Are "magic mushrooms" going mainstream?

Tomorrow marks the opening of the largest gathering since the 1960s of researchers of psychedelic drugs.  The conference, to be held April 15-18 in San Jose, California, is organized by the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS).  Entitled "Psychedelic Science in the 21st Century," the conference will encompass four days of workshops and lectures which investigate the latest research on psychedelic drugs, which include psilocybin ("magic mushrooms"), LSD, mescaline, and others.

Psilocybin, initially isolated from a mushroom, Psilocybe mexicana, was first described to the academic world by the American ethnologist R. Gordon Wasson and his wife.  In their fieldwork, they discovered that the ancient religious practices of the Indians in a remote village of Mexico included the ingestion of mushrooms. In 1957, they published a Life magazine article ("Seeking the Magic Mushroom"), in which they described hallucinatory experiences during these rituals.  

All hallucinogens, including psilocybin, are illegal, classified as Schedule I substances under the Controlled Substances Act, which prohibits their possession and use.  However, there has been a resurgence in the last few years of research investigating the possible medical use of psilocybin, in particular.  While changes in federal regulations have allowed for approval of controlled experiments with psychedelics, there has been little public funding available for this research, which is being conducted at Johns Hopkins University, the University of Arizona, New York University, UCLA, among other places. Funding has been primarily from nonprofit groups such as MAPS and the Heffter Research Institute. 

Researchers have looked at the potential use of psilocybin in treating some of the more difficult to treat forms of psychiatric illness, including cancer-related depression, anxiety at the end-of-life, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), post-traumatic stress disorders (PTSD), and addiction to alcohol and other drugs.

Dr. Roland Griffiths, one of the leading researchers in this field and a professor of behavioral biology at Johns Hopkins University, is currently investigating the use of psilocybin in helping patients cope with the depression accompanying a cancer diagnosis and treatment.  His research website describes the historical context and psychopharmacology of psilocybin:

Psilocybin is in a class of compounds that act on specific brain receptors. Psilocybin occurs naturally in certain mushrooms that have been used sacramentally for thousands of years. Other drugs in this class include mescaline, which is contained in the peyote cactus used in religious ceremonies by the Native American Church, and dimethyltryptamine, which is contained in the ayahuasca sacrament used by several South American religions. Their effects include changes in perception and cognition. In medicine they are often called “hallucinogens, “ although they rarely cause “hallucinations” in the sense of seeing or hearing things that are not there. In anthropology the term ‘entheogen,’ roughly meaning “spirit-facilitating,” is coming into prominence for this class of substances. 

In an article in the New York Times, one research subject, Clark Martin, himself a retired clinical psychologist, is interviewed on the benefits he experienced from being treated with psilocybin in Griffiths' research study.  Martin's depression was not improving in the face of undergoing chemotherapy with kidney cancer, despite treatment with counseling and antidepressants.

Nothing had any lasting effect until, at the age of 65, he had his first psychedelic experience. He left his home in Vancouver, Wash., to take part in an experiment at Johns Hopkins medical school involving psilocybin, the psychoactive ingredient found in certain mushrooms.

Today, more than a year later, Dr. Martin credits that six-hour experience with helping him overcome his depression and profoundly transforming his relationships with his daughter and friends. He ranks it among the most meaningful events of his life, which makes him a fairly typical member of a growing club of experimental subjects. 

The perception-changing experiences reported by research subjects are similar to the reports of people who meditate.  Both groups show similar changes in brain activity as confirmed by neural imaging studies.

Griffiths's first study involved 36 healthy subjects who were given psilocybin in a controlled, blinded, monitored setting, and asked to describe their experiences.  The subjects reported lasting positive effects, and compared to the control group, reported a significant improvement in their overall feelings 2 months later as well.  This was maintained in a followup survey of the experimental group 14 months later, when subjects rated the experience as "one of the five most meaningful events of their lives." 

This study in healthy subjects has been since followed up with the trial in cancer patients undergoing depression in which Dr. Martin was a participant. 

The research study in cancer patients is still open to more participants.  Its objectives are described on the official study website: 

Early research with psilocybin and related substances from the late 1950s to the early 1970s indicated that such substances may help bring about personally meaningful and often spiritually significant experiences that lead to ongoing reductions in anxiety, depression, personal isolation, and fear of death.  Regulations enacted in response to excesses of the "psychedelic 1960s" stopped almost all medical research, leaving some promising threads dangling.  However, recent regulatory changes have allowed for such research once again.  Our recent research in healthy volunteers also suggests a possible therapeutic effect of psilocybin in those distressed over a cancer diagnosis.  This research has shown that under prepared and supportive conditions, psilocybin often leads to personally meaningful and spiritually significant experiences with associated sustained positive changes in attitudes and behavior.    

Rick Doblin, the executive director of MAPS, is optimistic about further acceptance of psychedelics in medical research and treatment.  In the New York Times article, he states:

“There’s this coming together of science and spirituality.  We’re hoping that the mainstream and the psychedelic community can meet in the middle and avoid another culture war. Thanks to changes over the last 40 years in the social acceptance of the hospice movement and yoga and meditation, our culture is much more receptive now, and we’re showing that these drugs can provide benefits that current treatments can’t.” 

Research into the use of hallucinogens in medicine offers the intriguing possibility of introducing new therapeutic paradigms for illnesses for which we don't have adequate treatments at this time.  The research is still in its very preliminary stages, however, and I suspect it will be a very long time, if ever, before illegal drugs such as psilocybin will be regulated down to something physicians will be able to prescribe.

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References:

Griffiths et al.  (2008) Mystical-type experiences occasioned by psilocybin mediate the attribution of personal meaning and spiritual significance 14 months later.  Journal of Psychopharmacology, 22: 621.

Psilocybin, Wikipedia.  

Tierney, J.  "Hallucinogens Have Doctors Tuning In Again, " The New York Times, April 11, 2010.