Magic mushroom

Stimulants amphetamines, cocaine, Ecstasy Psychedelics LSD, mescaline, magic mushrooms ... 

Heinrich, Clark. Magic mushrooms in religion and alchemy. Rochester (VT) ... 

Present in many species of magic mushroom that are eaten raw some toxic mushroom species are visually similar to the psychedelic varieties effects are very variable, depending on the exact species and drug concentration. 

Heinrich, Clark. 2002. Magic Mushrooms in Religion and Alchemy. Rochester, Vt. Park Street Press. 

Many people believe that organic or natural psychedelics such as peyote, magic mushrooms and marijuana are safer or produce better trips than synthetic compounds. This is almost certainly false, since any plant material contains hundreds of compounds, many of which have a definite toxicity, but few of which have psychedelic properties (they tend to make you sick, not stoned). The various impurities or the additives (e.g., amphetamine, belladona, strychnine) sometimes found in synthetic preparations are probably no more toxic than many of the compounds found in the psychedelic plants, and like these compounds, such additives or impurities probably have relatively little effect on the trip. 

Any discussion of the chemistry of drugs must include some consideration of the nonmedical applications of such compounds. Just as early humans were searching their environment for natural products that would assuage pain and cure disease, so were they also looking for plants and other natural materials with psychoactive effects, materials that would provide an escape from the problems and worries of everyday life, or that would just make a person feel better for a period of time. They also incorporated psychoactive drugs into many of their religious ceremonies. The use of the peyote cactus, magic mushrooms, and similar products dates back centuries, if not millennia, in a variety of cultures. One hardly need point out that the use of psychoactive chemicals for recreational purposes continues in essentially every part of the world today. 

Also known to be hallucinogenic are the indole derivatives psilocin and psilocybin found in the so-called magic mushrooms, Psilocybe species. Ingestion of these small fungi causes visual hallucinations with rapidly changing shapes and colours. Psilocybin is the phosphate of psilocin although based on 4-hydroxytryptamine, they also act on 5-HT receptors. 

The hallucinogenic principles of magic mushrooms psilocin and psilocybin were selectively detected and quantified in mushrooms samples using HPLC ODS separation coupled with tandem mass spectrometry, reaching detection limits in the picogram range [25]. 

Magic mushrooms belong to the genus Psilocybe, and include Psilocybe mexicana and hougshagenii, traditionally considered to be most important, and also Stropharia cubensis and Panaeolus sphinctrinus. These contain psilocybine and psilocine which mimic the action of serotonin. The Mazatec shaman, Maria Sabina, described the effects of the mushrooms as follows This is a world beyond ours, a world that is far away, nearby and invisible. And this is where God lives, where the dead live, the spirits and the saints, a world where... 

Psilocybin can be found in over 100 species of mushrooms in Mexico, Central America, and northwestern and southeastern parts of the United States. Some of the common mushroom varieties are Psilocybe mexicana, Psilocybe cubensis, Psilocybe azure-scens, and Psilocybe cyanescen. Street names include Alice, magic mushrooms, purple passion, sh rooms, and siUy putty. 

Seivewright N Lagundoye O (2007). What the clinician needs to know about magic mushrooms. In Day E (ed.) Clinical Topics in Addiction. London RCPsych Publications, pp. 55-9... 

Hallucinogens, for example, LSD and magic mushrooms, have always been in the background of the drug culture. The management in the acute stages may need hospitalisation and treatment with neuroleptics and settles quickly. There is no place for any medication after this unless specific psychiatric symptoms have been detected which may respond to anxiolytics, antidepressants or major neuroleptics. A full support mechanism through a number of channels needs to be set up around the individual. 

But nowhere in the legal archives of current drug statutes can you find mention of Genera such as Psilocybe, Stropharia, Paneolus or Inocybe. Nor of the dozens and dozens of species that stem from them. So, you would logically conclude that these magic mushroom are not illegal Well, yes and no. 

Puharich in The Magic Mushroom as well as in his most recent book is unduly impressed with the occurrence of A. muscaria. Wherever the species of trees occur with which it lives in mycorrhizal relationship, it is common. It is one of the commonest of fungi in North America and Eurasia. Puharich quotes at length as an authority Victor Reko, a notorious forceur, not to be confused with his cousin. Bias Pablo Reko. 

R. Gordon Wasson, with whom I had maintained friendly relations since the investigations of the Mexican magic mushrooms, invited my wife and me to take part in an expedition to Mexico in the fall of 1962. The purpose of the journey was to search for another Mexican magic plant, Wasson had learned on his travels in the mountains of southern Mexico that the expressed juice of the leaves of a plant, which were called hojas de la Pastora or hojas de Maria Pastora, in Mazatec ska Pastora or ska Maria Pastora (leaves of the... 

The profanation of the mushroom cult did not stop with the scientific investigations. The publication about the magic mushrooms unleashed an invasion of hippies and drug seekers into the Mazatec country, many of whom behaved badly, some even criminally. Another undesirable consequence was the beginning of true tourism in Huautla de Jimenez, whereby the originality of the place was eradicated. 

Two good examples are the peyote cactus (which contains mescaline) and the magic mushroom (which contains psilocybin). Both were discovered and used by the Mexican Indians and both have been so thoroughly analyzed biochemically that their active ingredients have been synthesized. 

OFFICIAL NAMES Psilocybin, Psilocybe mushrooms STREET NAMES Magic mushrooms, shrooms, boomers, caps, cubes (Psilocybe cubensis), fungus, liberty caps, Mexican mushrooms, mushies, mushrooms, psychedelic mushrooms, psilocydes, purple passion, sillies, silly putty, simple Simon DRUG CLASSIFICATIONS Schedule I, hallucinogen... 

As abuse of these mushrooms increases worldwide, more data is available on the serious side effects. In a 2000 Swiss Toxicological Information Center (STIC) study, researchers examined 161 acute Psilocybe mushroom exposures in which people intentionally ate magic mushrooms. The median age of the person seeking medical attention was 20 years (range 14—56). According to the researchers, Reasons for hospitalization were marked hallucinations, hyperexcitability, panic attacks, coma, and convulsions. As good trips turn bad and euphoria turns to fear and panic, there is no antidote or antitoxin that can make it go away. Thirty-one percent of the people in this study experienced panic attacks severe enough to seek medical attention. 

The chemical properties of 2C-B most closely resemble those of mescaline, and 2C-B is 10 times more powerful than another popular club drug, MDMA (ecstasy). It is considered both a hallucinogen and an entacto-gen, a term that means touching within. The visual effects, including hallucinations, can be more intense than those produced by LSD or magic mushrooms (psilocybin), both powerful and potentially deadly drugs in their own right. 

Schedule 1 Ecstasy, China White, GHB, Heroin (synthetic and natural), Lysergic Acid Diethylamide (LSD), Marijuana, Mescaline, Peyote, Psilocin and Psilocybin (constituents of magic mushrooms)... 

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