Psilocybin (the psychedelic compound in magic mushrooms) is non addictive, has many health benefits, and huge potential for personal growth. Much like ayahuasca, I very much doubt people would abuse magic mushrooms recreatively like they do with cocaine, or even alcohol.
If we want to make a drug illegal it should be alcohol anyway. It causes huge numbers of deaths every year. It’s probably the most dangerous drug we have.
Clarification: All I m trying to say is that it's dangerous to say "there is no addiction risk in mushrooms. They are totally benign". If you say that it will be really easy for opponents to find counterexamples. Instead we should say they are not more dangerous than already legal things so there is no point in prohibiting mushrooms while other similarly harmful things are legal.
But that's so vague it's basically meaningless. If you drink enough alcohol to be hung over is that "abuse"? Only the most uptight people would say it is. Similarly, any recreational activity that costs money and results in that money being unavailable for things that other people consider a more important could be considered "detrimental to one's self" and therefore abuse by that metric. I assure you the guy who lives in a trailer with a Corvette in the driveway is not "abusing" cars, he's making a decision that reflects his priorities.
All I m trying to say is that it's dangerous to say "there is no addiction risk in mushrooms. They are totally benign". If you say that it will be really easy for opponents to find counterexamples. Instead we should say they are not more dangerous than already legal things so there is no point in prohibiting mushrooms while other similarly harmful things are legal. .
Even with hard drugs such as cocaine the vast majority of people take it recreationally without falling into an addiction.
I don't have a good link to share right now except for these Joe Rogan shows with Dr. Carl Hart:
I mean... that's what I hear.
LD50 is also a non-issue as it requires you to eat near your own body weight. Again... that's what I hear anyway.
But people could fall from a lethal height or walk into traffic while they are tripping.
They can be a Friday or Saturday night of fun for far cheaper than a dinner or a movie. When you have lowered mental inhibitions and expanded visuo-spatial reasoning, it's quite a bit of fun thinking about things.
You really get to know what you've got half way in, get a good feel for the effects and can build of model of how the trip will span. I'm an designer and enjoy painting and writing during a trip. I also love watching cable TV, just flipping around and avoiding the news. Personally, TV is such a perfect compliment if you want to look at things from a new perspective. I know people who only do it in the woods and stuff. That's great, but give me some cartoons and some toy commercials.
There are other fun things you can do once you've got a feel for your batch including tossing a bit of booze, weed or coffee into the mix. The few times I've done this (with 3 to 5 year gaps) have been huge wins for my mental health, art and my relationships.
There is some research going on, although not enough IMO. Here's a good introductory article:
https://www.livescience.com/48502-magic-mushrooms-change-bra...
It definitely could help someone's depression. But not everyone benefits from SSRI for depression, so the anti-depressant effect might be limited.