Magic mushrooms, illegal in most places, may have therapeutic uses

A study at Johns Hopkins University ( ) of 51 patients with late-stage cancer suffering from depression and anxiety found that four-fifths had statistically significant improvements in their mood after six months; another at the same university into tobacco addiction found that six months after a dose of psilocybin 80% of volunteers had not had a cigarette for a week. A variant of ketamine, a widely abused controlled drug, has recently been licensed for use in America in the most serious cases of depression, but its effect lasts only about a week. America’s Food and Drug Administration has given “breakthrough” status to psilocybin trials being conducted by a British company, Compass, whose seed investors include Peter Thiel, a tech billionaire.

Source: www.economist.com