Dr. Casey means that the educated surgeon and wellness influencing wellness without an active medical license is the election of President Donald Trump to become the next US General Surgeon.
But what you may not know is that it is also a fan of a psychedelic medicine called Psilocybin found in magic mushrooms.
Means says she first took psychedelic mushrooms in 2021, The Associated Press reports. It means psychedelic attributes to help her find love and say that drugs can be a “door to a different reality that is free from the limiting beliefs of my ego, feelings and a personal story.” She also writes in a recent book that people should consider therapy aided by psilocybin, according to AP.
The drug is federally illegal. However, the Food and Drug Administration has approved psilocybin to be used as a “breakthrough” medicine. This designation helps to accelerate the development and examination of drugs that have been shown to improve the treatment of diseases.
Clinicians study psilocybin in carefully controlled experiments. However, the reviewed study, published last month, shows the use of the jump, especially among adolescents and people over 30 years of age. In 2023, more adults used magic mushrooms than other recreation medicines such as cocaine, LSD, methamphetamine or illegal opioids, the study found.
Dr. Albert Garcia-Romeu, Assistant Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the Medical School of John Hopkins University, speaks with Independent For the rise of psilocybin – and what researchers are still trying to understand.
D -C Casey Fatri (left) may be the next General Surgeon. It is also a supporter of the use of magic mushrooms for various types of therapy (Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved)
What do researchers know so far about magic mushrooms?
Psilocybin has been studied for its physical and psychological effects by medical researchers.
Garcia-Romeu’s own studies are exploring how psilocybin can help treat addiction. The psychedelic drugs showed “really good success” in helping people give up smoking when combined with therapy, he told IndependentS
Psilocybine has also been shown to cure depression, Garcia-Romeu said. Treatment is especially effective in treating depression and anxiety in cancer patients who are approaching the end of their lives, he added.
While psilocybin is known for its psychological effects and can cure mental health disorders, it also shows a promise to treat various physical illnesses.
Studies have shown that the drug can help patients suffering from migraines, chronic pain, fibromyalgia and Lyme disease.
What still should we learn?
There are many more things we don’t know about the effects of Psilocybin on the body.
Researchers are still not sure how psilocybin works, Garcia-Romeu said, and they do not know how or why psilocybine cures certain conditions of mental health. Scientists also do not know how it causes certain biological changes, such as reducing inflammation, according to Garcia-Romeu.
“We don’t really know how or why a dose of the drug can have an antidepressant that lasts for six weeks or more,” he said.
Magic mushrooms can sometimes be used to treat depression or addiction, but there are still many that researchers do not know about the medicine (Getty Images)
Researchers also work to find out which drugs are best to help.
“Who will be a person who reacts well and who will be a person who does not necessarily have a good answer to the treatment?” Garcia-Romeu said. “Who is at risk of potential development of problems after receiving these types of treatments?”
What are the dangers of taking magic mushrooms?
While psilocybin cannot make you overdose in the same way as medicines such as fentanyl, alcohol and xanax, it can cause serious mental illness, especially in large quantities.
“This can cause many intense psychoactive effects, so when people are influenced, they can become disoriented, they can become paranoid, they can become deluded,” said Garcia-Romeu.
Psilocybine can also unlock mental illness that has not yet come to the surface, such as schizophrenia or bipolar disorder I, explained Garcia-Romeu. This usually occurs in patients with a personal or family history of these disorders.
“This can cause these constant problems for weeks, months or even years,” said Garcia-Romeu. “Then they could deal with this type of latent mental health problem, which is the main one.”
There are also many different types of mushrooms and getting them from a non -clinical environment can also mean you do not know exactly what type of mushrooms you are absorbing.
What is the legal status of magic mushrooms?
At the federal level, Psilocybin is considered to be a “schedule I” drug. This means that there is no medical use accepted and has a high potential for abuse. But thanks to the FDA’s breakthrough, researchers learn more about how it can cure certain diseases every day.
Garcia-Romeu expects that it can be widely legalized for medical use under medical supervision within a decade. Many people reporting IT entertainment also have chronic pain or mental health and use that use is part of self -medication and management. But the widespread legalization will not happen soon, he said.
“Legalization to the point where people could go out and buy it as alcoholic in an alcohol store, I don’t think this will happen in this country probably in our lives,” he said.
There are also developing political conversations about the use of psilocybin for religious and cultural purposes. Psilocybin has been used by local communities for centuries.
“Long before Western science or medicine knew something about these drugs, they were used as part of the spiritual and religious life of indigenous cultures in Central, South and North America,” said Garcia-Romeu.
“This is something that is likely to lead to more debate and political discussions and it is not clear how this will be shaken,” he added.