WHATEVER WORKS –
April 16, 2025 – Over 10 years, Schaefer had tried recovering from what began with dependence on a prescription for the pain killer Percocet and later spiraled into an all-consuming heroin addiction. As Schaefer waited for his supplies, he noticed an advertisement seeking volunteers for a study into whether therapy assisted by psilocybin – the active compound in psychedelic mushrooms – could unshackle people from addiction.
“I’ve tried all types of rehabs,” said Schaefer when he spoke recently with the Wisconsin Examiner. Schaefer is 42, off heroin and training to be a peer support specialist. But from rehab clinics in Oshkosh and Wauwatosa to a 30-day program in the Racine County Jail, old-school complete abstinence and medication-assisted treatment using suboxone, Schaefer had tried it all. “I don’t know if it was more of the timing of being ready to quit or just finding something that actually works for me,” he said. “Something different, an alternative route…This study really changed my life, to tell you the truth.”
