The hallucinogen psilocybin, known by the street name magic mushrooms, may help ease the anxiety that often accompanies late-stage cancer, researchers said Monday. Cancer patients given a moderate dose of psilocybin, whose effects are similar to those of LSD, were measurably less depressed six months after a single dose compared with a placebo, researchers reported in the Archives of General Psychiatry. The pilot study of 12 patients was devised to prove that hallucinogenic drugs could be studied safely as a way to relieve the distress of advanced cancer. It revives a field of study from the 1950s to the early 1970s that suggested some patients experienced powerful and sustained improvement in mood and anxiety from hallucinogens. The studies were abandoned in the early 1970s when drugs like LSD became used on the streets, leading to strict federal laws regulating them.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/07/he...SHROO_BRF.html
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