Contrary to popular belief, not all recreational drugs will lead you to an early grave. In fact, psychedelic mushrooms and cannabis, according to scientific data, have very few side-effects and are the two safest mind-altering substances to use. They even pose fewer health risks than alcohol consumption. Keep reading this post to know what makes mushrooms and cannabis absolutely safe for human consumption and what are the evidences to support this claim.

Recreational drug use on the rise

The fast growing support for cannabis all over the world is proof that social taboos around recreational drugs are slowly fading away. According to the United Nations World Drug Report of 2019, the number of recreational drug users across the world is rapidly rising. A recent survey claims that almost half of the Canadians have used some form of recreational drugs in their lifetime. From stimulants like cocaine, crystal meth to hallucinogens such as MDMA, Ecstasy or the good old LSD – there is a huge variety of energy-boosting party drugs to choose from. Many people use them for performance enhancement. They are believed to be effective performance boosting aids ‘Not only in the physical sense of giving users greater stamina but also in making them feel more attractive and more sociable’, says Professor David Plummer from the James Cook University, Australia. However, there is no denying that while the recreational drugs have positive effects on your mood, performance or sociability, unregulated use of them can expose you to a number of health hazards or cause medical emergencies. Some have more side-effects than the others and pose a greater health risk. A recent scientific study has found that among all recreational drugs used all over the world, psychedelic mushrooms and cannabis are the safest.

Magic mushrooms and cannabis are the world’s safest mind-altering substances

In their 2017 report, the world’s largest recreational drug study, the Global Drug Survey (GDS) has ranked various recreational drugs according to the amounts of health risks they pose. The survey depends on a sample size of 115,523 respondents from more than 50 countries. Based on the number of hospital admissions or emergency clinic visits they led to, the study has ordered all the mind-altering substances available to people from the safest to the most dangerous. Psychedelic mushrooms, or more commonly known as the ‘magic’ mushrooms are the safest in the list closely followed by marijuana. The data reveals that ‘People don’t tend to abuse psychedelics, they don’t get dependent, they don’t rot every organ from head to toe, and many would cite their impact upon their life as profound and positive’, Adam Winstock, a consultant psychiatrist who founded the GDS told The Guardian in an interview. In the GDS survey, only 0.2% of the mushrooms users have reported hospital admissions caused by the use of the drug. It is slightly greater in the case of cannabis consumption – 0.6%. The rate of hospital visits from mushrooms and cannabis use is at least 5 times lower than that for LSD, MDMA, Ecstasy, and Amphetamine. Even alcohol poses greater safety hazards than mushrooms and cannabis – 1.3% of the alcohol users covered by the survey have reported hospital admissions due to intoxication. The most dangerous substance in the list is methamphetamine or crystal meth, with an average of 4.8% of users reporting hospital visits.

Psychedelic mushrooms

‘Death from toxicity is almost unheard of with poisoning’ by psychedelic mushrooms, Winstockemphatically claims. There are many dangerous fungi in nature which pose ‘much greater risk in terms of serious harms’ than the magic mushrooms. If you know how to distinguish the right ones from the wrong, harmful mushrooms, they are the safest drugs in the whole world. More than 28,000 people have reported that they have used magic mushrooms in some point in their life to get a ‘moderate psychedelic experience’ or to aid the ‘enhancement of the environment and social interactions’. Only 0.2% of them have claimed that they needed emergency medical treatments following their mushroom consumption. Clinical studies, on the other hand, have revealed that magic mushrooms can have great therapeutic and mood-uplifting potentials. Psilocybin, the main psychedelic ingredient in magic mushrooms, can have significant effects in treating mental disorders like depression, anxiety, mood swings and PTSD among others.

Cannabis

Cannabis ranks second in the drug safety table with a 0.6% chance of hospital visits due to intoxication. While in some cases cannabis consumption can trigger anxiety attacks, elevated heart rates or underlying symptoms of other psychiatric issues, risks of any fatal health hazards or death are almost zero. According to various scientific studies that calculated the ‘Margin of Exposure (MoE)’ in various recreational drugs, cannabis is at least 114 times less deadly than alcohol. You’d be surprised to know that according to the GDS survey and other studies that even nicotine consumption can be more dangerous than using cannabis or magic mushrooms. However, when we say cannabis, it does not include the various synthetic cannabis products available in the market. Known by various names like K2, Spice or Black Mamba, synthetic marijuana are chemical compounds that are created to mimic the psychoactive effects of the cannabinoid THC. According to the GDS report, 3.2% of synthetic cannabis users have recorded a history of emergency ward admissions due to toxicity.

Wrapping it up:

Though the recent scientific studies have busted the misconceptions and social stigmas around the use of recreational drugs like magic mushrooms and cannabis, it does not mean that those are completely free of any side-effects. ‘You need to know how to use them’, Winstock reminds us. The correct dosage is always the key to a risk-free psychedelic experience. If you understand how much your body and mind can take, you can always use psychedelic mushrooms and cannabis for recreational purposes and make your life a lot better!