Magic Mushrooms - a closer look
Magic Mushrooms
Magic mushrooms are wild or cultivated mushrooms that contain psilocybin, a naturally-occurring psychoactive and hallucinogenic compound. Psilocybin is considered one of the most well-known psychedelics, according to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administrations. Psilocybin is classified as a Schedule I drug, meaning that has a high potential for misuse and has no currently accepted medical use in treatment in the United States. [1]
What is the Schedule Drugs thing?
Drugs, substances, and certain chemicals used to make drugs are classified into five (5) distinct categories or schedules depending upon the drug’s acceptable medical use and the drug’s abuse or dependency potential. The abuse rate is a determinate factor in the scheduling of the drug; for example, Schedule I drugs have a high potential for abuse and the potential to create severe psychological and/or physical dependence. As the drug schedule changes-- Schedule II, Schedule III, etc., so does the abuse potential-- Schedule V drugs represents the least potential for abuse. A Listing of drugs and their schedule are located at Controlled Substance Act (CSA) Scheduling or CSA Scheduling by Alphabetical Order. These lists describes the basic or parent chemical and do not necessarily describe the salts, isomers and salts of isomers, esters, ethers and derivatives which may also be classified as controlled substances. These lists are intended as general references and are not comprehensive listings of all controlled substances. [7]
Please note that a substance need not be listed as a controlled substance to be treated as a Schedule I substance for criminal prosecution. A controlled substance analogue is a substance which is intended for human consumption and is structurally or pharmacologically substantially similar to or is represented as being similar to a Schedule I or Schedule II substance and is not an approved medication in the United States. [7]
Schedule I controlled substances
Schedule I substances are described as those that have the following findings: the drug or other substance has a high potential for abuse, the drug or other substance has no currently accepted medical use in treatment in the United States, there is a lack of accepted safety for use of the drug or other substance under medical supervision.[7]
How Magic Mushrooms Affect the Body
The psilocybin found in shrooms is converted to psilocin in the body and is believed to influence serotonin levels in the brain, leading to altered and unusual perceptions. The effects take 20 to 40 minutes to begin and can last up to 6 hours—the same amount of time it takes for psilocin to be metabolized and excreted. [1]
Mushrooms have a lot in common with LSD in terms of how they affect the body. Both are psychotropic drugs and act on the central nervous system to produce their effects. Many people have described a mushroom trip as a milder, shorter version of an LSD trip. Like LSD, magic mushrooms don't technically cause hallucinations, or visions of things that aren't actually there. Instead, they distort the perception of actual objects. [3]
People tripping on mushrooms might see things in different colors or see patterns. Existing colors, sounds, tastes and textures may be distorted, while feelings and emotions intensify. It can feel like time has sped up, slowed down or stopped completely. There can be a changed perception of one's place in the universe and a feeling of communing with a higher power. [3]
Magic Mushroom Benefits
Shrooms have the potential to aid in the treatment of depression, eating disorders and addiction, but the study of psychedelics and their applications in medicine and psychology is still in its infancy, hampered by its Schedule I Narcotics status and the United States' War on Drugs. However, shrooms have shown promise in combination with psychotherapy. Psychedelic use, including psilocybin, can produce spiritual benefits similar to meditation or other mystical experiences though comparing subjective effects isn't easily quantifiable. [2]
A 2006 study by Roland R. Griffiths published in the journal Psychopharmacology found that users reported joy and extreme happiness, with elevations in how participants rated their "positive attitudes, mood, social effects, and behavior," even two months after consuming psilocybin mushrooms. Volunteers reported increases in a variety of "mysticism" and "state of consciousness" categories, including "sacredness," "intuitive knowledge," "transcendence of time and space," "deep felt positive mood" and "ineffability." [2]
67 percent of the 36 patients in the trial study described their experience with magic mushrooms as "either the single most meaningful experience of his or her life or among the top five most meaningful experiences of his or her life," ranking it similarly to the birth of a first child. None of the participants rated their experience with psilocybin as "having decreased their sense of wellbeing or life satisfaction." [2]
Are Magic Mushrooms Legal?
Remember to always check to changes to the law before using. Some places the laws change frequently and others are very quiet about changing the laws.
The purified chemicals psilocybin and psilocin are listed as Schedule I drugs under the United Nations 1971 Convention on Psychotropic Substances. However, the UN drug treaties do not apply to cultivation, preparation, or international transport of psilocybin mushrooms.
