As cannabis continues to make its way to be fully considered as a legitimate medicine, Unilad reports a 29-year-old man is using another natural compound, Psilocybin, as an effective medication to cure his severe anxiety.

In an interview on Sunday morning, a guy given an alias of "Nick" was picking out mushrooms at a nature trail in Yorkshire and revealed how it relieved his anxiety. Nick is self-medicating his mental health problem with psilocybin - a natural psychedelic compound found in magic mushrooms.

"My anxiety developed when I was diagnosed with epilepsy eleven years ago, but I never really recognised my problem until I got knocked off my bike two years ago," he said. "I had 15 staples in my head and was hospitalised for three days. That brought it to the forefront. I realised I had quite a bad anxiety problem." 

"I first tried magic mushrooms with a couple of friends eight years ago," he recalled. "Years later I read Professor Nutt's book Drugs Without the Hot Air and was interested to learn about the links between psilocybin, anxiety and depression. After reading that book I decided to start foraging for mushrooms myself."

Looking for sources online, Nick was able to find local fields where magic mushrooms naturally grow. During off-season, he would order the psychedelics online or buy home-grown locally. "But for me nothing beats the romance of picking my own medication," he added.

"From my own experience, it does have a positive effect on anxiety. As soon as I 'come down' off the mushrooms, any thoughts of anxiety that are going through my mind immediately evaporate," he explained of the psychedelic drug. "The feeling of wellbeing lasts a month or two until something, usually an epileptic fit, will trigger off the negative thoughts again." 

"Psychedelics are something that I've grown to respect, so I mainly leave it to the season as I don't want to overdo it and it lose the effect," he admitted. "I think they have a great potential for naturally treating mental health issues without using synthetic drugs, which invariably come with a string of nasty side effects."

Since 1971, Psylocybin is considered as a Schedule 1 illegal drug - addictive and with no medicinal effects.