Magic mushrooms on trial for depression treatment.

| The magic mushroom or psychedelic mushroom can be used for medical purposes.

by Miriam Gradel

Imperial College London will be conducting new trials this March to uncover the therapeutic potential of psilocybin magic mushrooms.

Previous trials have shown psilocybin has a positive effect on the amygdala part of the brain, which can drastically help patients with long-term treatment resistant depression.

“We are not calling magical mushrooms a ‘miracle cure’," says Dr Rosalind Watts, former NHS psychiatrist now working at the Psychedelic Research Group at Imperial. “But we need more treatment methods readily available,” she adds. The trial this March will be the third psilocybin trial at Imperial.

“If a drug is useful and passes the clinical trials, why should we be concerned about it?”

The group hopes that psilocybin can prove a better alternative to antidepressants. One former participant Ian Roullier, 49, explained how depression had left him detached from the World. “In my experience, antidepressants only fuelled that,” he says. Immediately after the trials, he was able to say he was no longer depressed.

The trials at Imperial have received a storm of positive attention from media as well as sceptics. David Raynes of the National Drug Prevention Alliance says that while there is no case for recreational use, there is definitely a potential for it to become a licensed clinical drug. “If a drug is useful and passes the clinical trials, why should we be concerned about it?” says David.

David’s scrutiny is mainly aimed at the trails’ main peers. Former advisor to the Government and professor of Neuropharmacology, David Nutt, and head of NGO Beckley foundation, Amanda Fielding. According to David, their positive disposition towards recreational use is overshadowing the real potential the results of the trials hold. “Two of the people pushing the hardest for legalisation, are not helping the case,” says David Raynes.” He adds, “if we have to legalise something for medicinal use, it has to go through a process – the real test will be what the peer group think about it.”

Watch the VICE special report "The Rise of Psychedelic Truffles in Amsterdam".

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