Internationally, the two chemicals are generally considered controlled substances. However, there is much ambiguity about what is considered a "container" of these compounds in several countries (e.g. Brazil), the chemicals themselves are listed as controlled substances, but the mushrooms that contain the chemicals are not, therefore deemed legal. In the United States, possession of Psilocybe mushroom fruiting bodies is illegal in every state except for Florida. This is because the Supreme Court of Florida does not believe that these mushrooms could "reasonably be found to be containers of the schedule I substance, psilocybin". [4]
In the United States there is no federal law mentioning the possession of Psilocybe spores, this is because only the psilocybin and psilocin compounds are considered Schedule I drugs and there is no presence of these compounds in the spores themselves, only in the fruiting body of the cultivated spores. However, there are several US states that have actually prohibited possession of these spores because they can be cultivated to produce these hallucinogenic, Schedule I drugs. These states includes California, Georgia, and Idaho. [4]
Denver, Colorado passed a ballot measure decriminalizing psilocybin mushrooms, more commonly known as magic mushrooms, or simply shrooms. Passed by a narrow majority, Denver residents voting on Ordinance 301 declared "the adult possession and use of psilocybin mushrooms" would become the city's lowest law enforcement priority, further prohibiting the city from spending resources on penalizing shroom use. The city council of Oakland, California passed a similar resolution less than a month after. Similar to cannabis, which has also been decriminalized or legalized in several states, psilocybin mushrooms continue to be illegal on the federal level, and are listed as a Schedule 1 narcotic. [2]
Species of Magic Mushrooms
There are dozens of species of mushroom within the genus Psilocybe. Most of them are on the small side -- the average size is a 3-inch stalk and a 1-inch cap. When fresh, they usually have light grayish, yellowish or brownish stems with brown or brown-and-white caps and dark gills. [3]
A 2002 study of the molecular phylogeny of the agarics indicated that the genus Psilocybe as then defined was polyphyletic, falling into two distinct clades that are not directly related to each other. The blue-staining hallucinogenic species constituted one clade and the non-bluing species the other. The previous type species (Psilocybe montana) of the genus was in the non-bluing clade, but in 2010 the type species was changed to Psilocybe semilanceata, a member of the bluing clade. A 2006 molecular phylogenetic study of the Agaricales by Matheny and colleagues, further demonstrated the separation of the bluing and non-bluing clades of Psilocybe in a larger, strongly supported phylogenetic tree of the Agaricales. [4]
Psilocybe Azurescens
Psilocybe azurescens is a species of psychedelic mushroom whose main active compounds are psilocybin and psilocin. It is among the most potent of the tryptamine-bearing mushrooms, containing up to 1.8% psilocybin, 0.5% psilocin, and 0.4% baeocystin by dry weight, averaging to about 1.1% psilocybin and 0.15% psilocin. It belongs to the family Hymenogastraceae in the order Agaricales. [4]
The cap (pileus) of Psilocybe azurescens is 30–100 mm in diameter, conic to convex, expanding to broadly convex and eventually flattening with age with a pronounced, persistent broad umbo; surface smooth, viscous when moist, covered by a separable gelatinous pellicle; chestnut to ochraceous brown to caramel in color, often becoming pitted with dark blue or bluish black zones, hygrophanous, fading to light straw color in drying, strongly bruising blue when damaged; margin even, sometimes irregular and eroded at maturity, slightly incurved at first, soon decurved, flattening with maturity, translucent striate and often leaving a fibrillose annular zone in the upper regions of the stipe. [4]
Psilocybe Cubensis
Commonly called shrooms, magic mushrooms, golden tops, cubes, or gold caps, golden teacher, it belongs to the Hymenogastraceae family of fungi and was previously known as Stropharia cubensis. It is the most well known psilocybin mushroom due to its wide distribution and ease of cultivation. [4] The cap is usually reddish brown, with a white or yellowish stem. When bruised or crushed, its sticky flesh often turns bluish. Some people consider this a definitive sign of finding a magic mushroom, but some toxic types of mushrooms bruise as well. [3] With cow dung being the preferred habitat of Psilocybe cubensis, its circumtropical distribution is largely encouraged, if not caused, by the worldwide cattle ranching industry. [4]
Variants on Psilocybe Cubensis
Panama Magic Mushroom
