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On a summer morning in 2013, Octavian Mihai entered a softly lit room furnished with a small statue of Buddha, a box of tissues and a single red rose. From an earthenware chalice, he swallowed a capsule of psilocybin, an ingredient found in hallucinogenic mushrooms. ... Psilocybin has been illegal in the United States for more than 40 years. But Mr. Mihai, who had just finished treatment for Stage 3 Hodgkin’s lymphoma, was participating in a study looking at whether the drug can reduce anxiety and depression in cancer patients. (Hoffman, 12/1)

Two studies published Thursday found that a single dose of psilocybin reduced negative feelings for months at a time while increasing optimism, feelings of connection with other people, and mystical and spiritual experiences. The findings, which appeared in the Journal of Psychopharmacology, are from clinical trials at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and New York University Langone Medical Center. (McGinley, 12/1)

“This drug saved my life and changed my life,” said Dinah Bazer, a Brooklyn, N.Y., woman who was administered a single dose of psilocybin at a New York treatment center in 2011. In the wake of treatment for ovarian cancer, Bazer said, her anxiety at the prospect of its return was “eating her alive.” Under the influence of a single high dose of psilocybin, Bazer said Wednesday, she became “volcanically angry” as she visualized her cancer as a dark mass bearing down on her. With an epithet, she then saw herself throwing it off. (Healy, 11/30)

Researchers at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine have found that a psychedelic drug can significantly reduce anxiety, depression and other emotional distress in cancer patients. The patients experienced almost immediate relief, which lasted for months, after taking psilocybin, the active hallucinogenic ingredient in "magic mushrooms," the researchers reported. A separate study by researchers at NYU Langone Medical Center found the same effect. (McDaniels, 12/1)