Side Effects of the Drug Psilocybin Essay example -- Drugs Medicine He

Side Effects of the Drug Psilocybin There have been many experiments and personal testimonies documenting the side effect behavior changes and effects reported by users of the drug Psilocybin from ancient history until more modern times. For instance, the Aztecs believed that they were capable of moving back and forth between the earthly and supernatural realms (Schwartz 1988). This travel between realms was often associated with hallucinatory trances guided by their god for the entheogens-the Prince of Flowers. The Aztecs called this ritual "the flowery dream;" this was induced by sacred mushrooms (Erowid). The trend towards experimenting with Psilocybin to determine its effects on the body started in the early 1960's with prominent psychologists like Timothy Leary and Albert Hofmann taking Psilocybin themselves and reporting their experiences (Levitt 1975: 270). Later, there were more controlled double-blind studies performed with groups of subjects where the drug is administered and neither the subjects nor the experimenter know which group is receiving the drug and which group is receiving the placebo. It is much easier in these types of experiments to control for extraneous variables and to find a good operational measure for the subjects' reactions to Psilocybin. However, since the experiences reported by most users of Psilocybin are within a narrow radius of variation, it is possible to utilize individual's personal experiences of Psilocybin as long as they are comparable to the experiences reported by the majority of the Psilocybin users in other experiments. In general, both psilocybin and psilocybin produce yawning, inability to concentrate, r... ...ashington, D.C.: Hemisphere Publishing Corporation. McKenna, T. (1991). The archaic revival. San Francisco: Harper San Francisco. McKenna, T., & McKenna, D. (1999). The invisible landscape: Mind, hallucinogens, and the I Ching. San Francisco: Harper San Francisco. Schwartz, Richart H. and Smith, Deborah. Hallucinogenic Mushrooms. Clinical Pediatrics 27. 70-73 (1988). The Vault of Erowid: Sacred mushrooms. Retrieved from www.erowid.org/plants/mushrooms. (21 February 2005). Weil, A. (1980). The marriage of the sun and moon: A quest for unity in consciousness. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company. Wezelman, R. & Bierman, D.J. (1997). Process Oriented Ganzfeld Research in Amsterdam: The effects of THC and Psilocybin on paranormal phenomena. Retrieved from http://m0134.fmg.uva.nl/publications/2000/psychotropic_GF.p df (28 February 2005).