Probing How Magic Mushrooms Might Help Cure Addiction

Giving psilocybin to alcohol-dependent rodents may have revealed a way to repair the neurological mechanism that is damaged by long-term alcohol use and fuels addiction

By Luke Taylor
Feb 23, 2022 9:55 PM
Psilocybin mushrooms
(Credit: CYAM/Shutterstock)

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Alcohol consumption causes 5.3 percent of all deaths worldwide and is a factor in more than 200 disease and injury conditions, ranging from behavioural disorders to traffic accidents. Like other addictive substances, regular use can be difficult for users to give up — even when causing severe and obvious harm.

Once long-term alcoholism takes hold, it changes the brain at a cellular and anatomical level, reducing a person’s ability to resist alcohol cravings and fosters dependence. In severe cases, it can cause brain damage and dementia.

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