people suffering with depression as quickly as possible.”
Psilocybin is currently being tested as a possible treatment
for Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD). It is estimated
that 1 in 12 people suffer from OCD in the UK, with 50%
of those that have been diagnosed categorised as severe.
OCD is a common mental health issue where a person
has obsessive thoughts and unwanted behaviours which
can be distressing. It can be signifi cantly impactful on a
person’s daily life.
FUNGI FACTS
There are more than 200 species of ‘magic’
mushrooms that contain psychoactive
compounds
Holland allows the legal sale and
consumption of magic mushroom truffl es
Magic mushrooms can grow in a variety
of different locations including gardens,
grasses, rotting wood and animal faeces
Psilocybin was fi rst isolated in 1958 by Dr
Albert Hofmann who also discovered LSD
Laughter the best medicine?
New York-based comedian Adam Strauss began treating
his OCD with mushrooms after it started to impact on his
relationships and daily life. He turned his experiences into
a stand-up show, ‘The Mushroom Cure,’ and has received
high praise from Time Out, the Chicago Tribune and the
New York Times. He told The CANNAVIST:
“I’ve had severe OCD for many years. I’ve been on all sorts of
medications, seen specialists, tried alternative therapies and
nothing helped. What inspired me to try mushrooms and
other psychedelics was a 2006 study from the University of
Arizona. I had no real experience with psychedelics at the
time, but I fi gured I had nothing to lose.
“I was looking for an ultimate cure to take away the OCD but
that’s not how it works for me. The approach is to not try to
get rid of the unwanted thoughts and compulsions but to
allow them to be there and accept them.
“It’s not really a mental process but its more of a physical
and visceral allowing. It’s a spiritual surrender and letting
go of the reigns that I couldn’t do without psychedelics. If I
wasn’t tripping, then I would start to try to get rid of those
thoughts by giving into them more. Once I had had that
experience on psychedelics then gradually, I was able to
apply that when I wasn’t, and I found that’s when I was able
to fi nd some freedom.”
Adam won the New York Fringe Festival’s Overall
Excellence Award for Solo Performance and the Leffe
Beer Craft Your Character storytelling competition. The
Mushroom Cure is sponsored by the Multidisciplinary
Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS).
THE LAW
Mushrooms are a Class A drug
The law regarding mushrooms in the UK
changed in 2005 closing a loophole that
allowed f resh produce
Possession can get you up to 7 years
in prison
In the US, mushrooms are legal in Santa
Cruz, Denver and Oakland.
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