Magic mushrooms are the new booze - with health-conscious people in their 30s ditching alcohol in favour of micro dosing psychedelics, it has been claimed.

Jack Hunt, a 36-year-old from Kingston Upon Thames, was addicted to alcohol and cocaine for almost a decade.

And after a heavy summer of overindulgence in Ibiza he kicked his habit, and swapped booze for magic mushrooms - and hasn't got drunk since.

Now he says many of his friends do the same, ditching nights at the pub in favour of taking a dose of the recreational drug out in nature.

Jack and his family enjoying nature. (Photo: SWNS)

And the big blow out nights out have been replaced with ceremonies which Jack runs six times a year in rural locations for up to 250 people.

He said for him and his friends, it has "given them back control".

Last year the largest clinical trial of its kind found that two doses of psilocybin pills helped people with alcohol use disorder reduce drinking for at least eight months.

Advice website Frank warns side effects include nausea, vomiting, and distortion of sound and vision while eating a poisonous mushroom by mistake is also a big risk.

The drug is an illegal class A controlled substance in the UK.

Jack, from Kingston upon Thames: "My relationship with alcohol and drugs escalated badly, and probably piqued when I went to Ibiza in party season. 

"But since discovering magic mushrooms - it has given me back control. 

Jack says magic mushrooms has given him control. (Photo: SWNS)

"I can enjoy a single drink whereas before I'd be on a mission to get totally out of it. 

"In the UK everyone just drinks to oblivion. 

"That isn't a part of me anymore. I've freed myself from it.

"Mushrooms really are the new booze - they change your perspective for the better without making reliant on them."

Jack said he spent an entire summer drinking and doing drugs in Ibiza around a decade ago before deciding enough was enough and that he needed to fundamentally change his life. 

"Once I came home I started reading up about psychedelics and my spiritual journey started," he said. 

Jack decided to "take the plunge" and began microdosing – taking very small amounts of the drug for a prolonged but mild effect. 

One of Jack's spiritual retreat events. (Photo: SWNS)

"I then worked myself up to larger doses," he said. 

"Finally, I began taking what we call a ceremonial dose where you take a large dose of about three and a half grams or higher in a group setting. 

"Once I started doing the ceremonies everything changed. 

"I went from an angry person suffering to a very compassionate empathetic person. 

"It was almost like a narrow tunnel vision that I had suddenly went and my outlook on reality suddenly changed and I realised we're all one, we're all connected. 

"I genuinely believe all governments of the world should have a ceremonial dose of mushrooms, if they did we'd be living in a very different and better world." 

Every few months, Jack takes a ceremonial dose of magic mushrooms, which he says acts as a "reset" on his brain.

Jack runs nature retreats with his company The Utopia Frequenc. (Photo: SWNS)

Jack runs nature retreats with his company The Utopia Frequency, "mini festivals" where people go for therapeutic ceremonies as well as mediation sessions with DJs and music also on show. 

He says they aim is to "create a space where people can release their childhood trauma and step into their true self."

"It's all centred around mental healing and it's an opportunity for people who are suffering in their lives," Jack said. 

"90% of attendees are people coming by themselves - that takes huge courage. A lot of these people have been through a lot of trauma. 

"But they come to one of our events and their mindset is completely changed. It's a beautiful thing to see." 

Jack said taking shrooms helps him deal with trauma he unearthed while undergoing hypnotherapy in May.

"I found out I was sexually abused as a child after getting hypnotherapy," he said.

"I had a flashback and could suddenly see what happened to me when I was a child. 

"I could see myself as a young boy in a room. My therapist said 'I want to now take you out of that room'. 

"I grabbed his hand and picked him up. I felt all the sadness leave his body, there was a huge ray of light." 

Now Jack takes around three large doses each year. 

"You still fall back into certain traits if you don't do it for a while," he said. 

"Every few months I need a reset if I'm starting to slip back into old, negative patterns of thinking." 

Jack says more research is needed so the drug can be used to help the millions of people in the UK who suffer from mental illness or trauma. 

"It should certainly be legalised," Jack said. 

"It's mind boggling that something that grows from the earth is illegal. Maybe it's because they can't make money off it."

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If any of the issues discussed has affected you, find help at:

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