Psychedelics are substances (natural or laboratory made) which cause profound changes in a one’s perceptions of reality. While under the influence of hallucinogens, users might hallcuniate visually and auditorily.

This is a commonly used substance with well known effects, but that does not guarantee the substance will be safe. The safety profile has been established based on usage data commonly reported by others.

Disclaimer: Psychedelic drugs offer some of the most powerful and intense psychological experiences. Additionally these substances are illegal in many places. We understand that even though these substances are illegal, their use occurs frequently. We do not condone breaking of the law. By providing accurate information about these substances, we encourage the user to make responsible decisions and practice harm reduction.

Read the full disclaimer here.

Description

Mushrooms Also known as:

  • 1H-Indol-4-ol, 3-[2-(dimethylamino)ethyl]-[ACD/Index Name]
  • 3-[2-(Dimethylamino)ethyl]-1H-indol-4-ol[ACD/IUPAC Name]
  • 3-[2-(Dimethylamino)ethyl]-1H-indol-4-ol[German][ACD/IUPAC Name]
  • 3-[2-(Diméthylamino)éthyl]-1H-indol-4-ol[French][ACD/IUPAC Name]
  • 4-hydroxy DMT
  • 4-HYDROXY-N,N-DIMETHYLTRYPTAMINE
  • 4-OH-DMT
  • CMS88KUW0G
  • MFCD00079228
  • NM2625000
  • Psilocine
  • Psilocyn
  • Psilotsin
  • [520-53-6]
  • 3-(2-(dimethylamino)ethyl)-1H-indol-4-ol
  • 3-(2-(Dimethylamino)ethyl)indol-4-ol
  • 3-(2-dimethylaminoethyl)-1H-indol-4-ol
  • 3-(2-Dimethylaminoethyl)-4-hydroxyindole, N,N-Dimethyl-4-hydroxytryptamine
  • 3-[2-(Dimethylamino)ethyl]-Indol-4-ol
  • 5-22-12-00014 (Beilstein Handbook Reference)[Beilstein]
  • 6-(1H-IMIDAZOL-1-YL)-7-NITRO-2,3-(1H,4H)-QUINOXALINEDIONE
  • CHEMBL65547
  • CX 59
  • EINECS 208-296-5
  • Indol-4-ol, 3-(2-(dimethylamino)ethyl)-
  • Indol-4-ol, 3-[2-(dimethylamino)ethyl]-
  • N,N-dimethyl-4-hydroxytryptamine
  • NM 2625000
  • P-7800
  • PSILOCIN-D10
  • UNII:CMS88KUW0G
  • UNII-CMS88KUW0G

Fungi containing psilocybin, a prototypical psychedelic with similar effects to LSD, but with a shorter duration; also considered as being more confusing, introspective and entheogenic. Usually refers to psilocybe mushrooms rather than Amanitas, which have different effects. Are considered physically safe if properly identified, which should always be done by an expert.

History

Murals dated 9000 to 7000 BCE found in the Sahara desert in southeast Algeria depict horned beings dressed as dancers holding mushroom-like objects. 6,000-year-old pictographs discovered near the Spanish town of Villar del Humo illustrate several mushrooms that have been tentatively identified as Psilocybe hispanica, a hallucinogenic species native to the area. Archaeological artifacts from Mexico have also been interpreted by some scholars as evidence for ritual and ceremonial usage of psychoactive mushrooms in the Mayan and Aztec cultures of Mesoamerica. In Nahuatl, the language of the Aztecs, the mushrooms were called teonanácatl, or "God's flesh". Following the arrival of Spanish explorers to the New World in the 16th century, chroniclers reported the use of mushrooms by the natives for ceremonial and religious purposes. Accounts describe mushrooms being eaten in festivities for the accession of emperors and the celebration of successful business trips by merchants. After the defeat of the Aztecs, the Spanish forbade traditional religious practices and rituals that they considered "pagan idolatry", including ceremonial mushroom use. For the next four centuries, the Indians of Mesoamerica hid their use of entheogens from the Spanish authorities. American banker and amateur ethnomycologist R.

