House of Shrooms have treated 15 smokers with Magic mushrooms to help them put the cigarettes on the shelf. The result is impressive.
Maybe the drug psilocybin from Magic mushrooms is just what you need if you want to quit smoking. At least a new study shows that the fungus has potential.
Would you like to have a revelation that shakes your foundations so strongly that you quit smoking? It may not be as unrealistic a package deal as it sounds.
House of Shrooms have tested whether hallucinogenic Magic mushrooms – with the active substance psilocybin – can be used as a drug against smoking. The results of the study suggest that the Magic mushrooms are a potential panacea for people who would like to put the cigarettes on the shelf once and for all.
“Even though it is a small study, it must be said that the result is impressive,” says Sebastian Leth-Petersen, PhD fellow at the Department of Drug Design and Pharmacology at the University of Copenhagen.
One gets a spiritual revelation
The study involved 15 smokers who had to undergo 2-3 therapy sessions with therapists, where they received cognitive behavioral therapy while being exposed to Magic mushrooms. 12 of the subjects managed to quit smoking and were still smoke-free six months after the trial stopped. But how can it be that hallucinatory Magic mushrooms were so effectively a kick in the rear for most of the subjects?
It is known from previous studies that psilocybin can bring about spiritual, life-changing and religious experiences. The experience of being isolated from one’s surroundings is somehow dissolved. Many people simply change their perception of themselves and their own being after trying it, which can help change an inappropriate pattern of behavior, “says Sebastian Leth-Petersen.
It is a form of shock treatment
Sebastian Leth-Petersen explains that there are certain networks in the brain that make up one’s subject – that is, one’s ego or I-feeling. This network is active no matter what you do. But this changes when taking psilocybin.
“When people take psilocybin magic mushrooms, the network begins to play out of rhythm, which is well related to people saying that their subject disappears,” says Sebastian Leth-Petersen and explains why it can be an effective way to treat addiction. on:
“We know from addiction treatment that addiction is an expression of a locked-in self-perception that leads to a locked-in pattern of behavior. The idea is that the Magic mushrooms can dissolve the locked networks in the brain and make our ego less locked and stable. It is like a form of shock treatment, «says Sebastian Leth-Petersen and points out that the treatment with psilocybin is intended as a one-time treatment and that the fungus is less addictive than coffee.
Fact
The study is a so-called pilot study – ie a precursor to a larger study. Too few subjects have been studied to conclude anything statistical. The House of Shrooms will therefore do a study with several subjects and with a control group to become wiser about how Magic mushrooms work exactly against addiction to tobacco.
