Mike Tyson says psychedelics saved his life

TYSON: “This is magic. That's why I'm talking to you the way I am. Let's not forget that.”

In his prime, Mike Tyson was the most feared man to put on a set of boxing gloves, obliterating his opponents with ruthless efficiency.

But underneath the tough exterior was a man at war with himself, battling an abusive voice in his battered head that led "Iron Mike" to the brink of suicide.

He says all that changed when he began taking psilocybin mushrooms, more commonly known as "magic mushrooms," and other similar consciousness-altering substances.

TYSON: “I can't even tell you what mental issues I used to have. I was in the sick house. Everybody thought I was crazy. I bit this guy's ear off. I did all this stuff and then once I got introduced to the 'shrooms and the toads and all the psilocybin my whole life changed. I started boxing and look what I'm doing now!"

Now the soon-to-be 55-year-old boxing prodigy, cannabis entrepreneur, and podcast host from Brooklyn is experiencing a career renaissance that he said is the result of psilocybin-powered mental and spiritual exploration.

TYSON: “It's like a dream. I think somebody is going to wake me up and say 'Get your ass back in the (jail) cell' or something. It's just an amazing medicine that people don't look at for the perspective that it needs to be looked into."

Psilocybin is increasingly being taken seriously as a psychiatric medicine, though medical professionals studying them warn against self-medicating to avoid unwanted side effects like disturbing hallucinations, anxiety and panic.

Like Tyson, former NHL enforcer Daniel Carcillo, who was nicknamed "Car Bomb" for his violent approach to the sport before he retired, has also benefited from psilocybin.

He says that the drugs also help in treating Traumatic Brain Injury in athletes and is hopeful that it gets FDA approved someday soon:

CARCILLO: "I think it's really important to have a medical diagnosis and have this be delivered by the medical system and covered by insurance. But me and Mike have both accessed this medicine outside of that so it wouldn't be right for us to not advocate for decriminalized nature and getting people access to this."