hallucinogens

18 Stories

Young People Are Really Into Their Shrooms These Days

From 2018 to 2021, young adults' use of hallucinogens nearly doubled

(Newser) - Not in several decades have young adults in the United States done so much tripping on hallucinogens. That's the upshot of a new study that found the use of such mind-altering drugs nearly doubled from 2018 to 2021. According to research published in the journal Addiction , based on stats...

Scientists Uncover 3K-Year-Old Drug Trip
Scientists Uncover
3K-Year-Old Drug Trip
NEW STUDY
Apr 7, 2023 2:00 PM CDT

Scientists Uncover 3K-Year-Old Drug Trip

Human hair containing hallucinogens offers first direct evidence of prehistoric drug use in Europe

(Newser) - Scientists have discovered what's being touted as the first direct evidence of drug use in ancient Europe. The Bronze-Age inhabitants of what is now the Spanish island of Menorca ingested hallucinogens derived from plants, according to analysis of 3,000-year-old human hairs found in a cave that served as...

Dozens Suffer Hallucinations After Eating Spinach Products

Aussie authorities believe recalled spinach was contaminated by toxic weed

(Newser) - As far as we know, Popeye used to eat spinach for strength, not to enter a hallucinatory state. In Australia, however, more than 130 people in Australia got an inadvertent high after ingesting contaminated baby spinach, and now the nation's government is urging consumers not to try to achieve...

NPS' Latest Warning Is a 'Toad-Ally Terrifying' One

Agency issues directive to visitors to not lick toxic Sonoran desert toads in the parks

(Newser) - It's the warning from the National Park Service we didn't know we needed: Stop licking the toads. It's one type of toad in particular—the Sonoran desert toad (also known as the Colorado river toad), which NPR describes as a creature that's about 7 inches long...

'Mad Honey' Blamed for Bear Cub's Woozy State

Luckily, bear rescued in Turkey is going to be OK after ingesting hallucinogenic neurotoxin

(Newser) - Only a few places in the world host native rhododendrons that produce grayanotoxin, a powerful neurotoxin. The honey created by bees who consume the plant's nectar is known as "mad honey" and can cause intoxication. One of those locales is Turkey's Kaçkar Mountains, where a brown...

3 Canadians Get Permission to Use 'Magic Mushrooms'

They all have mental health conditions, waited up to 283 days for a decision

(Newser) - Psilocybin mushrooms, sometimes called "magic" or psychedelic mushrooms, are banned in Canada with rare exceptions made for medical purposes. Three such exemptions have recently been granted, the Vancouver Sun reports. Three people with mental health conditions now have legal access to psilocybin-assisted psychotherapy, a development that nonprofit TheraPsil, which...

US City May Be First to Decriminalize 'Magic Mushrooms'

Denver will vote Tuesday

(Newser) - Tuesday's a big day in Denver—a day that could end with the decriminalization of a Schedule 1 drug. The AP reports residents are headed to the polls to cast their vote on whether to decriminalize psilocybin, an illegal drug found in "magic mushrooms" that has been shown...

Hipsters Are Healing Their Souls With 'Grandmother' Drug
Hipsters Are Healing
Their Souls With
'Grandmother' Drug
in case you missed it
Sep 17, 2016 4:25 PM CDT

Hipsters Are Healing Their Souls With 'Grandmother' Drug

Amazon's ayahuasca is said to offer therapeutic benefits—though not without a cost

(Newser) - A psychedelic concoction known as yage, or ayahuasca, has been brewed in indigenous communities in the Amazon region for centuries. But now it's found a relatively new audience: Americans immersed in what Ariel Levy, writing for the New Yorker , calls "the Age of Kale," who are tapping...

Single Dose of Magic Mushroom Ingredient Did Months of Good

When given to patients with life-threatening cancer

(Newser) - People who receive life-threatening cancer diagnoses and find themselves battling depression and anxiety might consider munching on magic mushrooms, and that's not coming from a snake oil salesman. Scientists at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine announced last week at the annual meeting of the American College of...

TV Crew Spots Hallucinogenic at Queen's Palace

But 'magic' mushroom likely grew on its own, expert says

(Newser) - "Care for a mushroom, your highness?" Queen Elizabeth II may well decline after a television crew discovered a so-called "magic" mushroom in her palace gardens. "I won’t be eating any of that," said celebrity gardener Alan Titchmarsh upon noticing Amanita muscaria, a toadstool with red...

Magic Mushrooms Ease Cancer Anxiety

Science takes a new look at psilocybin

(Newser) - Psilocybin, the key ingredient in the favorite hallucinogenic "magic mushrooms" of trippy space cadets everywhere, is proving to be a mood elevator for those suffering from cancer. Late-stage cancer patients given a moderate single dose of psilocybin were less anxious, and significantly less depressed six months later compared with...

Botticelli's Mars Is on Acid

The sartyr next to him has a suspicious plant

(Newser) - There's a reason Mars looks so out of it in Botticelli's classic painting Venus and Mars. A sharp-eyed art historian tells NPR that he's on what's known as "poor man's acid." Check out the sartyr in the bottom right (the one who's sort of sticking his tongue out...

Docs Look Again to Turning On for Cures

Hallucinogens may help depression, cancer patients

(Newser) - Scientists and physicians are looking again at various hallucinogens for aiding people suffering from mental illness and other problems. After a '60s backlash against the drugs, researchers are delving into their possible benefits. One retired clinical psychologist attributes his 6-hour trip on psilocybin in a Johns Hopkins lab to curing...

Swiss Shrink Revives LSD Research

(Newser) - A Swiss psychiatrist has revived research into the use of LSD to treat emotional disorders after decades of neglect, Der Spiegel reports (unable to resist the headline "Tune In, Turn On, Cheer Up"). Albert Gasser, the first person to study the psychiatric use of the hallucinogen in 35...

Twitter: LSD for Our Time
 Twitter: LSD for Our Time 
OPINION
Apr 20, 2009 4:37 PM CDT

Twitter: LSD for Our Time

(Newser) - The parallels between Twitter and LSD are just too trippy for blogger Phil Baumann to ignore. “What was once a side project, a sort of laboratory experiment,” he writes, “has now seeped into the public domain and everyday more and more people are tripping tweeting.” Highlights...

Hallucinogenic Plant's High May Knock Medical Use Down

States try to crack down on promising herb

(Newser) - A hallucinogenic herb pharmacologists believe holds great promise for pain relief and mental health treatment is facing tough restrictions thanks to thrill-seekers, the New York Times reports. Users of the highly potent psychedelic Salvia divinorum—dubbed "Magic Mint" by users—have been posting videos of their trips on YouTube,...

Groovy, Man: Study Finds Benefit in Magic 'Shrooms

Subjects say illegal hallucinogen changed their lives

(Newser) - Volunteers who took hallucinogenic psilocybin mushrooms in a study say they have gained long-term benefits from the drug, reports the AP. Subjects of the study, one of very few involving hallucinogenic drugs since the '60s, say they still feel positive effects from their psychedelic experience years later. Many say it...

Final Trip for LSD Creator
 Final Trip for
 LSD Creator 
Apr 30, 2008 2:40 AM CDT

Final Trip for LSD Creator

Chemist Albert Hofmann dies at 102

(Newser) - The Swiss scientist who formulated LSD and unwittingly helped lay the foundation of  '60s drug culture has died of a heart attack at the age of 102. Albert Hofmann, who called LSD his "problem child," discovered its hallucinatory properties while working on heart stimulants, reports the Washington Post....

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