that have been found to be decreased in these pathologies include creative, flexible thinking and empathy. Specifically, individuals are characterized by repetitive and rigid patterns of negative and compulsive thoughts, as well as reduced empathic abilities. Thus we wanted to assess whether psilocybin enhanced these processes, and if so, how long effects lasted …We found that psilocybin, when taken in a naturalistic setting, increased aspects of creativity and empathy the morning after, and 7 days after use. Furthermore, psilocybin also enhanced subjective well-being. Interestingly, changes in well-being correlated with changes in empathy after psilocybin use.
Magic mushrooms actually tend to make us more sane, than crazy, contrary to the popular belief that's been hammered by the government and media for decades. It lets one loosen a perception of self by decreasing activity in the default mode network, allowing space for new neural connection and thus re-wiring the brain.
Psilocybin also helps people let go of fear, old patterns and negative beliefs. This old patterns of doing things or held onto negative beliefs can be great impediments in life and well-being. The benefits of altering states of well-being are repeatedly demonstrated in trials.
Amazingly, after the participants were given two doses of psilocybin (10 mg and 25 mg), with the second dose a week after the first – their brains showed pronounced, decreased blood flow to the areas of the brain implicated in depression. Researchers also found increased stability on parts of the brain related to depression – and these effects lasted up to five weeks.
The team described the immediate results of patients’ symptoms disappearing after the initial trip as an “afterglow” and a “disintegration” – with the compound also reintegrating brain networks afterward. The afterglow included marked improvements in mood and stress relief. Patients used a lot of computer metaphors to describe how their brains felt afterward – defragged, rebooted, and reset.
Magic mushrooms can be a gift to help heal many mental problems facing humanity today. It can be abused as anything can be, and isn't meant to be a substitute for facing problems and overcoming our issues by our own works. But they can help to kick start a healing process when we don't know how or even know we have a problem. Colorado could be the spark for magic mushroom adoption, as it was for cannabis years ago, amidst an authoritarian central state power structure that still seeks to vilify both.
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