Gordon Wasson studied the ritual use of psychoactive mushrooms by the native population of a Mazatec village in Mexico. In 1957, Wasson described the psychedelic visions that he experienced during these rituals in “Seeking the Magic Mushroom”, an article published in the popular American weekly Life magazine. Later the same year they were accompanied on a follow-up expedition by French mycologist Roger Heim, who identified several of the mushrooms as Psilocybe species. Heim cultivated the mushrooms in France, and sent samples for analysis to Albert Hofmann, a chemist employed by the Swiss pharmaceutical company Sandoz (now Novartis). Hofmann, who had in 1938 created LSD, led a research group that isolated and identified the psychoactive compounds from Psilocybe mexicana.

He and his colleagues later synthesized a number of compounds chemically related to the naturally occurring psilocybin, to see how structural changes would affect psychoactivity. These included 4-HO-DET and 4-AcO-DMT. Sandoz marketed and sold pure psilocybin under the name Indocybin to physicians and clinicians worldwide without any reports of serious complications. In the early 1960s, Harvard University became a testing ground for psilocybin, through the efforts of Timothy Leary and his associates Ralph Metzner and Richard Alpert. Leary obtained synthesized psilocybin from Hofmann through Sandoz pharmaceutical.

Some studies, such as the Concord Prison Experiment, suggested promising results using psilocybin in clinical psychiatry. Leary and Alpert’s zealous advocacy for widespread hallucinogen use led to a well-publicized termination from Harvard. In response to concerns about the increase in unauthorized use of psychedelic substances by the general public, psilocybin and other hallucinogens received negative press and faced increasingly restrictive laws. In the United States, laws were passed in 1966 that prohibited the production, trade, or ingestion of hallucinogenic substances. Sandoz stopped producing LSD and psilocybin the same year.

Further backlash against LSD usage swept psilocybin along with it into the Schedule I category of illicit substances in 1970. Subsequent restrictions on the use of these substances in human research made funding for such projects difficult to obtain, and scientists who worked with psychedelic drugs faced being “professionally marginalized”. In the 1990s, hallucinogens and their effects on human consciousness were again the subject of scientific study, particularly in Europe. Advances in the neurosciences and the availability of brain imaging techniques have provided a reason for using substances like psilocybin to probe the “neural underpinnings of psychotic symptom formation including ego disorders and hallucinations”.

Recent studies in the United States have attracted attention from the popular press and thrust psilocybin into the vogue.

Chemistry

Both psilocybin and psilocin are organic tryptamine compounds.

They are chemically related to the amino acid tryptophan, and structurally similar to the neurotransmitter serotonin. Tryptamines share a core structure comprised of a bicyclic indole heterocycle attached at R3 to an amino group via an ethyl side chain.

Psilocybin is substituted at R4 of its indole heterocycle with a phosphoryloxy (-PO) functional group.

It also contains two methyl groups CH3- bound to the terminal amine RN.

This makes psilocybin the 4-phosphoryloxy ring-substituted analog of DMT.. Psilocybin and psilocin occur in their pure forms as white crystalline powders.

Both are unstable in light, particularly while in solution, although their stability at low temperatures in the dark under an inert atmosphere is very good.

Common NamePsilocin
Systematic namePsilocin
FormulaC_{12}H_{16}N_{2}O
SMILESCN(C)CCc1c[nH]c2c1c(ccc2)O
Std. InChi
Std. InChiKey
Avg. Mass204.2682 Da
Molecular Weight204.2682
Monoisotopic Mass204.126266 Da
Nominal Mass204
ChemSpider ID4807

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Dose Chart

dose:
doseOral
Light0.5-1.5g
Common1.5-3.5g
Strong3.5g+

Duration Chart

Mushrooms Duration Data
OnsetVaries
Duration4-6 hours
After-effects1-24 hours

Interactions

Caution

  1. Cannabis
    • Cannabis has an unexpectedly strong and somewhat unpredictable synergy with psychedelics.
  2. Amphetamines
    • Stimulants increase anxiety levels and the risk of thought loops which can lead to negative experiences
  3. Cocaine
    • Stimulants increase anxiety levels and the risk of thought loops which can lead to negative experiences

