The Magic of Mushrooms

Over a year ago, scientists at Johns Hopkins University came back from a Pink Floyd laser light show and decided to do some experiments with magic mushrooms. For those who've never lived in a two bedroom apartment with seven other college dropouts, "magic" mushrooms are those fungi which contain a psychedelic drug called psilocybin. They were outlawed in the '60s when the government decided it was dangerous for people to feel better than normal. The JHU researchers administered psilocybin to 36 test subjects during an 8-hour lab visit. While about a third of them experienced heightened levels of paranoia (which always happens to me when I'm getting high in a federally funded laboratory), most of them reported positive effects, with two thirds saying the test was one of the five most spiritually significant experiences in their lives. Recently, researchers surveyed the test subjects again, and over a year after taking the drugs, most still say they feel an increase in well-being; specifically feeling more creative, self-confident, flexible, and optimistic. The researchers point out the potential of these results to lead toward the clinical use of psilocybin to deal with psychological illnesses and addiction. They go out of their way, however, to downplay the religious significance of this experiment, saying that psilocybin isn't "God in a pill." But if a drug can initiate a religious experience as well or better than any of the traditional routes, what does that say about the chemical nature of spirituality? More details here.