Magic mushrooms, those well known hallucinogenic marvels from the 1970s, have shown to lift severe depression in a dozen volunteers in a clinical trial and scientists hope they might someday become mainstream medicine.

The clinical trial, published in the Lancet Psychiatry Journal, took years and was funded by the Medical Research Council. The study cost a significant amount of money and due to the stringent regulatory restrictions imposed around the class 1 drug, has found that two doses of psilocybin, the active substance in the mushrooms, was able to lift resistant depression in all 12 volunteers for three weeks (and kept it away in 5 of them for three months). However, because of the size of the trial and the absence of any placebo, it means the research can only been “proof of principle”.

The scientists, who were part of a research collaboration between Imperial College London and the Beckley Foundation (a think tank that focuses on drug policy), hope the results will encourage the MRC or other funding organizations to put up the money needed for a full trial.

From The Guardian:

“The lead author, Dr Robin Carhart-Harris, said: “Psychedelic drugs have potent psychological effects and are only given in our research when appropriate safeguards are in place, such as careful screening and professional therapeutic support. “I wouldn’t want members of the public thinking they can treat their own depressions by picking their own magic mushrooms. That kind of approach could be risky.””

 

The volunteers in the study had severe depression and had failed to improve while on at least two standard prescribed antidepressants. They were given an initial low dose of psilocybin, to make sure they didn’t have an adverse reaction (none did), and then a higher dose a week later. During the five hour psychedelic experience, the participants were treated in a specially prepared room, with music playing, and in the presence of two psychiatrists who talked with them during the entire trip.

In order to carry out the research there were major issues to overcome; it took a year to get ethical approval, there was a six-month safety study, and there was a lot of red tape to get through but the sheer cost of the drugs was also mind boggling. What would normally cost someone about $40 for a hit, cost the team over $2000 per dose (part of the cost was from the company- who had to be licensed- that was contracted to specially package the capsules).

The researchers still do not know if the effect of the drug was caused by chemical changes in the brain or whether or not the psychedelic experience (which people described as spiritual or mystical) gave them a different perspective. Regardless, the team believes that psilocybin offers hope for those who have been depressed for an average of 18 years.

Any future funded study may be difficult because it will be obvious who is on the drug and who has received a placebo but here’s hoping someone will tackle it anyway. The more we can train ourselves to remember that the plants we were given can help and heal us, the better off and healthier we will find ourselves.

Source: The Guardian