“We are in the middle of a rapidly evolving cultural, media, and legal landscape when it comes to psychedelics,” says Nora D. Volkow, M.D., director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA). Psilocybin is the hallucinogenic substance found in “magic mushrooms” and the subject of many studies as a potential psychiatric medicine. Research suggests that psilocybin is the most-consumed plant-based psychedelic drug in the United States, with 11.3% of individuals aged 12 or older using psilocybin in 2022.
Most mushrooms containing psilocybin come from four species: Psilocybe, Pluteus, Panaeolus, and Gymnopilus. The substance was deemed illegal based on the Controlled Substances Act. Some states and cities have decriminalized magic mushrooms, leading some people to believe these drugs are now safe to use recreationally. They aren’t. Magic mushrooms, or “shrooms have hallucinogenic effects when eaten, often resulting in nausea, headache, visual distortions, hallucinations, and rapid heart rate.
Some Potentially Good Aspects of Shrooms
It’s important to note that taking psilocybin in a clinical setting under the control of researchers is nothing like buying and u sing shrooms from some random person. Nevertheless, the positive research findings on psilocybin may be a reason people may erroneously assume shrooms are safe,
Data supports psilocybin’s efficacy and safety in treating depression, particularly in people who have not responded to other treatments. Multiple trials have demonstrated significant, rapid, and sustained reductions in depression symptoms. Research as also found magic mushrooms effective against anxiety and depression in patients with life-threatening cancer.
Linda B. Cottler, PhD, MPH
Source: University of Florida
Psilocybin is being tested against post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), alcohol use disorder, and smoking cessation. But these are controlled studies. As Professor Linda B. Cottler, Ph.D., M.P.H, senior author on a widely referenced 2024 paper, states: “Most national surveys and studies don’t capture self-reported data on psilocybin use specifically, so such findings help shed important light on an area where we’ve been largely left in the dark.”
“People who use psilocybin outside medical supervision need to be educated about risks associated with use,” says NYU’s Joseph J. Palamar, Ph.D., M.P.H.
Charles Zorumski, M.D., Professor and Director of Taylor Family Institute for Innovative Psychiatric Research and Chair of Washington University’s Center for Brain Research in Mood Disorders in Sr. Louis, states: “Recreational use of psilocybin symptoms can include agitation and psychotic-like symptoms in addition to medical changes (tachycardia/hypertension). We still understand little about the effects of psychedelics on the brain, particularly persisting effects in humans. The bottom line is that we know little about the risk-benefit ratio of psilocybin in adolescents and young adults. We just don’t have information about adolescents and their effects on neurodevelopment. It’s a potentially scary, brave new world.”
A research team led by Joshua Siegel, M.D., Ph.D. at Washington University, used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to track changes in brain activity of adults given psilocybin. In the study, psilocybin caused major changes in functional connectivity, or FC—a measure of how activity in different brain regions is correlated—throughout the brain. Most brain activity returned to normal within days of taking psilocybin. However, a reduction in FC between the default mode network and part of the hippocampus lasted at least three weeks.
The Bad and Ugly of Recreational Shrooms
The use of magic mushrooms without the supervision of researchers has led to severe problems.
Increased Poison Center Calls
Christopher Holstege, MD
Source: University of Virginia
People call poison centers when they believe they or another person is in medical danger from an ingested substance. Increased calls to U.S. poison centers by adolescents and young adults using psilocybin corresponded with decriminalization of the hallucinogen in U.S. cities and states, University of Virginia School of Medicine researchers discovered.
“It is markedly concerning to me that children are gaining access to these products,” says Christopher Holstege, director of UVA Health’s Blue Ridge Poison Center and chief of the UVA School of Medicine’s Division of Medical Toxicology. UVA researchers found that psilocybin-related calls tripled among teens 13-19 years—approximately 75% of callers aged 13-19 required medical attention. The most common reasons for calls were hallucinations or delusions (36.6% of calls), agitation (27.6%), abnormally fast heart rate (20.2%), and confusion (16%). Reports of death by falls or jumps from tall buildings have also been attributed to psilocybin.
Psychedelics Essential Reads
Risks for Teen Shroom Users
The adolescent brain is still developing. According to the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), the brain finishes maturing in the mid- to late 20s. Hallucinogens may interfere with the maturation process, leading to long-term cognitive and emotional difficulties. Adolescents also have an elevated risk for anxiety, depression, and even schizophrenia. Hallucinogen use can trigger these conditions.
Adolescents on shrooms may struggle to distinguish between hallucinations and reality, increasing risks for dangerous behaviors, accidents, or self-harm. Teenagers may be more susceptible to delusions and hallucinations, even after the drug wears off.
Repeated or high-dose hallucinogen use during adolescence may affect memory, attention, and learning, as these cognitive functions are still developing. Hallucinogen use may lead to social withdrawal, academic decline, and disruption of relationships.
Some teens using magic mushrooms recreationally may be depressed. In one study involving nearly 173,000 adolescents, 2,469 subjects had used psilocybin. The psilocybin-ever lifetime users were, on average, 17 years old, mostly male (60%), and non-Hispanic White (71%) compared to non-users. Among the psilocybin-user group, 31% of respondents had an incidence of major depression, compared to 16% of non-users. Thus, the odds of psilocybin use among depressed participants proved twice as great as among those without depression.
Young Adults and Psilocybin
Young adults are particularly prone to using hallucinogens. According to the University of Michigan’s Monitoring the Future Study, hallucinogen use among young adults (aged 19-30) nearly doubled between 2018 and 2021, with psilocybin being one of the most commonly-used hallucinogens. NIDA also finds that the use of psilocybin and other non-LSD hallucinogens has risen from 3.4% to 6.6%.
In 2022, past-year hallucinogen use reached its highest levels since the survey began, driven primarily by increased availability and changing social perceptions. In 2023, 9% of young adults in the Monitoring the Future study reported using hallucinogens, including psilocybin—an increase over 2018, when the figure was closer to 5%.
Increased Law Enforcement Seizures
Police seizures of shrooms containing psilocybin increased dramatically in the U.S. between January 2017 and December 2022. Law enforcement seizures more than tripled, from 402 seizures in 2017 to 1,396 in 2022. Most seizures occurred in the Midwest (36.0%), followed by the West (33.5%). Data for the analysis were collected through the High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas (HIDTA) program.
Summary
Some states and cities have decriminalized psychedelic mushrooms, leading some people to believe that shrooms are now safe. They aren’t.
Controlled studies suggest that there are clinical benefits for psilocybin, especially in depression, which may have led some to believe psilocybin is safe. However, magic mushrooms are unsafe except in controlled clinical studies, where subjects are carefully monitored.
In addition, psilocybin is illegal in nearly every state. Recent research provides essential information on psilocybin’s effects on the adult brain, as scientists seek to harness the drug’s therapeutic potential.
However, researchers strongly caution against self-medicating with psilocybin, as there are severe risks to taking it in adolescence or adulthood without being overseen by trained mental health experts. Increasing numbers of adolescents and young adults are intrigued by psilocybin. Magic mushroom-induced impairment in judgment and perception may lead to accidents, self-harm, and even suicide.
Source link : https://www.psychologytoday.com/za/blog/addiction-outlook/202410/magic-mushrooms-teens-and-young-adults
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Publish date : 2024-10-17 20:38:33
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