8 Awesome Medical Benefits Of Illegal Drugs

1. Magic Mushrooms Could Help You Quit Smoking

Like LSD, magic mushrooms fall into the category of "psychedelics" due to the active ingredient psilocybin.

As well as being found to be effective in treating many of the same conditions as LSD, including post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, and anxiety, some research has also indicated that it could help cigarette smokers kick the habit. 12 out of 15 people involved in a small study found that they were able to quit smoking after just a few trips in an experiment at Johns Hopkins University.

The participants were asked to trip out on some mushrooms with their eyes closed whilst listening to relaxing music. The lab in which the study took place was made up to look like a living room and this, along with the relaxing music, was to minimise the chance of a "bad trip". The quit rate was twice as high as you'd expect to see with the more common medication and researchers noted that those who had had more profound experiences, such as hallucinations or out-of-body experiences were more likely to quit.

It might seem like fighting fire with fire, but with 480,000 smoking-related deaths per year, it's worth looking into at the very least.

You could write for WhatCulture Science! Click here to find out how you could get paid to write about what you love.

If science gives you the warm fuzzies, like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to stay up to date.