Science Magic mushroom love

[Scouse]

Proff. Nutt is at it again. Talking science and sense on drugs.

This time he's having a pop at the authorities outlawing magic mushrooms because it makes it really difficult to study some interesting properties that may make them very strong candidates in the treatment of several mental maladies, chief amongst them depression.

My only mushroom experiences have been on weekends to Amsterdam with mates. However, I did have one particular experience (on a trip with the missus) that resonates very strongly with this story:

[Researchers] found that psilocybin turns off a part of the brain which is overactive in some forms of depression. So Prof Nutt believes that the drug could be used as an antidepressant..."There's some research from the US which shows that when used in a psycho-therapeutic context it can produce quite long-lasting changes to a person's sense of well-being - changes that can last for years"

and;

A second study...found that psilocybin enhanced volunteers' recollections of personal memories, which the researchers suggest could make it useful as an adjunct to psychotherapy

Now, I suffer from the former (pretty much constantly since I was about ten) and on that particular weekend my missus felt rather unwell (not drug related) so we adjourned back to our apartment and she fell asleep whilst I lay on the bed contemplating life, the universe and everything. But mainly depression, the reasons why, what could I do etc. etc.

I found I could recall things that I previously had long forgotten and could really dig deep with some things that had long bothered me. I had a sense of euphoria that lasted long (a few weeks) after I'd returned home. I can only describe it as what I imagine it is to be not actually depressed.

Unscientific? Yep. I'd also known for a long time that there was a lot of work done in the '60's with LSD as a form of therapy (with apparently spectacular success). But ever since that day I've always thought that there's definitely something in it...

I'm now thinking I may have another pop (last time was about 5 years ago). I know it sounds like a good excuse to get bombed, but it is.

So, a question. Has anyone else self-medicated like this? And it doesn't have to involve this. Do you, for example, smoke weed to allieviate arthiritis (rather than just alleviate boredom) etc...

 

[ECA]

Didn't they also find that Shrooms let to a permanent change in brain chemistry that enhanced empathy?

Oh no the horror, they should feed it to all the little chavvy shits.

 

[Scouse]

Never heard that one before. And I doubt we should give 'em to chavs - they act like they're on mushrooms anyway

 

[Chilly]

Just dont chomp too many!

 

[Scouse]

[Alleged]Coke-fiend Branson urges Cameron to decriminalise drugs, just like in Portugal.

We're starting to see a drip-drip feed of similar stories to these in the media at the moment. Must mean that they're preparing the psyche of the public for change, albeit in about 20 years time...

 

[Wij]

Shrooms make you vomit.

Yes.

 

[Wazzerphuk]

There's nothing like putting raw shrooms in a sarnie and just munching them down like a pro.

It's difficult and retch-tastic.

 

[Wij]

Remind me why you don't drink again.

 

[Wazzerphuk]

I don't do mushrooms any more either.

 

[Wij]

Don mushroom suit.

 

[Scouse]

There's nothing like putting raw shrooms in a sarnie and just munching them down like a pro.

My favourite method of ingestion was just eating them. Bread is for puffs

 

[Access Denied]

I can't do shrooms, I'm allergic =(

 

[rynnor]

There's no way a ban on people taking shrooms would stop anyone studying them for pharmaceutical uses - that just sounds silly to me?

Not like a pharmaceutical lab cant get the license so whats he on about?

 

[rynnor]

Shrooms make you vomit.

Yes.

Well they are toxic - in small amounts they are ok and dried seem safer than fresh but obviously the toxic dose will vary from person to person.

 

[Lamp]

I'd only ever do magic shrooms if someone call cook me a magic steak to go with them

 

[Scouse]

Well they are toxic - in small amounts they are ok and dried seem safer than fresh but obviously the toxic dose will vary from person to person.

