WHAT THE MAHA PSYCHEDELIC PUSH MEANS FOR YOUR MIND

Plant-based, mind-altering drugs are taking center stage in public health debates. Our go-to psychiatrist breaks down what's real about the new momentum behind psychedelics for mental health.

- BY GREGORY SCOTT BROWN, MD

ADECADE AGO, using magic mushrooms—especially in a therapist's office-seemed cringey, extreme, and not helpful for what patients were there for. Today... it's complicated. Tech bros and CEOs are trumpeting their use of mushrooms (psilocybin) to optimize performance and improve emotional well-being, and new science is probing the mental health benefits of these and other psychedelics. The conversation is likely to get even louder, as MAHA champions them for being outside of Big Pharma's hands (largely) and being "suppressed" by the FDA, according to Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. Meanwhile, plenty of people aren't waiting for government approval before experimenting: About 8 million U.S. adults reported using psychedelics in 2023 (often for fun), according to a RAND Corporation survey. Now there are psychedelic happy hours, mushroom retreats abroad, and chocolate candies for microdosing.

"The promise of psychedelics is real. But these are profoundly novel and disruptive therapies, and they were bound to spark resistance and backlash, as they did in the 1960s," says Michael Pollan, author of How to Change Your Mind. Welcome to the (new) psychedelic revolution. Here's your hallucination-free guide to where we are now.

WE NEED MORE OPTIONS

MORE THAN 60 MILLION American adults are dealing with symptoms of depression and/or anxiety, despite all the meds available. While SSRIs such as Prozac, Celexa, and Lexapro can be helpful, they don't work well for about a third of people with depression. They also aren't effective for about 40 percent of people who have PTSD, and there hasn't been a new medication approved for PTSD since 2000.