‘Magic mushrooms’ could help heavy drinkers drink less
By Nicole Lyn PesceSeptember 2, 2022
Research from the NYU Grossman School of Medicine published in JAMA Psychiatry found that two high doses of psilocybin helped reduce heavy drinking by 83% on average among heavy drinkers.
In addition to psilocybin —the psychedelic compound found in “magic mushrooms” — study participants also received 12 weeks of talk therapy.
The double-blind randomized clinical trial involved 93 men and women with alcohol dependence.
Eight months later, the people taking psilocybin reduced their heavy drinking by
83%
83%
compared to how much they had consumed before the trial began. Those taking the placebo cut their drinking by
51%.
51%.
Of those who took psilocybin,
48%
48%
stopped drinking completely eight months after their first dose, compared with
24%
24%
of the placebo group.
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Our findings strongly suggest that psilocybin therapy is a promising means of treating alcohol-use disorder, a complex disease that has proven notoriously difficult to manage.
– Dr. Michael Bogenschutz, study senior author and psychiatrist, in a statement
Though the substance is still illegal under federal law save for specific scientific research contexts, the Food and Drug Administration has named it a “breakthrough” therapy for severe depression.
Oregon is the first and only state to decriminalize psilocybin alongside cities including Denver, and Oakland and Santa Cruz, Calif.