LONDON - A universal mystical experience with life-changing effects can be produced by the hallucinogen contained in magic mushrooms, scientists claimed yesterday.
Forty years after Timothy Leary, the apostle of drug-induced mysticism, urged his 1960s hippie followers to "tune in, turn on, and drop out", researchers at Johns Hopkins University in the US have for the first time demonstrated that mystical experiences can be produced safely in the laboratory.
They say that there is no difference between drug-induced mystical experiences and the spontaneous religious ones that believers have reported for centuries. They are "descriptively identical".
And they argue that the potential of the hallucinogenic drugs, ignored for decades because of their links with illicit drug use in the 1960s, must be explored to develop new treatments for depression, drug addiction and the treatment of intolerable pain.
Anticipating criticism from church leaders, they say they are not interested in the "Does God exist?" debate. "This work can't and won't go there."
Interest in the therapeutic use of psychedelic drugs is growing around the world. In the UK, the Royal College of Psychiatrists debated their use at a conference in March for the first time for 30 years. A conference held in Basel, Switzerland, last January, reviewed the growing psychedelic psychiatry movement.
The drug psilocybin is the active ingredient of magic mushrooms, which grow wild in Wales and were openly sold in London markets until a change in the law last year.
For the Johns Hopkins study, 30 middle-aged volunteers who had religious or spiritual interests attended two eight-hour drug sessions, two months apart, receiving psilocybin in one session and a non-hallucinogenic stimulant - Ritalin - in the other. They were not told which drug was which.
One-third described the experience with psilocybin as the most spiritually significant of their lifetime and two-thirds rated it among their five most meaningful experiences.
In more than 60 per cent of cases the experience qualified as a "full mystical experience" based on established psychological scales, the researchers say. Some likened it to the importance of the birth of their first child or the death of a parent.
The effects lasted for at least two months. Eight out of 10 of the volunteers reported moderately or greatly increased wellbeing or life satisfaction. Relatives, friends and colleagues confirmed the changes.
The study is one of the first in the new discipline of "neurotheology" -the neurology of religious experience. The researchers, who report their findings in the online journal Psychopharmacology, say that, though unorthodox, their aim is to explore the possible benefits of drugs like psilocybin.
Professor Roland Griffiths, of the department of neuroscience and psychiatry at Johns Hopkins, said: "As a reaction to the excesses of the 1960s, human research with hallucinogens has been basically frozen in time. I had a healthy scepticism going into this. [But] under defined conditions, with careful preparation, you can safely and fairly reliably occasion what's called a primary mystical experience that may lead to positive changes in a person.
"It is an early step in what we hope will be a large body of scientific work that will ultimately help people."
A third of the volunteers became frightened during the drug sessions with some reporting feelings of paranoia.
The researchers say psilocybin is not toxic or addictive, unlike alcohol and cocaine, but that volunteers must be accompanied throughout the experience by people who can help them through it.
The study is hailed as a landmark by former director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, Charles Schuster, in a commentary published alongside the research.
In a second commentary, Huston Smith, America's leading authority on comparative religion, writes that mystical experience "is as old as humankind" and attempts to induce it using psychoactive plants were made in some ancient cultures, such as classical Greece, and in some contemporary small-scale cultures.
"But this is the first scientific demonstration in 40 years, and the most rigorous ever, that profound mystical states can be produced safely in the laboratory. The potential is great."
Joined: 23 Jun 2006 Posts: 819 Location: Australia
what a fantastic article.
it really is like the therapy has been frozen in time for 40 years.
the spirit of timothy leary returns.
and yeah, as he was saying back then..
you have caring person accompany you..
in a comfortable atmosphere.. until the end.
here's to a good trip..... sign me up, doc.
I frown on any website advocating the usage of dangerous drugs. These drugs damage the body if used purely for recreational purposes and the 'highs' experienced by them are counteracted by big 'lows'. Trust me, i know a lot people who have dabbled in them. Real spiritual experiences transcend anything that an organic herb can do, i.e. spiritual love between humans, contemplation, etc.
I frown on any website advocating the usage of dangerous drugs. These drugs damage the body if used purely for recreational purposes and the 'highs' experienced by them are counteracted by big 'lows'. Trust me, i know a lot people who have dabbled in them. Real spiritual experiences transcend anything that an organic herb can do, i.e. spiritual love between humans, contemplation, etc.
