Magic mushrooms might help heavy drinkers quit

Magic mushrooms might help heavy drinkers quit

FILE - In this May 24, 2019, file photo a vendor bags psilocybin mushrooms at a pop-up cannabis market in Los Angeles. Despite pandemic conditions that made normal signature-gathering almost impossible, activists in the nation's capital say they have enough signatures for a November ballot initiative that would decriminalize natural psychedelics such as mescaline and psilocybin mushrooms. (AP Photo/Richard Vogel, File)

(AP) – The compound in psychedelic mushrooms helped heavy drinkers cut back or quit entirely in the most rigorous test of psilocybin for alcoholism. The study was published Wednesday in JAMA Psychiatry. More research is needed to see if the effect lasts. The study involved 93 patients who took either psilocybin or a dummy medicine. They received two such sessions, one month apart. All patients also received 12 sessions of talk therapy and were followed for eight months. The patients taking psilocybin reduced their heavy drinking compared to the other group. And almost half stopped drinking entirely compared to 24% of the control group.

Photo: FILE – In this May 24, 2019, file photo a vendor bags psilocybin mushrooms at a pop-up cannabis market in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Richard Vogel, File)