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This letter is in response to the story, “Study finds benefits in magic mushrooms,” (Advocate, July 1,) written by Malcolm Ritter. I found this article to be very interesting and chose to do a little further research about the magical mushrooms. The mushrooms referred to in your article are an illegal drug known as psilocybin (pronounced SILL-oh-SY-bin). Your article described a study in which volunteers who took the drug described a long-term enhanced sense of well-being as well as production of intensified spiritual experiences.
Currently, there is a research study through John Hopkins Medical School of Medicine that is seeking volunteers with a cancer diagnosis to participate in a controlled, FDA regulated, scientific study of self-exploration and personal meaning. This study will research the use of entheogens in pharmacology, creativity and psychology. Entheogens include the peyote cactus, the psilocybin-containing mushrooms and certain other plants and chemicals. These substances have been used for thousands of years in cultures from the Amazon to ancient Greece as a means of inducing non-ordinary states of consciousness for psychological self-exploration and spiritual or religious purposes.
These states of consciousness are most widely known in connection with practices such as mediation and prolonged fasting. Context seems to play a major role in shaping entheogen experiences and their consequences. Despite the well-known problems that can arise in unstructured settings, the risks of entheogens in research and ritual contexts have proven to be small.
Researches at the John Hopkins University are seeking volunteers with a current or past diagnosis of cancer who have some anxiety, depression or psychological stress related to their cancer diagnosis to participate in a scientific study using the entheogen-psilocybin, the psychoactive substance found in mushrooms. The premise is that psilocybin works by activating serotonin receptors in the brain, though the precise neurological cascades have not yet been discovered.
If you would like to discuss the possibility of volunteering for this study, please phone 410-550-5990 or e-mail cancer@bpru.org and ask for Mary, the study’s research coordinator.
Thank you for the opportunity to respond to your very interesting article.
Kathy Vern
Bay City