RESEARCH: YES, THERE'S MAGIC IN THOSE MUSHROOMS

For years, Roland R. Griffiths had heard about the profound spiritual
experiences of people who had ingested psilocybin, a hallucinogen
that, if you came of age in the 1960s, you might recall as "magic
mushrooms." Anthropologists had described, sometimes rapturously, the
effects of psilocybin, but Griffiths, a Johns Hopkins professor of
psychiatry and behavioral biology, was skeptical.

He knew of little rigorous clinical research in which psilocybin had
been administered under appropriate laboratory conditions. After
completing his own carefully constructed study of the drug, he is
skeptical no more.

Griffiths' research, published in July by the journal
Psychopharmacology, found that psilocybin did, indeed, bring about
profound mystical experiences in his test subjects, who had been
selected in part because they already engaged in spiritual practices.
The study found that 61 percent of its subjects, 22 out of 36,
reported phenomena that met the psychiatric criteria for "complete
mystical experience." Seventy-one percent rated it as among the five
most spiritually significant experiences of his or her life, and 33
percent called it the most significant. Two months later, 79 percent
of subjects reported they still experienced moderately or greatly
increased feelings of well-being or life satisfaction after the
psilocybin. Only 11 percent, 4 out of 36, reported mystical
experiences after ingesting the control drug.

The Hopkins research team took extraordinary measures to ensure the
safety of the participants and the rigor of the study, screening
volunteers for physical and mental health, especially personal or
family histories of psychotic or bipolar disorders.

One of their biggest concerns was that expectancy would distort the
study's results. There is wide belief among scientists that whatever
one expects of a hallucinogen plays a large role in the actual
response, so the Hopkins team selected volunteers who had no previous
history with hallucinogens, and thus no expectations beyond what the
researchers had an ethical duty to tell them. The scientists also went
to elaborate lengths to prevent both the volunteers and the study's
monitors from knowing whether the subjects had ingested psilocybin or
the control drug, methylphenidate hydrochloride, better known as Ritalin.

Volunteers underwent two sessions, one for each drug. At around nine
in the morning, the subject would take either the psilocybin or the
methylphenidate -- the sequence was randomly and blindly assigned --
then recline on a sofa in a room outfitted to resemble a living room.
The subject was encouraged to use an eye mask to block visual
distractions, and headphones that played classical music.

Two monitors stayed in the room to record the subject's responses and
provide reassurance should he or she become frightened or anxious.

The methylphenidate was used as the control drug because it is safe,
the onset and duration of its subjective effects are similar to those
of psilocybin, and it has not been found to induce mystical
experiences. The volunteers knew they had been administered something
but could not discern which drug.

Each session, conducted about eight weeks apart, lasted seven or eight
hours. The subjects filled out several questionnaires and discussed
with the monitors what they had experienced. Two months later, each
volunteer submitted to detailed interviews again, and a one-year
review is underway.

Rigorous scientific study of hallucinogens has been rare, after the
excesses, bad science, and legal difficulties of the 1960s, says
Griffith. "If you think about it, from a standpoint of science it's
pretty shocking.

For purely cultural and societal reasons, we took this interesting
class of compounds and put them on the shelf for 40 years." He says
this new work opens intriguing avenues of research.

What happens, neurologically, when someone has this sort of profound
mystical experience? Could hallucinogens have clinical applications
for dealing with the anxiety or depression that can accompany mortal
conditions like cancer?

Could carefully controlled application of hallucinogens be beneficial
for drug or alcohol rehab?

Griffith stresses that psychotropic agents like psilocybin are
dangerous. If people already have psychiatric problems, hallucinogens
can tip them into psychotic conditions. People also can panic and hurt
themselves in response to these drugs.

Even in the study's safe environment, 30 percent of the volunteers
reported moments of significant fear. Says Griffith, "It would be
tragic in my view if this work led to an increase in the unsupervised
recreational abuse of these compounds."