Studies have found psilocybin, the ingredient that puts the magic in magic mushrooms, can relieve symptoms of depression resistant to antidepressants.
They are the plagues that define our times: Addiction, depression, PTSD, suicide.
Drug overdoses killed 72,000 Americans last year. The death toll from alcohol and cigarette addiction is even higher. Major depression affects more than 16 million Americans a year. Post-traumatic stress disorder is epidemic among war veterans and victims of violence. Suicide has been rising sharply since the turn of the century; with some 45,000 Americans taking their lives in 2016.
What are now being called “diseases of despair” are a big reason why life expectancy in the U.S. has dropped three years in a row. And mental illness doesn’t just kill; it cripples good people, destroys families and hurts the economy. more