On the other hand, magic mushrooms were rated as causing some of the least damage in the UK compared to other recreational drugs by experts in a study by the Independent Scientific Committee on Drugs. Other researchers have said that the main chemical component (psilocybin) is "remarkably non-toxic to the body's organ systems"

From this wiki...

 

[Embattle]

Same shit different drug.

 

[rynnor]

I think drugs are something that I wouldnt go to wikipedia for information on tbh.

Have a read of this - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2426147/pdf/postmedj00225-0006.pdf

 

[Scouse]

So, a review of hospital admissions in 1981 for people who had ingested up to 100 magic mushrooms, and were hallucinatory, is now a statement on the toxicity of a substance?

Just because it's written in black and white with all sorts of sciencey-looking figures doesn't mean it's actually relevent to the discussion m8

Click on the link in the quote I posted and have a look at the credentials of the scientists who did the research...

 

[megadave]

Last time I had them all i could taste was mud... they were pretty fresh

 

[rynnor]

Just because it's written in black and white with all sorts of sciencey-looking figures doesn't mean it's actually relevent to the discussion m8

It doesnt support your view so its not relevant - very amusing.

You said they were safe so I posted a link on the observed effects - you think human biology has changed since 1982?

You also chose to only post the good things said about it on the wiki taking it out of context.

As to the amounts they took thats real life for you - shocking but people taking illegal drugs do sometimes take a lot of them

 

[Scouse]

You said they were safe so I posted a link on the observed effects

I'm going to be pedantic (or rather "correct") here and point out that that's not what actually happened, is it.

What happened was that you said they were toxic (and had an opinion on what the toxic dose was from person to person) so I posted a quote from scientists that have done tests on their toxicity who said they're "surprisingly non-toxic".

You then posted a link on the observed effects of humans who are high on drugs when they're admitted to hospital - which I don't dispute and unsurprisingly describe a bunch of people who are high on drugs (and people who are upset by it - otherwise they wouldnt be in hospital). It isn't, however, relevant to a toxicity discussion.

It doesnt support your view so its not relevant - very amusing.

Personally, I don't have a view on whether they're safe or not. But you seem to know better than one of the UK's top drugs scientists on a few of his subjects:

There's no way a ban on people taking shrooms would stop anyone studying them for pharmaceutical uses - that just sounds silly to me?

Not like a pharmaceutical lab cant get the license so whats he on about?

I'm sure he was wrong and it is actually easy to do tests on these sorts of drugs. I'm sure he's definitely the one and only scientitst to complain about an imaginary prohibitive legal framework and that the very same complaint hasn't been made by scientists before.

I think this is more about you having a view on the safety of these things than me....

 

[Wij]

They still taste like shit and make you vomit.

 

[Access Denied]

Drugs are bad m'kay? Anyone who bashes ALL drugs has clearly never taken any. I can't do Shrooms but I can do Salvia and since that has the same effect, it's all good. Done most drugs at one time or another and the worst that's happened is I felt like shit on the come-down. Speed is particularly good.

 

[Scouse]

El Reg has an article on this subect too.

Apparently he's been inundated with emails from people asking to get on a trial. I was tempted myself tbfh.

 

[Wij]

Yes, I made pretty much the same comments in their comments section

 

[throdgrain]

All acid type drugs left me with a slightly euphoric sense long after the effects had worn off, a sense also that you knew stuff that "regular" folks didnt know about

Having said all that, one day I had a bad trip, and it was a nightmare I assure you, every time after that was always a bad trip, so I had to stop doing it. I'm not sure wether bad trip experiences last for ages too though. One of them involved the great Camping on the Queens land at Sandringham by mistake tale, which is a long and pretty mental tale, involving police helicoptors, thunderstorms and a very bad time !

 

[Wazzerphuk]

I also had similar lasting positive effects from the first handful of times I took ecstasy. Genuinely outlook changing for a while, helps you appreciate so much more in life.

