NZ Herald article on Mushies

[Known One]

Click here to read it on the herald site....

 

Or incase they pull the link... here's the text...

 

Neuroscientists find God in mushrooms

 

Wednesday July 12, 2006

By Jeremy Laurance

 

LONDON - A universal mystical experience with life-changing effects can be produced by the hallucinogen contained in magic mushrooms, scientists claimed yesterday.

 

Forty years after Timothy Leary, the apostle of drug-induced mysticism, urged his 1960s hippie followers to "tune in, turn on, and drop out", researchers at Johns Hopkins University in the US have for the first time demonstrated that mystical experiences can be produced safely in the laboratory.

 

They say that there is no difference between drug-induced mystical experiences and the spontaneous religious ones that believers have reported for centuries. They are "descriptively identical".

 

And they argue that the potential of the hallucinogenic drugs, ignored for decades because of their links with illicit drug use in the 1960s, must be explored to develop new treatments for depression, drug addiction and the treatment of intolerable pain.

 

Anticipating criticism from church leaders, they say they are not interested in the "Does God exist?" debate. "This work can't and won't go there."

 

Interest in the therapeutic use of psychedelic drugs is growing around the world. In the UK, the Royal College of Psychiatrists debated their use at a conference in March for the first time for 30 years. A conference held in Basel, Switzerland, last January, reviewed the growing psychedelic psychiatry movement.

 

The drug psilocybin is the active ingredient of magic mushrooms, which grow wild in Wales and were openly sold in London markets until a change in the law last year.

 

For the Johns Hopkins study, 30 middle-aged volunteers who had religious or spiritual interests attended two eight-hour drug sessions, two months apart, receiving psilocybin in one session and a non-hallucinogenic stimulant - Ritalin - in the other. They were not told which drug was which.

 

One-third described the experience with psilocybin as the most spiritually significant of their lifetime and two-thirds rated it among their five most meaningful experiences.

 

In more than 60 per cent of cases the experience qualified as a "full mystical experience" based on established psychological scales, the researchers say. Some likened it to the importance of the birth of their first child or the death of a parent.

 

The effects lasted for at least two months. Eight out of 10 of the volunteers reported moderately or greatly increased wellbeing or life satisfaction. Relatives, friends and colleagues confirmed the changes.

 

The study is one of the first in the new discipline of "neurotheology" -the neurology of religious experience. The researchers, who report their findings in the online journal Psychopharmacology, say that, though unorthodox, their aim is to explore the possible benefits of drugs like psilocybin.

 

Professor Roland Griffiths, of the department of neuroscience and psychiatry at Johns Hopkins, said: "As a reaction to the excesses of the 1960s, human research with hallucinogens has been basically frozen in time. I had a healthy scepticism going into this. [but] under defined conditions, with careful preparation, you can safely and fairly reliably occasion what's called a primary mystical experience that may lead to positive changes in a person.

 

"It is an early step in what we hope will be a large body of scientific work that will ultimately help people."

 

A third of the volunteers became frightened during the drug sessions with some reporting feelings of paranoia.

 

The researchers say psilocybin is not toxic or addictive, unlike alcohol and cocaine, but that volunteers must be accompanied throughout the experience by people who can help them through it.

 

The study is hailed as a landmark by former director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, Charles Schuster, in a commentary published alongside the research.

 

In a second commentary, Huston Smith, America's leading authority on comparative religion, writes that mystical experience "is as old as humankind" and attempts to induce it using psychoactive plants were made in some ancient cultures, such as classical Greece, and in some contemporary small-scale cultures.

 

"But this is the first scientific demonstration in 40 years, and the most rigorous ever, that profound mystical states can be produced safely in the laboratory. The potential is great."

[Nato]

[Nato]

[Madz]

Sounds about right. Maybe they'll give Lysergic a similar trial. I wonder if any of the kiddie speed sessions produced profound religious experiences for anyone?

[Pakage]

i think you'll find LSD has had extensive lab time in the US.. as it was first created by the army for soldier use

[Grind]

i think you'll find LSD has had extensive lab time in the US.. as it was first created by the army for soldier use

 

For sure bro, have a read up on the MK ULTRA project

 

(It wasn't created by the military though, it was stumbled upon by accident by Albert Hoffman)

 

The US military grab a hold of anything they consider could be a) of use b) of danger; and then research the hell out of it.. narcotics, biological discoveries, and even the internet for example.

[Turbo Custard]

This could be an old wives tale - but i heard that soldiers ( german perhaps ?? ) were smoking meth in WWII ( WWI??) as a "battle stimulant"

 

 

Anyone else heard that ???

[bLazem]

i think you'll find LSD has had extensive lab time in the US.. as it was first created by the army for soldier use

 

For sure bro, have a read up on the MK ULTRA project

 

(It wasn't created by the military though, it was stumbled upon by accident by Albert Hoffman)

 

The US military grab a hold of anything they consider could be a) of use b) of danger; and then research the hell out of it.. narcotics, biological discoveries, and even the internet for example.

 

LSD was first used by the CIA as a means of getting people they thort as suspicious for whatever reason (russian spies maybe?) to talk.

[Nato]

This could be an old wives tale - but i heard that soldiers ( german perhaps ?? ) were smoking meth in WWII ( WWI??) as a "battle stimulant"

 

 

Anyone else heard that ???

