Magic Mushrooms

  • Psilocybin and psilocin (Magic mushrooms)

"Magic mushrooms" are mushrooms that contain hallucinogens - usually psilocybin and psilocin. Taking magic mushrooms may cause you to see, hear or feel things that are not there, or to experience anxiety, fear, nausea and muscle twitches accompanied by increased heart rate and blood pressure. In some cases, the consumption of magic mushrooms can lead to "bad trips" or "flashbacks".

About magic mushrooms

Magic mushrooms have been used for thousands of years. There are over 200 species of magic mushrooms. Since many species look alike, it can be hard to tell the different species of mushrooms apart. It is possible for people to consume poisonous mushrooms, mistaking them for magic mushrooms.

The active ingredients in magic mushrooms are chemicals called psilocybin and psilocin. As psychoactive substances, psilocybin and psilocin are controlled internationally under the United Nations Drug Control Conventions and, in Canada, under the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act (CDSA). Under the CDSA, activities with magic mushrooms, psilocybin and psilocin, such as sale, possession, and production, are illegal unless authorized by Health Canada (for example, through the issuance of a licence or exemption, or under the regulations). Like all drugs, magic mushrooms, psilocybin and psilocin are also subject to the Food and Drugs Act (FDA). Psilocybin and psilocin are hallucinogens that produce effects similar to LSD. Individuals using magic mushrooms experience hallucinations and an altered state of consciousness. Effects appear within 15-45 minutes and usually last for four to six hours.

When consumed, the effects of magic mushrooms can vary from person to person. In addition, the strength of magic mushrooms can vary greatly. One mushroom may have different concentrations of the active ingredients compared to another and, consequently, the effects of the magic mushroom can depend on the dose and type of mushroom used.

Magic mushrooms sold illegally may be in the form of dried whole mushrooms or a powder. People may choose to take the mushrooms in many ways, including:

  • eaten raw or cooked;

  • ground up and used to make tea or mixed in a beverage;

  • swallowed as capsules;

  • sniffed up the nose (snorted), when in a powder.

Magic mushrooms should never be injected intravenously. There have been case reports in the literature of serious harms associated with intravenous injection of mushrooms, including septic shock and multi-system organ failure.

Psilocybin and psilocin are also produced and sold illegally as a powder or in tablets or capsules. Drugs produced illegally are not tested and may contain other dangerous substances.

Mental effects

Magic mushrooms may cause heightened emotions and senses and people may feel happy and creative. They may laugh or giggle a lot and experience a sense of mental and emotional clarity.

Magic mushrooms can also cause hallucinations and affect people by:

  • distorting their sense of reality (they see and hear things that are not there)

  • mixing up their senses (they believe they can see music or hear colours)

  • altering their sense of time

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Stamets, who over the last 40 years has discovered four new species of psychedelic mushrooms and written seven books on the topic, said he believes microdosing is a solution. That’s the practice of taking tiny amounts of a psilocybin mushroom several times a week to maintain brain health and a creative perspective on life.

A typical microdose is 0.1 to 0.3 grams of dried psilocybin mushrooms, as compared with the 25-milligram pill of psilocybin that creates the full-blown psychedelic experience.

Stamets practices microdosing and has focused on a process called “stacking” in which a microdose of mushrooms is taken with additional substances believed to boost the fungi’s benefits. His famous “Stamets Stack” includes niacin, or vitamin B3, and the mycelium, or rootlike structure, of an unusual mushroom called Lion’s mane.

Surveys of microdosers obtained on his website have shown significantly positive benefits from the practice of taking small doses.

“These are self-reported citizen scientists’ projects, and we have now around 14,000 people in our app where you register yourself and report your microdose,” Stamets told an audience at the 2022 Life Itself conference, a health and wellness event presented in partnership with CNN.

“I’m going to say something provocative, but I believe it to my core: Psilocybin makes nicer people,” Stamets told the audience. “Psilocybin will make us more intelligent and better citizens.”

Scientific studies so far have failed to find any benefits from microdosing, leaving many researchers skeptical. “People like being on it, but that doesn’t validate the claims of microdosing,” Johnson said. “People like being on a little bit of cocaine, too.”

Experimental psychologist Harriet de Wit, a professor of psychiatry and behavioral science at the University of Chicago, was excited to study microdosing because it solves a key problem of scientific research in the field – it’s hard to blind people to what they are taking if they begin to trip. Microdosing solves that problem because people don’t feel an effect from the tiny dose.

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