“Mystic mushrooms spawn magic event”- Associated Press – CNN.com –Updated PDF Download

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CNN.com – Mystic mushrooms spawn magic event – Jul 11, 2006.

Updated: Download a PDF Download Original Scientific Paper on Study: "Good Friday Experiment Replicated!"

Neuroscientists Probe Psychedelic Psilocybin

Note: Image "psychedelic Mushrooms" from Carol Muse Skinner Digital Muse Studio

Associated Press by way of CNN.Com reported on an scientific experiment that recently was completed at John Hopkins University. In the experiment, psilocybin, the active ingredient of magic mushrooms was ttaken by expereimental subjects who …

" … reported profound mystical experiences that led to behavior changes lasting for weeks — all part of an experiment that recalls the psychedelic ’60s."

"Many of the 36 volunteers rated their
reaction to a single dose of the drug, called psilocybin, as one of the
most meaningful or spiritually significant experiences of their lives.
Some compared it to the birth of a child or the death of a parent."

In the July 12th issue of Scientific American Online’s Science News, they report more in detail on the study:

In
the 1950s scientists studied the effects of so-called psychedelics:
psilocybin from mushrooms, mescaline from cacti and the synthetic
lysergic acid diethylamide, or LSD. British psychiatrist Humphry Osmond
coined the name for this class of drugs based on their mind-altering
properties, such as changes in the sense of self. The drugs showed some
initial promise in treating chronic pain and depression in terminally
ill patients but a wave of recreational abuse in the late 1960s led to
outlawing and a halt in research. Now a new, rigorous, double-blind
study has reopened the doors of scientific investigation, reporting
spiritual effects and long-term impacts from the use of psilocybin.

Neuroscientist Roland Griffiths of Johns Hopkins University and his
colleagues tested the effects of psilocybin–a drug derived from
certain mushrooms that appears to mimic the effects of serotonin in the
brain–on 36 middle-aged Americans who had never tried psychedelics
before. These "squares" ranged in age from 24 to 64 and included 14 men
and 22 women, the majority of whom were college graduates, successful
in their careers and participants in some form of spiritual activity.

As
usual, it takes science to discover what people have used psychedelics
have known since the first human first tasted a magic mushroom.