Study finds long benefit in illegal mushroom drug

[flashl]

NEW YORK - In 2002, at a Johns Hopkins University laboratory, a business consultant named Dede Osborn took a psychedelic drug as part of a research project.

She felt like she was taking off. She saw colors. Then it felt like her heart was ripping open.

But she called the experience joyful as well as painful, and says that it has helped her to this day.

...

Scientists reported Tuesday that when they surveyed volunteers 14 months after they took the drug, most said they were still feeling and behaving better because of the experience.

Two-thirds of them also said the drug had produced one of the five most spiritually significant experiences they'd ever had.

The drug, psilocybin, is found in so-called "magic mushrooms." It's illegal, but it has been used in religious ceremonies for centuries.

Yahoo

So... Once you get pass the "heart ripping open part" you'll have a permanent euphoria?

[rox63]

1. The only time I tried 'shrooms, they made me nauseous

Not very spiritual. :(

[sofa king]

2. "Oh yes, I've been much better since I started taking mushrooms."

I've um, heard it said that both LSD and mushrooms have a post-action introspective phase which can be quite revealing. I've always figured that after some balls-off tripping, the brain has to take a while to figure out what's real and what's not, and while it's doing so, it starts calling bullshit on one's own lifestyle and future plans.

As my um, friends have noticed over the decades, the post-shrooming introspection was a lot longer and more difficult when my... friends'... life was not firmly grounded in reality. As I've stopped bullshitting myself so much in recent decades, the sorting-things-out process is much, much less difficult. I can't say my life has improved much since I started taking hallucinogens, but I think I'm a lot less full o' crap.

[THX1138]

3. In my experience

There was no "heart ripping open part". But YMMV

[Bob Dobbs]

4. Never had a bad trip.

No problems in the subsequent 30 years.

Unquestionable insights gained.

As others have said, YMMV.

[Fredda Weinberg]

5. If maturity is defined a self-reflection, the experience disrupts the

normal sense of body position, so awareness is altered, if not expanded.

Then, yes, the environment kicks in again. If you're trying to escape, all you've done is make the trap more secure. But if you're ready to be liberated, you take the temporary impairment in stride and function more efficiently. It's hard to accept having the capacity to labor, so anything that helps you appreciate the effort life requires is beneficial. It lasts if you have the capacity for learning.

Peace.

[iamahaingttta]

6. Mmm... Shrooms!

4th of July Fireworks and Shrooms are lots of fun!
Of course, 4th of July militarism and Shrooms are not so much fun.

I've never found anything bad, other than a small amount of physical discomfort, from the shroom experience. You know what's causing the physical discomfort, so you can get through it pretty quickly.

Learned lots and lots and lots about myself and the structure of the universe.
Never had my heart rip open, however. Might be kinda interesting!

It's been a while though, and I never keep anything illegal in the house, Agent Mike.

[jpcrecom]

7. shrooms are awesome

And I can say so freely because I've never done them in the states. But Amsterdam.....amazing. Though even Amsterdam is banning shrooms which is quite a pity.

Not only should these things be legal, but they should be mandatory.