One of the questions our team here receives more frequently than almost any other about the potential uses for magic mushrooms is: can they help me quit smoking? There has actually been quite a lot of research done around this subject, and although the results are still preliminary, and there’s a lot of additional supplemental research that needs to be done, the early results are quite promising. In the content of this post, we’re going to provide a little background context to smoking and nicotine addiction in United States, discuss the results of some of the most prominent studies that have been conducted on psilocybin and addiction, and conclude with our own recommendations as to how you might be able to use psilocybin to help you out in your own battle with addiction. Why Is Smoking So Hard to Give Up? Well, I think we all more-or-less know why this is the case as well. Tobacco contains the chemical nicotine, which is a central nervous system stimulant that triggers the release of dopamine when it’s absorbed into the bloodstream. And nicotine is one of the most addictive substances on the planet. “From a scientific standpoint, nicotine is just as hard, or harder, to quit than heroin … but people don’t recognize that,” says Dr. Neil Benowitz, a nicotine researcher at the University of California, San Francisco. “Every drug of abuse, including nicotine, releases dopamine, which makes it pleasurable to use,” said Benowitz. “And when you stop smoking, you have a deficiency of dopamine release, which causes a state of dysphoria: you feel anxious or depressed.” Gary A. Giovino, a nicotine researcher at the State University of New York at Buffalo, said as helpful as medication can be, people who really want to quit smoking also have to be willing to modify their lifestyle. “People need to focus on behavioral change … they need the right skills and knowledge and social support. They need a plan,” said Giovino, a professor and chair of his school’s Department of Community Health and Health Behavior, who quit smoking 40 years ago. Giovino said good nutrition may be an important factor in helping people quit. He hopes to launch a study that will look at whether there is a correlation between smokers’ vitamin D levels and their ability to stop smoking. He said he’d also like to see researchers explore whether plant-based diets, B vitamins and hydration impact nicotine addiction. Giovino advises people to tap into the “mind-body connection” and try yoga and deep breathing techniques to help them quit. “After a meal, instead of taking a long breath on a cigarette, (a smoker could) try taking a long, deep breath and exhale without the 7,000 chemicals,” he said. It’s also important for those who have decided to quit to prepare themselves for how difficult it will be, says Giovino. “There’s this real roller-coaster ride of not feeling well and being irritable and having cravings,” he said. “The first few days might be very intense, then it might level off and come back again. But the longer you’re off cigarettes, the more your brain goes through the process of neural adaptation, the more you recover. And eventually, the ride subsides.” And yet still, more than 80% of people who attempt to quit smoking will relapse. So where does psilocybin factor into all of this? Well, here’s where we come to the part of the article focusing on the new research emerging that indicates that psilocybin might be able to help many people in their efforts to quit. Psilocybin Therapy Helps Create a Lasting Change In 2016, a team of researchers led by Albert Garcia Romeau, PhD, published an article online in the United Statesn Journal of Drug and Alcohol Abuse which detailed the summaries of their findings using psilocybin-assisted cognitive behavioral therapy to help chronic smokers kick the habit. A grand total of 15 daily smokers participated in the experiment, which consisted of 2-3 sessions of psilocybin-assisted therapy. These participants were paired with trained therapists who used the time with their patients to create a “mystical” experience in which the patients were guided through a psilocybin-induced high with a focus on helping them abstain from smoking over the long term. Researchers were attempting to beat the average results that have been achieved in clinical studies not involving psilocybin. As of the time of the study, the most effective smoking cessation studies that had only shown about a 35% rate of success in graduates remaining abstinent after a period of six months. Romeau and co. were interested in seeing whether they could beat those numbers through psilocybin therapy, and the results were incredibly encouraging. Participants were relatively well educated, with all individuals reporting some college, and 11 (73.3%) having received at least a Bachelor’s degree. The sample was racially homogeneous, including 14 (93%) White participants and 1 (7%) Asian participant. This study was approved by the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine Institutional Review Board, and all participants provided informed consent. Participants underwent a 15-week smoking cessation treatment intervention, with moderate (20mg/70kg) and high (30mg/70kg) dose psilocybin sessions occurring in weeks 5, and 7 respectively, and an optional third high dose session in week 13. The intervention consisted of weekly meetings for 15 weeks and was delivered by a team of 2 to 3 facilitators. The Target-Quit Date (TQD) was set for week 5 of treatment, concurrent with the first psilocybin session. Afterward, study treatment facilitators met weekly with participants to discuss psilocybin session experiences, encourage and socially reinforce the use of CBT techniques, and provide support for smoking abstinence. Although definitive conclusions about the role of psilocybin in this study’s smoking cessation outcomes cannot be drawn due to the open-label design and lack of control group, the mystical-type qualities of psilocybin sessions (measured the same day), as well as their personal meaning, spiritual significance, and impact on well-being (measured 7 days after these experiences) are significantly correlated with measures of smoking cessation treatment outcomes at 6-month follow-up. Furthermore, the intensity of psilocybin

