However, mushrooms can also be dangerous.

Many users report coming to life-changing revelations while tripping on magic mushrooms, and psilocybin is often referred to as an entheogen, or spirituality-enhancing substance (Tierney 2010). These intensified emotions can be positive or negative, but they are often described as euphoric. People tripping on mushrooms often see different colors and experience time dilation and intensified emotions.

Hallucinations and distorted perception are the most common effects (Puiu 2011). Users eat the mushrooms and begin to “trip” within thirty minutes or so. Psilocybin is a psychotropic drug that acts on the central nervous system to produce its effects. “Psilocybin is classified as a Schedule I controlled substance, meaning it has no accepted medical use, and possession is considered a criminal offense.” However, new research, along with traditional practices among indigenous peoples, suggests that this magic mushroom may lead to a magic cure for a wide range of ailments such as obsessive compulsive disorder and cluster headaches. Psilocybin is classified as a Schedule I controlled substance, meaning it has no accepted medical use, and possession is considered a criminal offense. In 1971 the United States outlawed the possession of psilocybin, and research into the compound did not begin until relatively recently. Spanish missionaries who came to the New World wrote about religious uses of psilocybin mushrooms in the sixteenth century (McGraw 2004), and recreational consumption in the Western world popped up in the late 1950s along with the hippie movement. Rock paintings from the Sahara desert that date back at least 7000 years depict mushroom gods and cult-like rituals, indicating to some historians that psilocybin mushrooms were used in deity worship at the time (De Borhegyi 2012). Since ancient times, humans have enjoyed a mystical relationship with “magic mushrooms” containing the hallucinogenic compound psilocybin.

Human brain mapping impact factor 2015