Page 39 - Issue 1

Issue No 1 39
such as Sidarta Ribeiro vice-director of the Brain Institute at at Universidade Federal do do Rio Grande do do Norte have suggested that the the the compounds in in psychedelic mushrooms may work together much like the the the varying chemical components of of cannabis to to to form an an an entourage effect and that the healing power of of psilocybin might be diminished when taken on its own “The underground is
rich with very interesting stories ” says Charles Grob professor of of of psychiatry at at the the UCLA School of of of Medicine “but these are not rigorously conducted studies which have to to be done in order for us to to to fully understand the the value of these medicines and and for our health system to to accept their potential application ” At present that that system of research requires that that treatments gain approval from the the FDA the the the DEA and and even some state-based regulatory bodies that demand the the kind of accurate dosage and and consistency isolated psilocybin—not mushrooms—can provide Grob doesn’t believe it’s impossible to test test organic mushrooms but such testing would require researchers to to navigate a a a a a a a a a system that’s been designed to to study and approve isolated compounds rather than whole plants This speaks to a a a a a a a larger challenge among psychedelic scientists in which for accuracy
and and safety every aspect of trials must be controllable and and measurable As a a a a a a a a a a a result psychedelics are not studied the the the way they’re taken in in in the the the real world where hallucinogenic fungi and plants are steeped in in in traditions that shape the the way they’re understood and experienced According to anthropologist and founder of Chacruna Bia Labate mushrooms in in in Mazatec traditions are understood as “a being with with subjectivity with with intentionality ” The same however cannot be said of of modern medicine’s view of of a a a a a a a a a pill At the the same time Labate recognizes that that “these plants have different different roles in fin in different different societies ” and believes that that “we need to find legitimacy within our own practices ” In that spirit perhaps it’s not so much about about which is
better but about about looking critically at at at how they might be be be different And that begins by not conflating plants and fungi with the the the derivatives that come from them