This could certainly provide some positive benefits, eg mirth:

http://www.badgerbadgerbadger.com/

Rgds

Damon

So, this another way for big pharma to make a mint
of the sick. There only objective is to make money,
profile doctors to get them to give the drugs to their
patients and in the long run create more problems
that cause side effects, so they need another drug.
The end result will be the patients death.

How sad we believe doctors, drugs and research by big pharma our are only solution.

They have been killing us for years. It is time we
said not to the nonsense.

Crow

Crow,

You could look at this another way: usually big pharma fights the natural substances because it is hard to patent and profit from these. Look for magic mushrooms to be beaten down by big pharma money masquarading behind "Say NO to drugs" sloganeers as soon as mushrooms show a hint of promise for wholistic treatment.

Magic Mushrooms commonly cause depression after one takes them. It's actually pretty hard to deal with the paradigm shift that they cause. I'd say it's more likely to cause someone to give up since you realize everything is in your head anyways. I have known a lot of people to take them. Out of the people I know who took them (10 or so people that I can think of at the moment) 4-5 had a bad trip, 6-7 had severe depression aftwerwards, 1 got arrested for something unrealted since they didn't care anymore, 1 got hppd (things keep moving/tracers lasting for months), and 2 had flashbacks. I don't think it's a good idea to add this to what cancer patients are already dealing with.

@Rtarara: Could you please back up your claims that mushrooms or psylocybin "commonly cause depression"? An informal observation of ten folks you know, who ingested mushrooms in probably a wide range of situations, does not make for a scientific study.

It's been known for decades that the effects of psychadelics depend greatly on "set and setting."

It's also been known for a long time that certain psychedelics, taken under controlled circumstances, monitored and facilitated by people who know what they're doing, can be beneficial to folks who have terminal illnesses. For more on this, check out what Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS) has been doing in this area for years.

Rtatata:
The effects you saw in your friends due to psychedelic mushrooms seems out of the ordinary. Out of the tens of people I know who have taken mushrooms, not a SINGLE person has had a 'bad trip.'
I've gotten the closest to a bad experience out of all my friends: the first time I took shrooms, I made the mistake of trying to fall asleep before the effects kicked in. I awoke in what seemed like a surreal painting. When I looked down at my body, my torso would twist and distort, and the paintings in my room would wiggle and twist. I was a little freaked out for a few minutes, but after I remembered that I had taken a psychedelic I began to enjoy the trip.
Even my friends who were wary of taking mushrooms enjoyed the 'mind-opening' effects of the drug. I think your friends just got very unlucky with their experiences.

Crow-
In the 70s Robert Albert and Tim Leary among a few others realized the potential in natural psychoactive substances but where immediately shut down by the gov. and "big pharma". In the last 5 years, these same substances have had so much attention and scientists all over the world are realizing that they where really on to something back then. Almost all results have been positive, with people reporting profound positive effects months after ingestion. The great thing is you only need 1 or 2 doses, and they are extremely cheap to produce. Normally "big pharma" looks for slow, longterm, never ending solutions, with high costs. Another great thing about them is after your first dose, you realize you never actually needed them, they just show you the door (or tear it open for you). Its a subject I am obviously very optomistic about. Look for lots more research being done in the future.
Cheers

So... you need cancer to participate?

Hi,

I just wanted to let people know that there is a new psilocybin study underway at Johns Hopkins University that is recruiting volunteers with a current or past diagnosis of cancer.

For more information visit their new website:

http://www.bpru.org/cancer/insight/

Thanks

This is the new URL for the study:

http://www.bpru.org/cancer/insight/

Please check this out now!

It's about a new way to treat cancer:

http://www.treat-cancer.nl/

FYI: the photo isn't a hallucinogenic mushroom. It's probably an Amanita caesarea, or maybe some other Amanita. Hallucinogenic Amanitas don't contain psilocybin. Psilocybin-containing mushrooms do tend to be less than photogenic, tending towards the small, brown, and slimy side of the fungal family.

And re: Anonymous' friends, a rather comprehensive study by the CAM here in the Netherlands showed exactly zero health risks associated with ingestion of "paddo's" (magic mushrooms). It's in Dutch but here's the link: http://www.minvws.nl/images/paddo%27s-risicoschattingsrapport-2007-definitief_tcm19-154241.pdf . In my experience, bad trips are extremely rare and of the many people I know who have taken paddo's, none have ever had a flashback.

I think the difference in our experiences, Anonymous, is a good example of the importance of having good numbers and a wide sample set in a study. About one person in twenty suffers from depression. Among my hallucinogen-using friends, I would say the incidence of depression is much less than that (about one in fourty). Does this mean that mushrooms are protective against depression? Probably not, but it emphasizes the importance of using a large enough study and good calculations to distinguish correlation from coincidence.

I rather use this than any prescribed drugs.

Hello
I read about a study in Santa Barbara (?) a couple months ago. Course I'm trying to find iit again.

I, for one am all for "Natural" gifts, that are here already. I have colitis. Managing it w/several doctors over the years & learning to live with it, let's just say, has been a "trip". Most the drugs given have the side effect of depression and other things. As I am also a smoker, I gravitated towards smoking pot instead of doing the drugs. And it has worked, for now. (I am wanting to quiting...)

Thank-you

ive been takeing magic mushrooms since high school and ive never had a bad trip or depression afterward i belive that that is all about your enviroment give someone a happy place with some happy mushes great things can happen