A Time-Traveller’s Guide To Magic Mushrooms
By Ria Pande
Our Current World
Magic mushrooms, containing the naturally occurring compound psilocybin, have been an area of intrigue for much of human history, often causing a multitude of polarizing opinions depending on who you ask and where you look. These psychedelic mushrooms are known to bring about hallucinations, altered states of reality, intense emotions, synesthesia, and spiritual experiences, while also having a large variety of therapeutic benefits. In addition, a recent Baylor College of Medicine study displays how administration of psilocybin in mice increased their lifespans and extended human cellular lifespan by up to 57%, pointing to psilocybin being a potential solution to increasing human healthspan and lifespan.
However, psilocybin is currently federally illegal in the U.S. through the Controlled Substances Act of 1970, with only some regions decriminalizing its possession within the past 7 years. If a substance seems to be at the forefront of cutting-edge research for having a variety of beneficial effects, why has it been illegal for so long? As we take a closer look into the history of psilocybin, a clearer answer may appear.
Ancient Psychedelic Mushroom Use
The first ethnological evidence of psychoactive mushrooms stems from all the way back in 7000-5000 BCE, where rock paintings of mushroom effigies are represented repeatedly, including depictions of harvest, adoration, and offerings[1]. At around 1000 BCE, archeological and historical evidence suggests the use of such mushrooms for ritual, therapeutic, divinatory, and recreational purposes within Mesoamerican Aztec and Mayan civilizations[2]. From religious to recreational use, psychedelic mushrooms have been said to bring about answers regarding the deeper connectivity of the universe. They can provide unconventional perspectives where patterns are amplified, including that of the social systems people unconsciously tie themselves to.
Backlash Towards U.S. Involvement In the Vietnam War
As we fast-forward to America in the 1960s, recreational use of psychedelic drugs, including magic mushrooms and LSD, were legal and at an all-time high. These psychoactive substances, as well as marijuana, were known staples to the growing anti-war, hippie community. Despite having differing approaches, these anti-war sentiments of the hippie community overlapped with that of the Black Panther party. Tensions between these groups and the government were inevitably amplified as these groups opposed involvement in the Vietnam War, with the Black Panther party’s Ten-Point Platform stating, “we believe that Black people should not be forced to fight in the military service to defend a racist government that does not protect us,”[3] and hippies popularizing chants including “hey, hey, LBJ, how many kids did you kill today,”[4] regarding President Lyndon B. Johnson’s escalation of U.S. military involvement in the Vietnam War. Despite Johnson’s efforts, the war stalemated and his low approval ratings led to him not running for reelection.
The War On Drugs
In 1969, President Richard Nixon took office, and anti-war movements and distrust in the government continued to rise. A year later, Nixon passed the 1970 Controlled Substances Act, creating a classification schedule for drugs in terms of perceived risk and medical use. Schedule I drugs were described as having high potential for abuse and being unsafe to use even under medical supervision. Drugs placed in this Schedule I category included heroin, marijuana, psilocybin, and MDMA. These categorizations had an inherent political nature, allowing pharmaceutical companies to lobby for favorable placements, as well as leading to mass incarceration that disproportionately affected people of low-income groups and people of color.
In 1971, Nixon delivered his famous Special Message to Congress speech, opening the speech by declaring, “America’s public enemy number one is drug abuse. In order to fight and defeat this enemy, it is necessary to wage a new, all-out offensive.”[5] He combatively vocalized the intention for victory against this national enemy, emphasizing the human cost and tragedy of addiction caused by these illegal substances. The U.S. was still actively involved in the Vietnam War during this time, but now Nixon’s War on Drugs was additionally declared. In 1973, Nixon ended U.S. involvement in the war after a 4-year period of conducting bombing campaigns, while also withdrawing U.S. troops in response to the American people’s desire for the war to be over, but the policies from the War on Drugs continue to be intertwined in our legislation and perception of drugs today, despite being widely considered a failure in effectiveness that cost the U.S. government an estimate of $1 trillion.
In 1994, Nixon’s former domestic policy chief and Watergate co-conspirator John Ehrlichman spoke to writer Dan Baum of Harper’s Magazine about these counterproductive drug policies set in place by the administration he was part of. “The Nixon campaign in 1968, and the Nixon White House after that, had two enemies: the antiwar left and black people,” Ehrlichman stated. Ehrlichman then told Baum, “We knew we couldn’t make it illegal to be either against the war or black, but by getting the public to associate the hippies with marijuana and blacks with heroin. And then criminalizing both heavily, we could disrupt those communities.” Ehrlichman said, “We could arrest their leaders, raid their homes, break up their meetings, and vilify them night after night on the evening news. Did we know we were lying about the drugs? Of course we did.”[6] Despite Nixon’s initial claimed intention of the War on Drugs being a combative against the nation’s greatest public enemy, this newer information displays a deeper intention of the Nixon administration directly from a greatly involved former member. This knowledge brings up an important question: how do we reframe our perception of these drugs to better align with current scientific research rather than political intentions of the past?
Into the Future
Psilocybin already has varying decriminalization laws regarding personal possession, religious usage, and usage under the care of a trained therapist depending on the region, and the recent expedited FDA review process indicates that psilocybin may become more available in upcoming years, having the potential to alter its placement in current legislation. Especially with the current federally illegal status of psilocybin and the rise of new research, it’s important to give time for full clinical trials to be conducted on people with the intention of increasing longevity and improving aging symptoms before utilizing psilocybin for these purposes. With all of this information, we can see the widening scope of psilocybin’s benefits and a new unique perspective of increasing our longevity and improving our journeys of aging.