News Update Feb 2022: Magic Mushrooms in South Carolina

With a slew of different substances, shrooms have had a complicated history in the US. A decade ago, shrooms were one of the “drugs” of focus during the infamous “war on drugs.” Magic mushrooms have truly seen their fair share of negative perceptions.

Despite its bad reputation, shrooms weren’t always seen so negatively by the public. During the ’70s and ’80s, shrooms were pretty popular. However, magic mushrooms date back even longer than that. 

Magic mushrooms were a normal thing a century ago. You can come across these fungi in different civilizations. Shamans used shrooms to communicate with nature. Religious figures as well used it to talk to higher powers. Magic mushrooms were deemed sacred. Some people even used these magic mushrooms as medicine. This helped people discover their ailments.

Of course, over time, the use of these psychedelic fungi evolved. Eventually, magic mushrooms became a tool for meditation. Shrooms helped the elevation of your state of mind as well. However, they also became a recreational substance. As such, people sought it out for its ability to put them on a psychedelic trip.

Unfortunately, this changed as the US government saw these substances as dangerous. As such, they ended up treating shrooms as a controlled substance and did their best to keep people away from it. At the same time, its negative reputation started to grow and become prevalent. To this day, you can still see the result of this.

Recent research has brought forth the information challenging the perception of shrooms. This is despite the efforts of keeping people away from these substances. Research has shown that these psychedelics do have some good to offer.

Despite that, many are still slow to accept the new information on magic mushrooms. Not everyone is open to what the research says. This is even with solid proof that shrooms aren’t essentially bad. However, while this may be the case in several states in the US, scientific progress is hard to deny. As such, there is still some hope that things will change.

Magic Mushrooms’ Effects and Benefits

What exactly have they uncovered about this psychedelic piece of fungus? As we know, science has taken the initiative to look into magic mushrooms more. Just what makes them so magical, and what good do they have to offer?

Magic mushrooms get their magic from psilocybin. This is the primary psychoactive ingredient in several psychedelic mushrooms. Psilocybin is responsible for the hallucinogenic effects that shrooms are known to induce. This is why magic mushrooms are also called psilocybin mushrooms.

People have known that these mushrooms can help them go on psychedelic trips. These shrooms can be used for more than recreation. Recent research has shown that these shrooms also have potential in medicine.

For example, the NYU Psilocybin Cancer Anxiety did their research. According to their study, these shrooms may help palliative care. Terminally ill cancer patients were given small doses of psilocybin under controlled conditions.

At the end of the study, these patients experienced less anxiety. This is despite being terminally ill. The NYU psilocybin study also noted that the patients became more open. They have also become more accepting of their condition.

Another research focused on treating depression with hallucinogenic mushrooms. It was reported that psilocybin mushrooms could be an alternative treatment for depression. The study showed that magic mushrooms work like antidepressants. It also showed long-lasting effects.

Given these studies, the future of psilocybin in medicine already seems promising. However, this research hasn’t come close to fully understanding shrooms. Today, there are still several studies being done on magic mushrooms. This is in hopes of getting closer to fully understanding them. So, there’s still so much more to learn!

Psilocybin Mushrooms’ Legality in South Carolina

While shrooms are showing promise, not everyone is keen on changing their views. Unfortunately, magic mushrooms in South Carolina still have a terrible reputation. This is given its rather complicated history in the US. As such, many people are very wary of this fungus.

Currently, psilocybin is still classified as a schedule 1 substance. This is throughout most of the US. This means that it has no approved medical benefit. They believe that it only has the potential to become highly addictive. As a result, this substance is illegal to have.

In South Carolina, possession of shrooms will get you a misdemeanor charge. You will have to serve a two-year jail sentence, pay a hefty fine, or both with this kind of charge. But it would seem like having a psychedelic mushroom on you would be more trouble than it’s worth.

However, spores are treated differently. This means that if you have spores in your possession, you will not get in trouble. So, you could buy or sell spores without any worry of getting charged with anything. But, if you use these spores to grow shrooms, that will end up being illegal.

Looking to the Future

A few cities and states have taken a step towards accepting the new information. Despite South Carolina not being open to the current research showing shrooms’ benefits. Cities like Oakland have decided to decriminalize magic mushrooms. In contrast, states like Oregon have made the extra effort to legalize them.

With that in mind, it’s not far to see other states slowly coming to terms with the good that shrooms can bring. Of course, it may take a while before people stop seeing magic mushrooms as evil. This is considering what the war on drugs has done.

Science has shown hard evidence that these things have a lot of good to offer. Now, states are bound to accept these new facts gradually. Once that happens, lawmakers will eventually change their stance on these substances. They will also make the necessary reclassifications and changes once that happens. So, seeing South Carolina adapt to these changes is still bound to happen.