I don't think they were smoking it but yes they were indeed taking meth in some form. Way to go guys, thats what we need, a bunch of semi-psychotic troops with high powered weapons. I'm sure the casualties from these trials were just as high on both sides.

[robswift]

there was an incident a few years ago of some usaf pilot firing a missile at a friendly unit or something? the usaf used to give their pilots some sort of amphetamine, it was similar to speed, to keep them awake for long missions, and yea you can see why he was a bit trigger happy

[Grind]

Yeah they still give those pilots ampetamines, not sure if it's methamphetamine though.

 

Crack was huuuuge in WW2, Hitler was being prescribed it by his personal doctor. And this is no shit: some modern day historians attribute his poor and irrational decision-making toward the final stages of the war to methamphetamine psychosis.

 

Moral of the story kids - if you're planning to take over the world, lay off the crack

[Madz]

Methamphetamine was administered to various personel in the Japanese war effort. Probably makes Kamikaze a little less daunting. If I was a ruthless commander I wouldn't hesitate to load my noob troops up on P. They'd fight better, harder, longer. It would probably improve accuracy and certainly numb them to the horror of the situ. They'd be proper fucked if they lived long enough to see the end of the war though. Good thing I'm not ruthless and don't have any armies (other than those that reside in my sleevies*).

 

 

 

*I think that takes care of my Lame Quip quota for the week

[Dold]

hehe... ive seen footage of american soldiers (not sure of the year) who had been given lsd for experimental purposes.. showed one man who had climbed to the top of a tree and was laughing hysterically, had the classic olden day sounding voice narrating over top explaining the situation. funny stuff.

 

and yeah Albert Hoffman created it in the 30's i think??... but he was unaware of its true powers for about 5 years i think untill he accidently spilled some on his skin and started feeling the effects. then he tested it on himself in larger doses.. .. .... . lost keys (blame hoffman ))

[Nato]

hehe... ive seen footage of american soldiers (not sure of the year) who had been given lsd for experimental purposes.. showed one man who had climbed to the top of a tree and was laughing hysterically, had the classic olden day sounding voice narrating over top explaining the situation. funny stuff.

I saw that, it was classic.

[nzremo1]

It's nice to finally see a story in the herald that isn't anti-drugs!

[Known One]

Here's a good one...

 

---

 

A man who acted as a modern-day bridge troll faces charges in Boulder after he and his companion allegedly got into a confrontation with an off-duty sheriff's deputy.

 

According to a police report obtained by 7NEWS, Robert Hibbs, 19, was arrested Friday in a park near Foothills Highway and Colorado Avenue after demanding money and attacking the deputy. Police said that Hibbs insisted he was a troll and owned the bridge the deputy was trying to cross.

 

Witnesses told police that Hibbs and Bradley Boville, 19, were demanding $1 from joggers and bikers who attempted to cross the bridge.

 

The off-duty deputy, who was not identified, told police the confrontation with Hibbs started after the man hit his bike with a broken golf club when he forced his way past without paying. The two became involved in an altercation and Hibbs hit the deputy with a golf club, the police report stated. The deputy said he took the golf club away from Hibbs and struck him in an attempt to defend himself.

 

Boville, who was with Hibbs, reportedly told police that they had consumed LSD and that Hibbs was having a bad trip.

 

Police said they confiscated a large marijuana joint rolled in $1 bills at the scene and then searched Boville's apartment and recovered drugs and drug paraphernalia.

 

Hibbs was arrested for investigation of menacing and possession of a controlled substance, according to police. Boville was arrested for investigation of possession of a controlled substance and drug paraphernalia.[/b]

 

---

 

Here's the link

Click here

[Teret]

the scary thing is that could happen to any1 who takes squares

 

 

I prey it never happens to me

[Madz]

Yuck. Smoking one dollar bills? That's gross. But that's Trolls for you eh?

[Grind]

It's nice to finally see a story in the herald that isn't anti-drugs!

 

Yeah I guess so, but I dunno, the Herald has definitely come across in the past as being quite pro or at least neutral to cannabis IMO

[Guest]

Dude i just saw a guy piking mushies from under a tree beside the footpath casual as hahah plastic bag n all

[nzremo1]

Real? I thought the season ended quite some time ago!

[skono]

Real? I thought the season ended quite some time ago!

 

they're well in season here :biggrindaisy: :pinkieone: :riotmatrixgreen:

[robyn]

and todays contribution from the Sideswipe column...

 

Police in France say they have thwarted an attempt by a group of marijuana smokers to roll the world's longest joint by seizing an 80cm work-in-progress. "At some point, these young people had wanted to craft a joint of 1.12m to beat the world record in the discipline and get it officially registered," a police officer in eastern France said. "We don't know who had the idea. Sometimes ideas are created in an astonishing way." During an investigation targeting a group of four smokers in the eastern Vosges area of France, police discovered the giant joint containing 70g of cannabis resin. It had not been finished because of a lack of tobacco.

 

I'd imagine that a joint exceeding 1m would be pretty hard to get blazing...

 

:upsidedownsmoke23:

[mike]

nah man, get out the blowtorch =)

[Dold]

i would definately be willing