‘Life-Changing’ Psychedelics, for When Life Is Ending

Barry Blechman, 81, an international relations analyst with metastatic bladder cancer, traveled last winter from his home in Washington, D.C., to a clinic in Bend, Ore., where he drank a tea containing psilocybin, the psychoactive component of magic mushrooms. He then stretched out on the floor and closed his eyes.

When he phoned his wife, Kitty, 10 hours later, she was startled by the levity in his voice. “He sounded 20 years younger, like a weight had been lifted off him,” she said.

In the months since, the angst and depression triggered by his cancer diagnosis no longer hound him,

Read Full Article: https://www.nytimes.com/2024/12/17/health/psychedelic-medicine-palliative-care-end-of-life.html?campaign_id=34&emc=edit_sc_20241217&instance_id=142465&nl=science-times&regi_id=38872169&segment_id=185950&user_id=cff1159c39b2c40636fd21a67855bf0a