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If you grew up watching classics like Fantasia or Alice in Wonderland, then magic mushrooms or “shrooms” have been in your ether for a while – even if you didn’t realize it. And they’ve been around for much longer than you might know. There’s evidence that people have been using magical mushrooms in rituals and for medicinal purposes for 6,000 years, according to Semantic Scholar.
Shrooms became popular again in the 1960s, when people were heavily exploring psychedelics, both in social and research settings. Then, the U.S. legal system started coming down harder on them, and things become more hush-hush. Still, there are individuals who claim that mushrooms saved their lives.
In one interview with Reuters, Mike Tyson said that mushrooms brought him back from a dark place and set his mental health on track. In your own circles, you might have heard whispers – or all out rants – about how shrooms changed people’s entire world view. So, are you curious? Here’s what we know so far about the possible benefits of doing mushrooms and exactly how they work, according to Drug Science.
First Off, Are Mushrooms Even Legal?
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Kind of. Mushrooms are mostly illegal in the U.S. However, there are some places where you can legally possess a limited quantity of the stuff. Those cities are:
- Ann Arbor, MI
- Denver, CO
- Oakland, CA
- Seattle, WA
The possession of any amount of mushrooms is illegal everywhere else in the U.S.
