Here’s some groovy news.
A mind-bending blast from the past — once hailed as a “wonder drug” that could cure everything from anxiety to addiction — is making a comeback.
Psilocybin — the psychedelic compound that gave “magic mushrooms” their trippy reputation in the 1960s — is now showing serious promise for improving mood and motor function in people with Parkinson’s disease, according to a groundbreaking recent study.
In the first trial of its kind, researchers administered a single dose of psilocybin to patients battling Parkinson’s — a degenerative brain disorder that affects nearly 1 million Americans.
The results? Not just a safe trip, but one that delivered weeks of relief from the tremors, stiffness and depression that often plague patients.
“Many people don’t realize this, but mood symptoms in Parkinson’s are linked to a faster physical decline,” Ellen Bradley, an assistant professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at UC San Francisco, said in a statement.
“And they are actually a stronger predictor of patients’ quality of life with Parkinson’s than their motor symptoms.”
The study, published in the journal Neuropsychopharmacology, indicates participants handled the hallucinogen well — there were no serious side effects or worsening symptoms — and also experienced marked boosts in mood, memory and movement that stuck around long after they stopped taking the drug.
It’s also a historic first: no psychedelic has been trialed in patients with a degenerative brain disease — until now.
“We are still in very early stages of this work, but this first study went well beyond what we expected,” Bradley said.
There is currently no cure for Parkinson’s, though drugs like levodopa can help patients manage their symptoms. The good news is that treatment options are expanding.
Tavapadon — a new drug that mimics dopamine by targeting certain receptors — has shown promise in clinical trials by reducing motor fluctuations and maintaining symptom control with fewer side effects than traditional therapies.
Produodopa — a continuous infusion therapy first administered in the UK — was approved by the US Food and Drug Administration last fall.
Innovative approaches targeting the psychological aspects of the disease have been successful as well — with tandem cycling proving to be especially popular.
Some New Yorkers even find relief by playing pingpong.
“I just can’t get enough of it,” NYU economics professor Bill Easterly previously told The Post. “When I play pingpong, I just feel my brain come alive.”
Meanwhile, UCSF’s Translational Psychedelic Research Program (TrPR) is planning larger trials to further investigate psilocybin’s potential.
If future studies confirm these findings, magic mushrooms could become a powerful new tool in the fight against Parkinson’s.
“The vast majority of brain diseases still lack interventions that change the course of illness,” said the study’s senior author and TrPR director Joshua Woolley.
“We can often treat the symptoms, but we don’t alter the trajectory or prevent decline. Now, that’s beginning to change. These results raise the exciting possibility that psilocybin may help the brain repair itself.”
