Denver just became the first city in the US to decriminalize magic mushrooms. Here’s what they do to your body and mind.

• There’s been a recent resurgence of interest in psychedelic drugs’ potential to address conditions like anxiety and depression.
• Denver is set to become the first US city to decriminalize psychedelic mushrooms, after voters there approved a measure to direct police to make enforcing laws against them a low priority.
• Mushroom’s active ingredient is a drug called psilocybin. Here’s how it affects the body and brain.
• Visit Business Insider’s homepage for more stories.

In a slender and surprising victory for supporters of hallucinogenic or “magic” mushrooms, the psychedelic drug better known to scientists as psilocybin, Denver, Colorado yesterday voted to decriminalize the drugs.

Once portrayed as illegal ways to “drop out” or “tune in,” psychedelic and semi-psychedelic drugs like psilocybin and ecstasy are beginning to turn into federally-regulated medicines. Part of the reason: scientific evidence is building that the substances may have the potential to help staunch symptoms of psychiatric diseases that are difficult to treat with existing therapies. Those diseases include severe depression, for example.

Here’s how psilocybin impacts the brain and body and produces its effects: