In recent finding it has been reported that psilocybin, a drug found in psychedelic mushrooms eases anxiety and frequent bouts of depression in cancer patients. Consumption of “shrooms” has side effects including induced hallucinations, a heightened sense of euphoria and cool visual effects. Trails involving patients taking a single dosage of psilocybin found considerable and lasting relief from their anxiety brought on as a result of dealing with cancer. Among 80 cancer patients who participated in two trials, 4 in 5 felt their depression had been alleviated and felt more hopeful in the six months following induction into the trial. New York University’s Langone Medical Center carried out a similar study in which 29 patients were subjected to the drug and 20 emerged more optimistic, recalling their influence under the drug as “among the most meaningful” experiences of their life. “This drug saved my life and changed my life,” said Dinah Bazer, whose ovarian cancer was in remission, yet she feared that the cancer could return at any moment. Under the influence of a single high dose of psilocybin, Bazer became “volcanically angry” as she visualized her cancer as a dark mass bearing down on her and concluded with her unburdening herself of the emotional distress that have been brought on by the disease. Bazer who is a self-proclaimed atheist, felt like she had been “bathed in God’s love”. When the psilocybin’s hallucinatory effects faded, she felt relief for the first time two years. The trials were funded by medical director of the Heffter Research Institute Dr. George Greer who called the results revolutionary. Greer said the emotional turmoil wrought by cancer is one of many conditions that psilocybin is able to treat including addiction to cocaine, alcohol or tobacco, OCD, PTSD and extreme depression experienced by survivors of HIV. Johns Hopkins University psychiatrist Dr. Roland R. Griffiths devised the two studies. The publication of the trials in the Journal of Psychopharmacology, means that America has make a comeback in research on the therapeutic effects of a hallucinogen after a hiatus of 5 decades. In the middle of the 20th century, recreational drugs like lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) and “shrooms” were routinely made the subject of pharmacological research till 1966, when president Lyndon B. Johnson declared the use of drugs illegal. This was probably in retaliation to the surge in drug abuse during the anti-war hippie movement that followed in the footsteps of notable LSD-users like Brit pop band, the Beatles. This is not the first time a recreational drug has been reported to cause relief from cancer. Previously, actor Tommy Chong, who starred in “Cheech and Chong” and “That 70s Show”, had claimed his prostate cancer was gone because of his routinely consumption of hemp oil.