A medical use for magic mushrooms

The LSD era is long past, but the use of psychedelic drugs to boost personal enlightenment hasn't lost its appeal to some researchers. Case in point is the study published online this week in the Journal of Psychopharmacology.

Johns Hopkins researchers reported in 2006 that the hallucinogen psilocybin, otherwise known as the sacred mushroom, caused a profound mystical experience in the majority of a group of 36 volunteers who took the drug in a laboratory setting. Two years later, the researchers re-interviewed the volunteers and found that the spiritual effects of the experience appear to last for more than a year. "Most of the volunteers looked back on their experience 14 months later and rated it as the most, or one of the five most, personally meaningful and spiritually significant of their lives," says lead research Roland Griffiths.

Whoa! That's quite an endorsement for magic mushrooms. The researchers, however, say the drug could be used under careful conditions to help the outlooks of people with anxiety or depression due to serious illness. Psilocybin may also even help as a treatment for drug dependence. A new study is underway that will examine the effects of a psilocybin trip on people with cancer.

"This is a truly remarkable finding," Griffiths says. "Rarely in psychological research do we see such persistently positive reports from a single event in the laboratory."

Don't try this at home, however. The Journal of Psychopharmacology published an accompanying report on how psilocybin can be used safely and ethically in research. The drug is only given to people with no history of psychosis or serious mental disorders, and psychological support is provided during and after the experience.

And, in case you don't think this is serious stuff, the research was funded in part by the National Institute on Drug Abuse.

-- Shari Roan

Marijuana more potent than ever

Marijuana is more potent than at any time since scientific analysis of the drug began in the 1970s, according to a report from the University of Mississippi’s Potency Monitoring Project. The average amount of THC in marijuana, the primary psychoactive ingredient in the drug, was tested at 9.6% --more than double the potency of marijuana in 1983.

The highest concentration of THC found in a single sample was 37.2%.

Since 1975, the group, which is funded through the National Institute on Drug Abuse, has analyzed and compiled data on nearly 63,000 cannabis samples, mostly seized in drug arrests, in 48 states.

"The increases in marijuana potency are of concern since they increase the likelihood of acute toxicity, including mental impairment," Dr. Nora Volkow, director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, says in a news release. "Particularly worrisome is the possibility that the more potent THC might be more effective at triggering the changes in the brain that can lead to addiction; however, more research is needed to establish this link between higher THC potency and higher addiction risk."

--Janet Cromley

Photo: Robert Durrell / Los Angeles Times

Medical marijuana and organ transplant lists

The political wrangling over medical marijuana doesn't seem to be settling down and, in fact, may be about to heat back up.

The Los Angeles Times reported today that prospective organ transplant recipients were being removed from the transplant list because they'd used doctor-prescribed pot. As the story says: "Asked why the committee considered marijuana use under a doctor's supervision' a history of substance abuse,' a hospital spokesman cited the federal law categorizing marijuana as an illegal drug."

Earlier this month, the White House drug czar called attention to a report linking frequent marijuana use to depression in teenagers. Some addiction experts took issue with that conclusion, suggesting it may have overstated the evidence, although depression does seem to be a risk factor for drug use.

These stories aside, if the debate over medical marijuana is not about to heat back up, it should. People are confused and in limbo, and the information from both sides is distrusted.

For a broad discussion of the issue and, most interestingly from a health standpoint, an evaluation of the potential risks and benefits, check out Medical Marijuana ProCon.org.

(The site includes this statement: "Note: We do not provide referrals to or recommendations of marijuana dispensaries, cannabis clubs, physicians, or attorneys although we do reference them on this website.")

-- Tami Dennis

Photo by Kevin P. Casey / For The Times, of Jonathan Simchen, a diabetic and medical marijuana user, who was removed from a Seattle hospital's transplant program.