A "magic mushroom" drug can improve the quality of life of patients with advanced cancer by reducing anxiety.

Mushroom drug fights cancer patients' anxiety

A "magic mushroom" drug can improve the quality of life of patients with advanced cancer by reducing anxiety.

Research in the US has shown that one session with the drug, psilocybin, elevated mood and lessened anxiety in the patient group for up to six months.

Psilocybin is the key ingredient in "magic mushrooms", and is classified as an illegal Class A drug in Britain, reports the Telegraph.

The drug has mind-altering effects including enhancement of colours and hallucinations, according to the journal Archives of General Psychiatry.

Charles Grob, from the LA BioMed Research Institute in Los Angeles, California, said: "We are working with a patient population that often does not respond well to conventional treatments."

"Following their treatments with psilocybin, the patients and their families reported benefit from the use of this hallucinogen in reducing their anxiety," said Grob.

"This study shows psilocybin can be administered safely, and that further investigation of hallucinogens should be pursued to determine their potential benefits," said Grob.

The pilot study involving a group of volunteers aged 36 to 58 years, builds on work in the 1950s and 1960s which found that psychedelic drugs could benefit advanced-stage cancer patients, reducing anxiety and the need for pain medication.

The early research was abandoned in the 1970s after a legal clampdown on the recreational use of hallucinogenic drugs such as (lysergic acid diethylamide) LSD.

All of the current study volunteers had advanced cancers and were suffering from anxiety.

Participants were given either a psilocybin dose of 0.2 milligram per kg of body weight, or a placebo (simulated medical intervention) during two experimental sessions several weeks apart.

Their progress was monitored over the next six months using standard screening tests for measuring anxiety and depression.

The researchers wrote: "Safe physiological and psychological responses were documented during treatment sessions. We also observed no adverse psychological effects from the treatment."

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