A pressing philosophical problem is how to respond to the existential, anxiety and disenchantment resulting from a naturalistic worldview that eschews transcendent foundations for meaning and value. This problem is becoming more urgent as the popularization of neuroscientific findings renders a disenchanted conception of human beings ever more vivid, compell...
BackgroundNew research has suggested the clinical use of lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) and psilocybin in selected patient populations. However, concerns about the clinical use of LSD were advanced in a large Danish follow-up study that assessed 151 LSD-treated psychiatric patients approximately 25 years after their treatment in the 1960s.AimsThe purpose o...
Objective: To identify patients’ perceptions of the value of psilocybin as a treatment for depression. Method: Twenty patients enrolled in an open-label trial of psilocybin for treatment-resistant depression participated in a semistructured interview at 6-month follow-up. Thematic analysis was used to identify patients’ experiences of the treatment and how i...
On July 18th, section 21 of the Drugs Act 2005 came into force: as a result, magic mushrooms are now classified as a Class A drug under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971. Following a brief look at magic mushrooms and their effects, this paper charts their usage throughout history, from Saharan tribes in ancient times, through the psychedelic revolution of the 196...
The taxonomic identification of the biological material contained in the hallucinogenic mushrooms culture media, was carried out using a DNA-based approach, thus highlighting the usefulness of this approach in the forensic identification of illegal samples also when they are present as basidiospores mixed in culture media and spore-bearing fruiting body are ...
Earlier this year I joined some friends at a performance by the New York Philharmonic of Verdi’s Requiem Mass. Not one of us was Catholic or professed any creed threatening an afterlife of eternal suffering for the wicked. No perpetual willies over Judgment Day. Nevertheless, when the massed voices of chorus and orchestra unleashed their frenzy in the climac...
Background: Many species of hallucinogenic mushrooms have been found in the genus Psilocybe. The main psychoactive chemicals of Psilocybe mushrooms are psilocin and its phosphoryloxy derivative, psilocybin. In addition to its psychedelic effects, psilocybin is an effective agent to lift the mood of depressed patients with terminal cancers.Objective: To study...
Entropy is a dimensionless quantity that is used for measuring uncertainty about the state of a system but it can also imply physical qualities, where high entropy is synonymous with high disorder. Entropy is applied here in the context of states of consciousness and their associated neurodynamics, with a particular focus on the psychedelic state. The psyche...
The use of psychoactive substances of fungal origin for recreational purposes has become an increasing problem in many countries all over the world. These fungis known as magic mushrooms can be grown wildly however their cultural products has been marketing more often. If their wild products are mistakenly collected and eaten by someone, there is not any inf...
BackgroundThis research focuses on the events leading to the 1968 U.S. federal prohibition of psilocybin. It is a study of duelling moral entrepreneurs-Timothy Leary and Richard Alpert vs. the Harvard University Administration. The goal is to show how the primary active compound in an ostensibly harmless fungus (the psilocybin mushroom) became controversial ...
Two topics, related to mushroom poisoning of recent interest in Japan, have been presented. In autumn 2004, 59 cases of acute encephalopathy were reported across 9 prefectures in Japan (24 from Akita Prefecture with 8 deaths; age 48-93, average 70; female 14, male 10). Of 24 cases, 20 had kidney dysfunction. Four poisoned subjects showed no kidney trouble. O...
This paper addresses the question of what happens to consciousness under the influence of psychedelic drugs-specifically of psilocybin, or “magic” mushrooms- and performs a Foucauldian discourse analysis upon the answers that have been variously proposed. Predominant societally legitimated answers (the pathological, psychological, and prohibition discourses)...
Since June 6, 2002, psilocin and psilocybin-containing fungi (commonly called "magic mushrooms") have been regulated by the Narcotics and Psychotropics Control Law in Japan. However, various fly agaric-related products are now entering the Japanese market via the internet. In this study, fly agaric-related products available in this way were investigated for...
'Magic mushrooms' (MMs) are psychoactive fungi containing the hallucinogenic compounds, psilocin (1) and psilocybin (2). Since June 6, 2002, these fungi have been regulated by the Narcotics and Psychotropics Control Law in Japan. Because there are many kinds of MMs and they are sold even as dry powders in local markets, it is very difficult to identify the o...
The following questions regarding the detection of psychoactive drugs in mushrooms are addressed: At what stage of the mushroom development can the psychoactive drugs psilocyn and psilocybin be identified, and what effect does light have on the growth of these mushrooms. To answer these questions, Psilocybe cyanescens Wakefield mushrooms were grown from thei...
Salvia Divinorum is something I read about in Details magazine, because the cover had some sort of cheesecake picture on it, then something like Legal Drugs, and I'm a young male wannabe. Anyway, that's what it is. It's apparently like psilocybin mushrooms, but only lasts a short while, and then you just feel sort of stoned.
In this study a fatal case caused by the ingestion of magic mushrooms is reported. After a trip to the Netherlands a young girl had ingested a handful of psilocybe mushrooms with a soft drink. Soon later, she was trying to fly from the window and died in the street while falling from a room situated on the second floor of a house. The victim was not known by...
