Magic mushrooms found to reduce cocaine addiction

WASHINGTON - The "magic" in so-called magic mushrooms comes from psilocybin, a hallucinogenic compound that has in recent years been talked up in medical circles for its potential to treat depression and alcoholism and even help smokers kick their addiction.

The growing interest in (and scrutiny of) magic mushrooms comes as intake of another plant-based drug -- cocaine -- has surged, with an estimated 25 million people worldwide now using the highly addictive stimulant after a spike in use during COVID lockdowns.

Now, a team of doctors and scientists in Sweden and the U.S. has found indications that psilocybin could be deployed to curb addiction, describing the compound as "safe and efficacious for treating cocaine use disorder" following a series of randomized tests on 40 users that included the use of placebos and psychotherapy.

"Psilocybin recipients had a higher percentage of cocaine abstinent days, greater likelihood of complete cocaine abstinence and a reduced risk of cocaine lapse over time than active placebo recipients," the researchers said, summing up the results of the process.

"Cocaine use disorder is a serious public health problem and no medications have been proven effective for its treatment," the team pointed out, explaining why they carried out the research.

The tests were undertaken at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB), with researchers at Johns Hopkins University and the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm contributing to a subsequent paper published by the American Medical Association.

"Cocaine use disorder has long lacked effective treatment options," said lead researcher Peter Hendricks, a professor at UAB, who called for follow-up research into the subject using "larger samples across diverse populations."

In late 2023, the American Cancer Society published results of a phase two clinical trial suggesting psilocybin could be a "benefit" for people with cancer and "major depression." In mid-2025, the ACS followed up with a paper pointing out that a 25-milligram dose of the compound could be a "potentially paradigm-changing alternative to traditional antidepressants."

Late in April the U.S. government announced it will increase funding for research into how psychedelics such as psilocybin could potentially be more widely used to combat mental health disorders.

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This story was originally published June 22, 2026 at 4:44 AM.