Psilocybin mushrooms, commonly known as magic mushrooms, or more simply, shrooms, are considered a psychedelic. Psychedelics are commonly known as drugs with hallucinogenic effects, and while that is partially true, psychedelics are actually a very specific set of drugs that can bond to the 5-HT2a serotonin receptor. Shrooms contain a drug called psilocybin. When ingested, your body breaks that psilocybin down into its dephosphorylated cousin, psilocin. Psilocin is molecularly very close to serotonin – a naturally-occurring neurotransmitter in humans, other mammals, and even some worms and insects as well as plants and fungi. It’s so close to serotonin, in fact, that it’s capable of bonding with certain serotonin receptors, especially the 5-HT2a receptor. It’s not perfectly understood how exactly shrooms cause their psychedelic trips, it’s understood that it has to do with this interaction. How long do shrooms take to kick in? How long it will take for you to start feeling the effects of magic mushrooms depends primarily on how they are ingested. If the mushrooms are eaten as whole mushrooms, the onset can be anywhere from 20-40 minutes. If the mushrooms are ground into a fine powder and mixed with lemon juice or made into tea, the onset can be much faster – around 5-10 minutes. Gummies and chocolates tend to come on in about 15-30 minutes. How long does a shroom trip last? How long your magic mushroom trip is going to last will depend primarily on the following factors: And many more. In general, you should budget about 4-8 hours for the trip to completely end, including any sort of “afterglow.” Typically the peak will be around 1-2 hours in, and will fade from there – although it is common to experience “waves,” so if you think you feel yourself coming down, don’t be caught off guard if it was just a bump on the roller coaster! What’s it like coming down from shrooms? Coming down from shrooms by most accounts is considered to be a generally pleasant experience as compared with coming down off other drugs. Psilocybin is not inherently addictive, and it is quite rare for people to get addicted to mushrooms. There are a few reasons for this – but a big one is thought to be the fact that psilocybin doesn’t affect the body’s dopamine receptors. Most addictive substances somehow manipulate the body’s regulation of dopamine. Dopamine is the chemical that makes us feel motivated, accomplished, and productive while serotonin (which is what psilocin mimics) is what makes us feel calm, relaxed, and happy. In general, your “come down” from shrooms will be about the back half of your trip. So, a 6-hour trip you might spend 1 hour climbing, 2 hours speaking, and 3 hours “coming down.” It’s a very gentle kind of experience that tends to lend itself well to introspection and deep conversations. It’s a really important and wonderful part of the experience, because it gives you time to connect the wild thoughts and deep insights that came to you from the fungus with your conscious, sober mind. This is also a great time to journal about your experience, and record your thoughts. Just make sure not to jump behind the wheel of a car or anything, until you’re sure you’re firmly planted back in reality. How Long Do shrooms stay in your system? Shrooms are almost completely flushed from the body’s system within 24 hours. If you’re being tested for drugs, shrooms are completely undetectable after 48 hours in urine tests. Traces can last up to 90 days in hair follicles, but this form of testing is extremely unlikely. Unlike with LSD which can have a longer half-life, psilocybin and psilocin are both completely broken down by the body and expelled within a couple days. The chances of experiencing flashbacks, etc. as you might have heard of before is also quite small. How long are shrooms detectable in a drug test? Shrooms are detectable in your urine up to 48 hours after consumption – so if you’re planning a camping trip with some buddies, try not to have to piss in a cup on Monday morning. It is, however, quite likely that shrooms will go completely undetected, as the majority of commonly used urine tests for drug use do not actually search for psilocybin or psilocin. It’s worth mentioning that there are certain drug tests that are capable of detecting much more trace amounts of psilocybin in the body’s hair follicles, and those can stick around for 90 days. These are extremely uncommon in day-to-day use though – so if you’re not training for a boxing match, or applying to the CIA, you should be A-OK. Summary So, there are a number of factors but the Cole’s Notes: Shrooms will last in total anywhere from 4-8 hours. You’ll be at the “peak” of your high from about a quarter of the way through to halfway through, and start coming down from there. Shrooms will be completely undetectable in a urine test after 48 hours, and all traces will be gone from your body within 90 days.