Understanding this transformation sheds light on contemporary issues, such as the FDA’s current stance on MDMA for PTSD treatment. Although worth noting is the effect of this article on the original healer in Mexico, Maria Sabina, but will leave that to interested readers and google.

Students of history—and of psychedelics—will note that the journey of psilocybin and "magic mushrooms" took a bit of a bad trip following this: From their innocuous mainstream introduction in 1957, they became the subject of a national ban in 1968.

They collected pscyhoactive mushrooms and provided them to Albert Hoffman. Dr. Hoffman synthesized LSD in 1938 while researching mushroom derivatives and was the first to synthesize Psilocybin from the mushrooms provided by Wasson. This article is also the origin of the term “Magic Mushrooms”. 😊

They had a profound psychedelic experience during the ritual. They took photos and notes of their initial experience and returned several times before writing this seminal account.

The writer was Gordon Wasson, a vice president at JP Morgan, who traveled with his friend to Mexico in search of mushrooms related ceremonies in remote villages in Mexico. In 1955 he met a local healer who agreed to include him and his friend in a local ritual that included mushrooms.

Part 1 of a series on Psychedelics:

Sit right back and you’ll hear a tale... The tale of a fateful trip.

What is the modern history of psychedelics? This complicated narrative begins in the US in 1957 with the publication of an article in Life Magazine titled “Seeking the Magic Mushroom”.