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One in 100 people in England and Wales took hallucinogenic drugs in the last year, while the use of “magic mushrooms” increased by tens of thousands of people, although the use of ecstasy and nitrous oxide fell.
The rise in psychedelic trips is due to increasing use by older adults, according to annual figures on drug use among people aged 16 to 59 from the Office for National Statistics.
The figures also showed a decline in drug use of all types in the year to March among 16- to 24-year-olds, from 21% using at least once in the 12-month period to 18%, the lowest level. since 2014.
Annual ONS data suggests that around 260,000 people aged between 16 and 59 have consumed magic mushrooms in the last year, 100,000 more than in 2020.
Magic mushrooms, which are available in several varieties and are known as shrooms, mushies and liberties, are banned as a class A drug in the UK, meaning their possession and distribution are criminal offences, regardless of whether the mushroom is freshly picked from the field. or forest, or dried or stewed.
But they are available online through mail order, even in grow-your-own packages, and many users harvest them in the wild for their own use. The rise in popularity of the mushroom, which contains psilocybin, a psychedelic compound, comes amid a boom in interest in mushrooms in the broader culture. The Cambridge-trained biologist, Merlin Sheldrake, published a bestseller in 2020 about a mushroom called Entangled Life, which includes a chapter on the hallucinogenic properties of mushrooms. Netflix had a hit with a series called Fantastic Fungi.
Simon, an architect and father in his fifties, told The Guardian that he had started taking small doses of dried mushrooms last year after discovering that antidepressants did not help with his bad mood in the long term. He began microdosing after purchasing a self-grow kit online through a link he had obtained by joining a magic mushroom community on the social media app Telegram.
He has been taking small daily doses in the mornings, even on work days, which do not cause hallucinations but have improved his mood, he said.
“You feel like your mood is pretty good and you remember what happiness feels like,” he said.
A slightly higher dose produces “a pleasant, warm tingling in the body, as if it were a little activated. “It’s not like ecstasy, where you say ‘I love you’ and you want to dance all night.”
He said he was not surprised by the increase in their use among older adults since “they are not a party drug, they are a wiser drug for someone who wants to relax and spend some time navel-gazing.”
He added that taking higher doses could be psychologically destabilizing. She once descended into an “existential rabbit hole” during a trip in which “the trees looked like animals and when you close your eyes it looks like the cover of a Beatles album.” He said his wife seemed a little worried when he sat at the kitchen table and said, “I think he might be God.”
According FrankAccording to the drug advisory service, magic mushrooms are not addictive and the biggest health danger is accidentally eating a poisonous mushroom.
He also warns that “if you have any mental health problems, magic mushrooms can make them worse.”
However, scientists around the world are increasingly interested in the potential of psychedelic drugs to treat depression. A recent article, involving researchers from Imperial College London, found that “when combined with psychological support, the effects can produce a rapid improvement in mood among people with depression that can last for months.”
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