welcome to the whwhole story. i m anderson cooper. you ve probably heard of magic mushrooms, mushrooms which contain psilocybin, a natural substance. they became popular in the united states in the 1960s, but in the last decade, there s been an increasing amount of research into psilocybin to see if it can help treat depression, anxiety, and substance abuse. magic mushrooms are still illegal on the federal level but a few states have decriminalized them. oregon became the first state to use them in licensed therapy centers. there s still a lot we don t know about psilocybin s effect on the brain long-term. many are asking if it s too soon to offer these treatments. over the next hour, cnn s david culver takes us into this fascinating new world and takes us on a mind-altering journey of his own. embarking on a psychedelic trip thank you. requires a willingness to be vulnerable, to hold nothing back. this wasn t easy, i imagine, for any of you to say, let me jump
story. i m anderson cooper. you ve probably heard of magic mushrooms. mushrooms which contain psilocybin, a natural substance that can cause hallucinations when ingested. magic mushrooms became popular in the united states in the 1960s. but in the last decade there s been an increasing amount of research into psilocybin to see if it could help treat depression, anxiety and substance abuse. magic mushrooms are still illegal on the federal level but a few states have decriminalized them and this year oregon became the first state to legalize the use of psilocybin in licensed therapy centers. there s still a lot we don t know about psilocybin s effect on the brain long term. and many are asking if it s too soon to offer these treatments. over the next hour cnn s david culver takes us into this fascinating new world and takes us on a mind-altering journey of his own. embarking on a psychedelic trip thank you. requires a willingness to be vulnerable, to hold nothing b
now for the safety and potential efficacy of psychedelics and, more specifically, psychedelic therapy for things like depression, end-of-life distress, addiction. it starts actually on tuesday. jason desperately wants to be proof that psilocybin works. i was watching a documentary, and this one gentleman, he was in an nyu study, and he took the medicine, and he said it was like similar to taking an antibiotic. took it one day, and he s better. if it works out something like that, that would be fantastic. that would be you got to let it, though. it s not going to, like, guaranteed. that s why i agree with it. but if you go in there expecting it s just going to work and then you have like a craving or a thought, you re going to tell yourself that that just didn t work instead of i feel like you ve got to put it i feel like it s going to be an effort. it sounds like you re ready. as jason and johanna prepare
of magic mushrooms, and jason feels normal. i feel pretty much the same. do you think that you no, i m looking for t. i can t believe i m the only person out here now. frustrated yet determined, jason decides to lie down. the eye masks and earplugs supposed to help us delve deeper inside ourselves. hours pass, and as you can see, i m restless. how are you? johanna still feeling the psilocybin but already processing some of her experience.
mic check, one, two, three. i think about the past two years in china and reporting at the start of what was then a mystery illness. over there i ve had this bag packed for several weeks. to have lived in china for the duration of pretty extreme lockdowns. warning of leaving shanghai in the midst of what s been now 50 days in lockdown. being away from family, the guilt of missing out on loved ones funerals. so i m hoping maybe psilocybin will just be a journey in and of itself that allows me to process some of that. i hope by taking mushrooms, i might also better understand jason and johanna s mind-altering trips. they re allowing us in on something so personal, so private, beginning with the preparation. how are we all doing today? in the weeks leading up to our retreat, we all get to know each other over zoom calls.