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Scientists are to research a hallucinogenic chemical in "magic mushrooms" as a possible new treatment for depression, uneasiness and drug dependance.

The move follows a unusual study which proved that the compound, psilocybin, can prompt long lasting positive changes in mood and behaviour.

Researchers also discovered that people who took the chemical experienced genuine magical experiences, as outlined by trick cyclists.

A third of the 36 study partakers described their psilocybin experience as the "most spiritually significant' of their lives.

Some likened it to the significance of the birth of their first kid or the death of a parent.

Magic mushrooms, or "shrooms", come in several varieties, all of which contain psilocybin. Till last year a loophole in the law meant they were not illegal in their natural state in the UK.

Under the Drugs Act 2005 they're now classified as a Class A drug, like heroin or cocaine.

Possession may be punishable by several years in jail, while supplying the mushrooms might end up in a life sentence.

Professor Roland Griffiths, from Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions in Baltimore, Maryland, USA, led the study, the 1st severe enquiry of the effects of "tripping" on a drug for years.

The volunteers were all healthy, well-educated, mostly middle aged and with no family history of insane illness.

Each attended two separate 8 hour drug sessions at two month intervals. On one occasion they received psilocybin, on the other one the drug Ritalin which was used as a worthless pill.

Medical pros were available to act as "monitors" and observe what occurred. Neither the participators nor the monitors knew when the test drug was being taken.

The trials took place in a room fitted out as a cushty lounge, with soft music and indirect lighting.

Heart rate and blood pressure were measured, and questionnaires used to
evaluate volunteers' experiences.

During the study, more than 60 % of those taking part described the consequences of psilocybin in techniques that met the recognised standards of a "full magical experience".

Two months later, 79 % reported moderately or seriously increased well being or levels of life-satisfaction.

Most claimed their mood, angles and behaviour had modified for the better. This was confirmed by interviews with relations, chums and work comrades.

The findings were released today in the book Psychopharmacology.

Prof Griffiths said: "Under really outlined conditions, with careful preparation, you can safely and fairly reliably occasion what's called a first mystical experience that may open the way to positive changes in a person. It's an early step in what we hope will be a large body of scientific work which will at last help people."

The scientists claimed scrupulous care was brought to minimise difficult side-effects and warned of the perils of taking psilocybin unmanaged.

Magic Mushrooms - Paranoia

Even under the controlled conditions of the study, a 3rd of participants reported significant fear, and some experienced temporary feelings of paranoia.

"Under unmonitored conditions, it's not hard to imagine those feelings rising to panic and threatening behaviour,"said Prof Griffiths.

His team now will look into the healing potential of the magic mushrooms chemical.

Trials are planned concerning patients suffering from cancer-related depression or stress. Other studies will test a role for psilocybin in the treatment of drug reliance.

Prof Griffiths related human research into the potential positive results of hallucinogen drugs had been "frozen in time" for forty years thanks to the excesses of the 1960s.

A number of promising leads were left "dangling" as a result.

"Our study is among the first to re-open this field,"announced Prof Griffiths.

Another expert commentating on the work in the same journal related he did not think the research would spark off a wave of experimentation with magic mushrooms.

Dr Herbert Kleber, Professor of psychiatry at Columbia college in the Big Apple wrote: "The positive findings of the study can't help but raise concern in some that it will lead to increased experimenting with these substances by youth in the sort of uncontrolled and unmonitored fashion that produced casualties over the previous 3 decades.

"Any study reporting a positive or useful effect of a drug of abuse raises these same concerns. In this Internet age where youth are deluged with glowing private reports in BBs and web sites as well as detailed info about the various agents and the way to utilize them it is less sure that a systematic study would move the needle much."

Magic mushrooms produce "trips" lasting between 4 and 8 hours.

Users see hallucinogenic visions, lose track of time, and may experience giggling fits. Colours and lights are intensified.

Among the known adverse effects are barfing, foreboding and paranoia. "Shrooms" are particularly dangerous for anyone with mental issues.

The fungi have a long history in human culture, and have been taken for their drug effects for several thousand years.

Magic mushrooms are linked to traditional spiritual ceremonies, such as those practised by the Aztecs, who called them "Teonanacati", or "God's flesh".

In European folklore, tales of flying witches and fairy rings, and depictions of elves sitting on toadstools, have all been ascribed to magic mushrooms"trips".

The 1st documented magic mushroom experience in the United Kingdom took place in London's Green Park in 1799. A man who had been picking mushrooms for breakfast accidentally sent his whole family on a trip.

The doctor who treated them described in the Medical and Physical book the way in which the youngest kid was "attacked with fits of immoderate laughter".

It has been suggested that magic mushrooms influenced Lewis Carroll, writer of Alice in Wonderland. A hookah-smoking caterpillar urges Alice to eat pieces of mushroom which has the consequences of making her grow and shrink.