Magic mushrooms helped 83% of people reduce excessive alcohol consumption.

According to a new study, the psychoactive substance in magic mushrooms known as psilocybin may be an effective treatment for alcohol use disorder.

The new discovery is based on a growing sense that psychedelic treatments they can be a divisor From water to mental health, well-being and addiction issues, this time for the millions of alcoholics worldwide.

As detailed in a new article published this week in the magazine JAMA Psychiatry In a randomized, double-blind study, 83% of participants experienced a decline in binge drinking after just two doses of psilocybin.

Nearly half of the participants who took the substance stopped drinking completely by the end of the eight-month trial, compared to only a quarter of those who received a placebo who stopped drinking.

Experts were surprised by the findings, which are based on previous works which show that psilocybin may be promising as a treatment for addiction.

"These are exciting results," said Michael Bogenschutz, director of the NYU Langone Center for Psychedelic Medicine and principal investigator and author of the study. to the New York Times . "Alcohol use disorder is a serious public health problem, and the effects of currently available treatments and medications tend to be small."

There are some limitations to the study. On the one hand, there were only 93 participants, a small sample size.

Although the study was double-blind and randomized, the study participants also quickly discovered whether they had taken magic mushrooms instead of a placebo in the form of an antihistamine, which is not surprising given the hallucinogenic qualities of psilocybin.

"Biased expectations may have influenced the results," the authors of the article admitted, "so this issue remains a challenge for clinical research on psychedelics."

Mary Beth Orr, one of the test participants, recalled experiencing "a beautiful show, with jewels and the sensation of running through a tunnel with figures of deities looking at me from niches in the walls," in an interview with... NYT .

These experiences were also accompanied by therapists who served as guides.

"I'm no longer afraid of feelings and I'm living a deeper life," Orr added.

Other experts agree that the study "really moves the field forward," as the psychedelic researcher from Johns Hopkins Medicine, who was not involved in the research, told [the publication]. NYT . "This study contributes to the literature suggesting that psychedelics may have overall anti-addiction efficacy, which is really a strange thing, because it's rare for a potential drug to be effective for multiple forms of addiction."

Bogenschutz will now lead the next trial, which will include more than 200 participants, to see if just a single dose of psilocybin can be used to treat alcohol use disorder.

The Food and Drug Administration just approved this trial earlier this week, making it the largest study of its kind, according to the NYT .