The Panama magic mushroom varieties are a unique Central American cubensis. The Panama magic mushrooms have the same meaty stems the North American cubensis and the wide caramel brown flats caps from the South American cubensis. As a result, the Panama has the best from both worlds. The Panama magic mushroom grows very quickly and is highly potent. [5]
Red Boy Magic Mushroom
The Red Boy magic mushrooms grow with a large bell shaped hats. This allow you to collect spores easily, take note that Red Boy is easy to clone. The Red Boy is a true marvel and very rewarding. Super big fruits with above average potency. [5]
India Orissa
The India Orissa is the first cubensis strain from India. The Orissa is often found growing on elephant dung (yummy!) where it generates big stems and huge caps. The India Orissa can even outgrow the B+ is size. The first flush will produce lots of medium sized mushrooms. Following flushes are a slightly smaller but will produce much larger Indian Orissa mushrooms. [5]
Brazil Cubensis
The Brazil cubensis is a world champion when it comes to growing flush sizes. The Brazil cubensis are caramel colored with slim hats. The veil that connects the hat to the stem is thicker than 'normal'. Before this veil tears and fruits say 'Tchau' to the substrate, the mushrooms have grown taller than other South American cubensis. [5]
Bee Plus
Without a doubt the Bee plus is one of the largest of all cubensis mushrooms. Perhaps the B+ Magic Mushroom grow kit is even the most resilient. Stories are not uncommon of people disposing the substrate in the garden after it has been exhausted only to find B+ magic mushrooms growing at the same spot the year after. [5]
Golden Teacher
The Golden Teacher got its name thanks to to characteristics: 1: The caps are golden and 2: because of its' shamanistic properties. The yield is large, despite the fact that the first flush is generally smaller than the second. The GT psilocybe cubensis started to appear in the late 80's but their exact origin is unknown. These one is the goldie of the magic mushrooms varieties. [5]
Golden teachers are also lauded for their spiritual and/or shamanic effects. Hence, this shroom isn’t just for casual tripping. It can also be used for gaining new insight about yourself and the universe. It’s not uncommon for the Golden Teacher shrooms to produce a feeling of enlightenment and a deeper connection to nature. Spirit healers turn to Golden teacher shrooms as tools for restoring the mind and spirit. Finally, Golden Teachers also produce hallucinogenic effects – a trait common among all magic mushrooms. Expect a visionary experience along with waves of universal energy surging through you with strong open and closed eye hallucinations. The name “Golden Teacher” derives from the magic mushroom’s ability to teach by providing new psychedelic experiences and transcendence to the shroomers. There’s no education higher than unraveling the mysteries of the universe. [6]
Psilocybe Cyanescens
Psilocybe cyanescens (sometimes referred to as wavy caps or as the potent Psilocybe) is a species of potent psychedelic mushroom. Since all the psychoactive compounds in P. cyanescens are water-soluble, the fruiting bodies can be rendered non-psychoactive through parboiling, allowing their culinary use. However, since most people find them overly bitter and they are too small to have great nutritive value, this is not frequently done.[4]
Psilocybe cyanescens has a hygrophanous pileus (cap) that is caramel to chestnut-brown when moist, fading to pale buff or slightly yellowish when dried. Caps generally measure from 1.5–5 cm (½" to 2") across, and are normally distinctly wavy in maturity. The color of the pileus is rarely seen in mushrooms outside of the P. cyanescens species complex. Most parts of the mushroom, including the cap and Lamellae (gills, underneath the cap) can stain blue when touched or otherwise disturbed, probably due to the oxidation of psilocin. The lamellae are adnate, and light brown to dark purple brown in maturity, with lighter gill edges. There is no distinct annulus, but immature P. cyanescens specimens do have a cobwebby veil which may leave an annular zone in maturity. Both the odor and taste are farinaceous. [4]
Psilocybe Semilanceata
Psilocybe semilanceata or liberty cap is a common psilocybin mushroom. In general, P. semilanceata is found in damp, grassy fields usually populated by cattle or sheep but unlike P. cubensis, it doesn't grow directly on the dung. It's a small mushroom, either light yellow or brown, with a very pointed cap. Another psilocybe mushroom, Psilocybe pelliculosa, is often mistaken for P. semilanceata, but its psychotropic properties are weaker. [3]
Psilocybe Baeocystis
Psilocybe baeocystis has a dark brown cap and brownish or yellowish stem when fresh. It can be found in fields in addition to growing on rotting logs, peat or mulch. Nicknames include potent Psilocybe, blue bell and bottle cap. [3]
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