 

[Scouse]

Having said all that, one day I had a bad trip, and it was a nightmare I assure you, every time after that was always a bad trip, so I had to stop doing it. I'm not sure wether bad trip experiences last for ages too though. One of them involved the great Camping on the Queens land at Sandringham by mistake tale, which is a long and pretty mental tale, involving police helicoptors, thunderstorms and a very bad time !

Time for an uber-post? Gwan, pretend this is a blog and not a forum for a while...

 

[throdgrain]

Oh alright then If I've said this before I apologise, though it's unlikely!

Sitting comfortably? Then I'll begin.


Way back in the 1980s, I was in a motorbike club. I am now too, but this was then. Each year we would go on a run for a week, among other things. So, this year, I think it was 1984 or 1985, we decided to go round the country, stopping at Stonehenge for the festival. Now this year was the year they stopped the Stonehenge festival, Battle of the Beanfield and all that (google it noobs ), so we never got in. However we bought some acid from some hippys round about, it was called White Lightning. They said, be careful, this is evil stuff. We immediately forgot that.

So, we set off from Stonehenge and some days, very wet days, later we ended up in Norfolk. It had started raining again, so we just pulled over, drove down a track into a pine forest, and stopped. Put the tents up, and thought, what now? I know, how about that acid. Good idea.

So, we did this acid, and within 20 minutes I was completely off me face, halucinating in broad daylight, it was mental. In fact it was too mental, we started freaking out a bit to be honest. Then it started raining, so we got into the big tent and sat there trying to sort oursleves out. My mate I remember put a Syd Barrett album on his portable cassette player, on which the batteries were running out. Not ideal.

Then it turned into a thunderstorm, there was electricity in the air (probably) and my mate freaked out completely and ran off into the woods. Crashes of thunder right above us, the rest of us cowering in the tent. This went on for an hour or so, then faded away. My mate returned and we started to stop freaking out, and all was calm.

Then a posh voice from outside the tent said "I say, you in the tent, come out!!"

We came out. There was a tweed-clad bloke in plus-fours with a little white scotty dog going mad. (The man, not the dog). He said, "you cant camp here, this is the Queens land, Sandringham Palace" etc etc, and basically told us we could fuck off and he was calling the police.

We freaked out.

Again.

So, still tripping obviously, we collected all our stuff, rolled it all up and put it on the bikes. I was the first, and somehow rode my bike back up the path. I was going to fuck off, but I couldnt leave my mates and so waited. Looking back, I could see my mate Phil trying to kickstart his XS650, eventually it started with a sound that would have woken the dead. I thought.

"Oh fuck".

We rode off, and I thought we would escape, even if we were all riding a foot away from each other and at 20 pmh, but then we went through a village and passed a police car, who was waiting for us. He followed us for a bit, then I saw the helicoptor above, and suddenly there were old bill everywhere. The bloke on the back of my bike had an ounce of hash in his pocket, he chucked it into the road just as we stopped.

The police lined us up on the verge, and started questioning us. First was my mate, the plod said "so, thowing your money away are you?" I was shitting it, and was still halucinating. But the police ignored the bag of hash, and went to me. They searched me, I was clean, and asked my name. I told them, they checked and yes, of course I was on bail, so they went into it big time.

However, I was clean, so they checked everyone else, except my brother. Eventually the said we could go, and said they would escort us to a campsite. They jumped into thier 3.5 Rover and whizzed off, but we couldnt keep up with them for fear of falling off. They had to slow down to let us catch up, but didnt seem to suspect anything

We arrived at the campsite, the police fucked off, but the campsite wouldnt let us in. We eventually ended up in a farmers orchard. By now the effects had mostly worn off, due to adrenelin I suspect. We got in to tent, and my brother said look, I still got some blow, they didnt search me! We lit a doobie, I had one toke and the inner sheet of the tent started writhing like it was made of snakes. Fuck that, I went to bed

Next day we cut the run short, and went home days early. After that, if anyone mentioned Norfolk, we always said Norfolk? Norfookingway