Warm glow from magic mushrooms can last for months: study

WASHINGTON (AFP) — The feelings of well-being and life satisfaction brought on by the hallucinogen psilocybin, found in "magic" mushrooms, can last for months, according to a new study.

Researchers at Johns Hopkins University in Maryland found that the majority of 36 volunteers who took psilocybin in controlled conditions continued to feel the beneficial effects for more than a year afterwards.

"Most of the volunteers looked back on their experience up to 14 months later and rated it as the most, or one of the five most, personally meaningful and spiritually significant of their lives," said Roland Griffiths, a professor in the department of Psychiatry and Behavioural Sciences and Neuroscience.

The first results of the clinical trial, aimed at uncovering the secrets of the "magic" mushrooms that have been used for religious or healing purposes in some cultures for centuries, were published in 2006.

Fourteen months after the trial, ...