This is just hippyism. Grow up.
you would be surprized as to who has taken these types of mind altering drugs, and how they have contributed to the worlds history and growth. Hallucinogenic mushrooms have been part of human culture as far back as the earliest recorded history.
how can a drug damage the body if used for recreational use, say versus medical or scientific uses? how does the drug know what your motivations are for using it? that statement is illogical. and as far as the "lows", thats subjective to the type of psychoactive drug you ingest. most psychoactive mushrooms do not have any negative side effects if taken in moderation. the only negative effect i have seen with taking mushrooms has been when someone took an excessive amount and thier body rejected the high dosage by vomiting. i have taken mushroom many times, and i have been around alot of poeple who have taken mushrooms many times a year, over many years, so i speak from experience. it has nothing to do with being a hippy, thats a stereotypical additude.
they reveal by looking for actual transcripts of the Bible in greek,
that so-called "manna from heaven" in english Bibles actually means
"mushroom from heaven"
Priests went every morning to collect "mushrooms from heaven" to "talk to God".
Watch for yourself
Wed Aug 23, 2006 1:13 am
koldthumb
Joined: 28 Oct 2006 Posts: 16 Location: third rock from the sun
my first post
That clip certainly brought it all together for me...
Even before that though i had often wondered about the "forty years in the desert" thing with Moses (yes i was brought up by those blinded by the light ).Here we have a story of people starving in the desert(generations of them)with only "manna" for consumtion for a great portion of those days....yep,that's one way to start a new religion(Mom and dad can't be wrong...can they?. ..hrmmm,back to Nimrod again,and the fez hats with the fur of spotted cats,etc,etc.).
Mon Oct 30, 2006 10:46 am
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stOneskull
Joined: 23 Jun 2006 Posts: 819 Location: Australia
there's a great bill hicks comedy bit
where he goes into how he believes apes ate mushrooms and became conscious.
i forget what video it's in.
it's interesting in the pharmacratic inquisition (war on drugs) it goes into how the molecule of the psychoactive material in magic mushroom is alien compared to other plants.
and referring to bill hicks again, if you're against drug use 'you may as well burn all your records because some of the best music has come from druggies'
think of the great artists like
lou reed, david bowie, beatles, bob marley, rolling stones, pink floyd, ween...
who without drugs wouldn't have, couldn't have reached some of their excellence.
What's wrong with hippies? They were anti-establishment anti-capitalist anti-blind-consumerist anti-war anti-authoritarian everyday people who wanted to live responsibly and open-mindedly. They took baths, helped out their fellows, shared, rejected guilt trips about sex, spoke the truth even when they got a faceful of mace, lived a healthy lifestyle. What's been handed down from the BS media is the same BS they concocted when the hippies and yippies first got labeled by them in the 60's. Funny how the BS survives, like intellectual cockroaches after a holocaust of saint reagan-esque voodooism. Just like that crap about returning Viet vets getting dissed and hanoi jane being universally reviled by same. Pure hokem myth.
I've done my share of mushrooms too, and while I agree that they're relatively harmless, if you pick the wrong ones it can ruin your century, and the stems contain residual amts of strychnine, it's what makes the user grit & grind their teeth sometimes.
Additionally, if you do like most and get them in a cow pasture, the rancher will sometimes take shots at you, which is bad for one's health.
Do shrooms if you want, just be careful to look for that purple skirt and don't use the stems. And this.......
In more than 60 per cent of cases the experience qualified as a "full mystical experience" based on established psychological scales, the researchers say. Some likened it to the importance of the birth of their first child or the death of a parent.
The effects lasted for at least two months. Eight out of 10 of the volunteers reported moderately or greatly increased wellbeing or life satisfaction. Relatives, friends and colleagues confirmed the changes.
I don't know, that never happened to me. I just got real high. Especially when I mixed it with PCP. The effects didn't last months. That would've been.....scary. It lasts about as long as LSD, 6 to 12 hours. That's plenty enough for me. I guess they're talking about an attitude change...again, not my experience, or any of my friends'.
Mon Oct 30, 2006 8:19 pm
stOneskull
Joined: 23 Jun 2006 Posts: 819 Location: Australia
fresh pineapple is the best thing for any kind of 'poisoned' feeling you get on mushrooms.
the pineapple neutralises it.
Mon Oct 30, 2006 9:56 pm
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madthumbs
Joined: 22 Feb 2006 Posts: 8249 Location: Fingerlakes - NY usa
Unfortunately we can only find "sweet" pineapples now.. do they still work?
).Here we have a story of people starving in the desert(generations of them)with only "manna" for consumtion for a great portion of those days....yep,that's one way to start a new religion(Mom and dad can't be wrong...can they?. 
..hrmmm,back to Nimrod again,and the fez hats with the fur of spotted cats,etc,etc.).
I don't know, that never happened to me. I just got real high. Especially when I mixed it with PCP. The effects didn't last