Field trip: inside America’s first magic mushroom school

At a forest facility in Oregon, the first US state to allow supervised use of the drug, students work toward becoming licensed trip facilitators

Inside a spacious and light-filled retreat in the forest outside Portland, 30 students sat gazing into each other's eyes.

A heavy silence filled the room, save for the occasional creaking chair. A soft voice urged the group to envision the pain and joy their fellow students had experienced during their lives, to view them as a friend, a child, a teacher. Some broke into grins, others teared up.