(Images by Dale Barrigar)
My psychiatrist (who is employed at a very well-known and well-respected hospital and medical establishment in the city of Chicago) calls the time we are living in right now The Psychedelic Renaissance.
He calls this time that name because of all the research that is currently being done on what are known as “Magic Mushrooms” on the street. Magic Mushies, or psilocybin, are being researched right now as an effective treatment for a wide array of modern issues, including, but not limited to: treatment-resistant depression; Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder; adult ADHD; and Substance Use Disorder.
To those not in the know, it may sound ironic, and even ridiculous, to give someone who has been addicted to alcohol or opioids Magic Mushrooms instead; but, trust me, the difference between these substances is profound, and one important name for this kind of treatment is: “HARM REDUCTION.” I.e., taking a few Magic Mushes now and then might be beneficial, and is not deadly in the way a full-blown addiction to alcohol and/or opioids is deadly.
HOWEVER: lest anyone think that Magic Mushrooms are perfectly harmless and you can take as much as you want whenever you want, I offer a few examples (taken straight from life, and experience) to make you think again.
If you take too many Magic Mushes all at once, accidentally or on purpose, you can really, really get yourself into some big trouble. Number one, it raises your heart rate and can trigger strokes or heart attacks.
Number two: it can make you paranoid. It can make you very, very, very, very paranoid. It can make you so paranoid, if the dose is large enough, that you become, temporarily, psychotic, which means, totally out of touch with reality.
Taken every day in large doses over, say, a two- or three- or four-week period, a person can slowly, steadily start to become separated from “reality” in a very, very serious way, as in believing you are being watched by the police when you are not being watched by the police, or thinking that your neighbor is out to get ya.
(I am not saying I know these things from personal experience; but I know these things from personal experience.)
Magic Mushrooms have their street terminology, like all drugs. One term is: “hero dose.” It means taking a massive dose and going on a long, strange journey, or trip. Another term is: “micro dose.” It means taking a small, controlled dose, kind of like having a single cup of coffee instead of nine or ten cups of coffee, or a few puffs on a cigarette instead of the whole pack. A third term is really beautiful: “afterglow.” This is what happens when the hero dose or the micro dose starts wearing off, but is still “there.” This phase of the experience is, very often, the very best phase of all. And sometimes it lasts for days (on and off). Literally.
I have seen a grown man sitting on a couch weeping like a little baby and asking the people around him to call his mother because he “wanted his mommy,” even though mommy had been dead for twenty years. This man was not me (I only witnessed this) but damn and wow, did it make an impression.
I have also seen a teenager hiding her head in a bucket for over six hours while believing that “THEY” were at the front door and about to “get her,” because she took a massive “hero dose” accidentally and then freaked out so bad she literally went insane for a while.
Again, it wasn’t me that happened to but I witnessed it, up close and personal, and damn and wow, did it make an impression.
Magic Mushrooms are A DRUG. They are a much safer drug than ALCOHOL, the most dangerous drug of all, along with crystal meth, fentanyl, cocaine, etc. etc. They are a much safer drug than “the hard stuff.”
But if you think you can take as much as you want without losing your shit, you are wrong.
END NOTE/s: They also affect your balance and coordination and can make you fall down.
Never drive on these things unless you are Paul Newman!
Dale Barrigar
Saragun Springs 
Dale
What we need are well paid trained Pigs to sniff the good ones, without eating them (perhaps bringing a case of Pop Tarts along is an idea), like the French (?) truffle huffers.
These have been on the periphery of my life since Jr. high school. I like the mushroom hot chocolate better than the tea, but both are effective. Old Stoners (who refer to themselves as that, all of them look like George Carlin in Dogma) know the best picking spots. Of course they know which ones are safe, or they wouldn’t be Old Stoners.
This is a very enlightening article! I have never seen a mushroom mental breakdown, but I have seen similar behavior induced by free basing and acid. Funny how we can go temp crazy the same way.
Great stuff!
Leila
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Thank you, LA!
At the psychiatric department where my psychiatrist works, they take willing patients, give them a dose, then sit there with them in a room all day long, monitoring their vital signs, and doing the “TALKING CURE.”
But the last thing I’d ever want to do while tripping on schrooms is sit in a cooped-up room with a doctor talking about my childhood (Yikes!)…
Wandering around alone on schrooms in a forest is a better idea. Melting into the grass can be kinda fun, especially when it isn’t permanent.
Dale Barrigar
PS
The patient is NOT allowed to use their phone during treatment, not even to check their text messages, ha!
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Hi Dale
I had fun on acid with friends in the 80s. Such a good time. Did goofy stuff like pulling all the chair and sofa cushions and placing them on the foor. Much better time than junko or cola have for you! For some reason it was hard to get in the 80s, I think it was because it was cheap and the sellers wanted blow. Plus green was running high–I blame Nancy Raygun for it!
Leila
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Hi Leila
Yes, I remember acid in the Raygun ’80s. ‘Twas awesome until I started having bad trips, at which point it very quickly became un-awesome. One could purchase a tab of acid for 1 $ in the town of Wheaton, Illinois (John and Jim Belushi’s hometown) where I lived at the time. One tab would send you to Alice’s Wonderland Through the Looking Glass. Two tabs would blow your head off, almost literally!
DB
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….By the way, Happy B-day today to both Mr. HART CRANE and Mr. ERNEST HEMINGWAY, both born on exactly the same day, July 21, 1899, Crane in the suburbs of Ohio and Hemingway in the suburbs of Illinois.
One of the greatest American poets and greatest American short story writers of all time both born on the literally-exact-same day!
Wow….(and a thing that perhaps only writers or mystics or historians would get excited about)…
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Wise words and a timely essay!
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Thank you, David!
In some ways, it’s turning into the 1960s all over again, right before our eyes, including the quagmire of a stupid war they don’t know how to get out of…I believe this bodes well for the future of real writers, which is a good sign for the human spirit in general. Many humans will drop the ball and turn into robots; but many will make sure their humanity deepens instead, one way or another.
Dale
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Hi DWB
Wow those pictures are really cool!
I’ve never had any experience with magic mushrooms. Fungi are a strange other worldly things to start with. How something can grow in the dark seems like ant-photosynthesis.
I don’t think the hero trip is advisable. Crazy images of the girl in the bucket and the guy crying for his mother. Almost sounds like PCP.
Peyote might have a similar effect. The trip they took in “Young Guns,” was a classic.
On the medical benefits side they sound to have a lot of potential. It would be great for addicts and alcoholics if it worked.
This is an absorbing read, really like the images!
CJA
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CJA
Thanks!
Yes, the magic mushrooms in the pictures are not MAGIC mushrooms, but they are still magic mushrooms, since they seemingly appeared within a few hours during an evening when I was wandering around having consumed my fair share of magic mushrooms. In other words, when I saw them it blew my mind! Too many people don’t realize that the first step in taking a good picture is having your mind blown, in a large or small way. Then and only then is it worth doing, as I know you are very much aware of. Those things ARE magic, somehow. Vivian Maier also knew the secret.
Thanks again!
DWB
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