New research has found a major ingredient in magic mushrooms can improve your creativity for days after you take it. Scientists have been looking into the impact of psychedelics like psilocybin to see whether it offers therapeutic relief for mental health issues.

Natasha Mason, who authored the study at Maastricht University told science publication, Psypost: “In the last decade, there has been a renewed scientific interest in the utility of psychedelics. Increasing evidence suggests that psychedelics like psilocybin may have potential therapeutic value for disorders like anxiety, depression, and PTSD.”

Users in the Netherlands study drank tea infused with magic mushrooms and were monitored for eight days, the day before it was taken and a week after consumption. Up to seven days later, they saw that empathy, well-being, and creative thinking had all improved.

There has been a movement to legalise magic mushrooms to assist with depressive episodes and PTSD. In Oregon and Denver in the US, voters will have the chance to decriminalise the growing or consumption of magic mushrooms.

It comes after the Global Drug Survey in 2017 declared shrooms as the safest drug, saying that it could be five times less dangerous than LSD, cocaine, or MDMA.

We’re seeing more advances happening in pharmaceuticals around drugs that have been prohibited due to their recreational use. This week the US approved a ketamine-like nasal spray to aid those with treatment-resistant depression.