Magic mushrooms, once associated mostly with Phish concerts, may lead to better end-of-life care for cancer patients. One dose of the active ingredient, psilocybin, can help terminal cancer patients experience less depression and anxiety even six months later. Two studies from New York University and Johns Hopkins University confirm a recent wave of research suggesting that hallucinogenic drugs are an important mental health tool.
Cancer patients who took pure psilocybin found it easier to cope with their illness, according to two studies published today in the Journal of Psychopharmacology. The researchers hope to conduct a large trial that might pave the way to US Food and Drug Administration approval for treating the terminally ill with the hallucinogens. (Both studies were funded by the Heffter Research Institute, a nonprofit organization that supports research into hallucinogenic drugs.)
Dinah Bazer participated in the NYU study after being diagnosed with ovarian cancer. “I was totally consumed with anxiety for two years,” she says. “It was running my life and ruining my life.” The experience of taking psilocybin was incredibly powerful in helping her feel better, she says. She visualized her fear as a physical mass in her body: “I became volcanically angry and screamed ‘get the fuck out’ and it was gone.”
Many people said this was one of the most meaning experiences of their lives
Drugs like psilocybin, LSD, and MDMA were once used in therapy — famously, even Cary Grant was treated with LSD. But since the 1970s, these drugs have been designated dangerous and tightly controlled substances, which means there hasn’t been much research on them. These drugs come with cultural baggage, too, and are often associated with the more radical political beliefs of the ‘60s. But in recent years, as the War on Drugs subsides, the government has cautiously become more open to using these substances in research. This has caused renewed interest in the clinical potential of these drugs, and the FDA just approved a large-scale study of ecstasy to treat PTSD.