As a Dutch-Smart visitor, we probably don’t need to tell you just how extraordinary—and perhaps even life-changing—a trip on magic mushrooms or magic truffles can be. The visual spectacle, the intense emotional feelings… or wait, what about the powerful peyote cactus or the highly hallucinogenic brew ayahuasca? Each and every one of these substances will give you quite a trip. But are all those substances actually necessary? Maybe not, according to recent research…
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New psychedelic drug
Online media outlet Vice highlighted this unique experiment this week, which actually took place back in 2018. A group of students gathered for this in the lobby of the Montreal Neurological Institute at McGill University. They had responded to an ad to participate in a study where they would test a new psychedelic drug. While waiting for the test, someone nearby mentioned that their friend had done the same study last week and had a great time.
Time for the test: the subjects were led into a room filled with all kinds of trippy posters, colored lights, beanbag chairs, and even a DJ playing trippy ambient music. Movies were also playing on a screen filled with colorful and captivating images. In short: the perfect trip location. The test subjects were then administered the substance “iprocin” by scientists in crisp white coats—a compound similar to psilocybin, the substance you’re likely familiar with from our truffles and magic mushroom grow kits.
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‘Everything is moving’
The group of test subjects was told the substance would start working within 15 minutes, with the peak effect hitting in about an hour. The active effects? “An improved mood, enhanced cognition, emotional sensitivity, light sensitivity, hallucinations, drowsiness, a tingling sensation on the skin, vivid memories, increased sweating, slurred speech, mild anxiety, slower reflexes, and dizziness”.
And sure enough: it didn’t take long before the group of men and women began to notice the effects. “Parker, one of the study participants, who did not want to use her last name because she had previously discussed drug use, said she felt a slight wave of physical sensations and that her heart began to beat a little faster. “I felt more social and comfortable, and much more relaxed, less self-conscious,” as reported by Vice.
And there were others like her. Some participants began to feel strange and saw patterns on the walls. “All the lines start moving,” one said. The movies also began to “act strangely.” “They seemed visually stranger to me than before,” she said. “It was like being on magic mushrooms, when you see something that already looks weird, but it looks much stranger and uglier.” So the psychedelic effects were all pretty remarkable.
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Importance of environment and setting
But you guessed it: the test subjects hadn’t taken any psychedelic drugs at all. The pink pill they’d swallowed in good faith was a placebo, and the group of men and women were in the middle of a study to see if psychedelic effects could be induced with such substances. Incidentally, the experiment wasn’t designed to debunk psychedelics or imply that they’re mostly placebos, but rather to see to what extent context and environment can influence medications and psychedelics.
Why did they want to know this? Well, that’s due to the rapidly increasing number of studies on psychedelic substances in the medical world. “The importance of environment and setting has long been recognized and addressed by psychonauts and psychedelic researchers,” says Samuel Veissière, assistant professor of psychiatry at McGill University and lead author of the study. And that’s quite important, because it would mean that administering psilocybin, for example, might be much less effective when given in a cold, sterile clinic room.
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Will we be relying on placebos from now on?
Does this mean you don’t need magic mushrooms, mescaline, or any other substance at all for a psychedelic trip? No, it doesn’t work that way. According to the researchers, the study was a clever way to demonstrate how psychedelic effects are intertwined with other factors, but that the placebo effects are nowhere near as intense as those of a real dose of psychedelics. In short: head straight to the mushroom store and stock up on some truffles—that’s when you’ll really start tripping!
