Magic mushrooms may soon become a prescription drug

After years of testing, researchers at Johns Hopkins University believe that magic mushrooms should no longer be classified as Schedule I drugs.

Magic mushrooms and humans have a long history. Evidence up to 9000 ° C shows that humans have benefited from the effects of psilocybin, a psychoactive chemical substance, for medicinal and recreational purposes.

Throughout the ancient and medieval period, doctors, priests and nobility have used magic mushrooms to alter the state of mind of an individual for many reasons.

In the modern world, magic mushrooms have seen a revival of use since the psychedelic movement of the 1960s and 70s and, because of their negative connotation to cause psychotic breaks, have been made illegal in most developed countries.

Magic mushrooms were and are heavily targeted by the US government as part of its war on drugs. Possession of any substance containing psilocybin can result in up to one year in prison and a fine of up to $ 100,000.

Magic mushrooms and psychoactive chemical substance psilocybin are often described as extremely potent drugs that can lead to mental depression, physical injury and even suicide.

However, despite the many negative effects of the drug, researchers are beginning to discover that psilocybin can be used in controlled environments to fight a wide range of diseases, from clinical depression to smoking cessation.

Read more: New study suggests link between memory, anxiety and depression

Magic mushrooms could be a magic cure

Researchers at Johns Hopkins University are currently studying the properties and effects of psilocybin ingestion and have produced a number of promising results in the use of this drug.

Reports and studies have long claimed that the drug can be effective in treating depression and other mental illnesses when used in a controlled environment.

Johns Hopkins researchers plan to complete phase III clinical trials of psilocybin to fully understand how this drug works and its side effects.

If the drug proves beneficial for certain conditions, such as healing of depression, researchers will advise the US government to reclassify psilocybin as an IV Schedule drug – at the same level as prescribed sleeping pills. .

Researchers have already shown that magic mushrooms have little chance of being abused in human and animal studies. Rats that received samples of the drug did not develop a tendency to addiction, unlike other substances such as alcohol and cocaine.

The team also showed that the risk of using the drug in controlled environments is minimal, since psilocybin does not have a known level of overdose.

This does not mean, however, that magic mushrooms will become legally available as a recreational substance in the United States. Matthew Johnson, associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral science at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, noted that:

"We should be clear: psilocybin is not without risks, which are more important in recreational facilities than in medical facilities, but relatively, if we look at other drugs, both legal and illegal, 'proves to be the least harmful in different surveys and in different countries,'

If it was postponed to a later date, the drug would probably be used in the same way that an anesthesiologist administers a drug in a controlled and clinical setting.

The results of the tests to date are promising, magic mushrooms being considered as a possible remedy against a number of conditions, including anxiety disorder, which affects nearly a fifth of the US population.

Magic mushrooms are also not the only drug in Schedule I to be reconsidered because of its potential medical benefits. MDMA, a drug known for its stimulant effects, is currently being tested by researchers to study its potential to help patients with PTSD.

You can find the complete study of this trial in the review Neuropharmacology.

Are there any other drugs in Schedule I that you think should be reviewed as beneficial?