Joseph McKay, a retired New York City firefighter, sat across from a panel of state lawmakers in Manhattan on Tuesday and told them how magic mushrooms helped save his life.

In his thick city accent, McKay told the legislators how he spent years suffering from painful cluster headaches — sometimes eight in a day — and post-traumatic stress disorder from responding to the 9/11 attacks. No treatment seemed to work and he was losing hope — until he tried psilocybin, the active compound in psychedelic mushrooms.

“The excruciating pain that I endured for over a decade was gone,” McKay said. “I was in remission. Psilocybin gave me my life back.”

McKay’s story played a key role in Tuesday’s hearing held by the state Assembly’s health committee, which is considering whether New York should beco

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