Dangerous

  1. Tramadol
    • Tramadol is well known to lower seizure threshold and psychedelics also cause occasional seizures.

Low Synergy

  1. Alcohol
  2. GHB/GBL
  3. Benzodiazepines
  4. SSRIs

No Synergy

  1. Caffeine
  2. Opioids

High Synergy

  1. LSD
  2. DMT
  3. Mescaline
  4. DOx
  5. NBOMes
  6. 2C-x
  7. 2C-T-x
  8. αMT
  9. 5-MeO-xxT
  10. Ketamine
  11. MXE
  12. DXM
  13. PCP
  14. N2O
  15. MDMA
  16. MAOIs

Legal Status

Internationally, psilocybin (but not psilocybin mushrooms) is a Schedule I drug under the Convention on Psychotropic Substances.

  • Austria: Psilocybin containing mushrooms are illegal to possess in dried form, to sell and to offer, give or get somebody under the SMG (Suchtmittelgesetz Österreich). It is illegal to grow them with the intention of "producing psychotropic substances" (as psilocin and psilocybin) mentioned in BGBl. III Nr. 148/1997 .

  • Brazil: Possession, production and sale is illegal as it is listed on Portaria SVS/MS nº 344, but mushrooms fall under religious use laws.
  • British Virgin Isles: The sale of mushrooms is illegal, but possession and consumption is legal.
  • Bulgaria: The sale of mushrooms is illegal, but possession and consumption is legal.
  • Belgium: Possession and sale of mushrooms have been illegal since 1988.
  • Canada: Psilocybin and psilocin are illegal to possess, obtain or produce without a prescription or license as they are Schedule III under the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act.
  • Czech Republic: The distribution (including sale) of mushrooms is illegal, but consumption is legal. The possession of over 40 hallucinogenic caps is considered a crime if they contain more than 50mg of psilocin or the corresponding amount of psilocybin. The possession of more than 40g of hallucinogenic mycelium is considered a crime. If these limits are not exceeded, the act is considered a minor offense and a fine of up to 15 thousand CZK may be imposed.
  • Cyprus: Psilocybin mushrooms are illegal to possess, grow, sale, and consume.
  • Denmark: Psilocybin mushrooms are illegal to possess, grow, sale, and consume.
  • Finland: Psilocybin mushrooms are illegal to possess, grow, sale, and consume.
  • Germany: Psilocybin mushrooms are illegal to possess, grow, sale, and consume.
  • Greece: Psilocybin mushrooms are illegal to possess, grow, sale, and consume.
  • Ireland: Psilocybin mushrooms are illegal to possess, grow, sale, and consume.
  • Iceland: The sale of Psilocybin mushrooms is illegal, but possession and consumption is legal.
  • Japan: Psilocybin mushrooms are illegal to possess, grow, sale, and consume.
  • Latvia: Hallucinogenic mushrooms, psilocin and psilocybin are Schedule I controlled substances.
  • Mexico: The possession, growth, sale and consumption of mushrooms is illegal. Rules are relaxed regarding religious use however.
  • The Netherlands: The possession, growth, sale and consumption of mushrooms is illegal. However, due to a legal loophole, psilocybin truffles can be legally possessed, grown, sold and consumed.
  • New Zealand: Psilocybin is a Class A substance.
  • Norway: Possession, growth, sale and consumption of mushrooms is illegal. Spores, even though not containing psilocybin, are also illegal.
  • Sweden: Sveriges riksdag added psilocybin mushrooms to schedule I ("substances, plant materials and fungi which normally do not have medical use") as narcotics in Sweden as of Aug 1, 1999, published by Medical Products Agency.
  • Turkey: The possession, growth, sale and consumption of mushrooms is illegal.
  • United Kingdom: According to the 2005 Drugs Act, fresh and prepared psilocybin mushrooms are Class A.
  • United States: Psilocybin and psilocin are Schedule I drugs under the Controlled Substances Act of 1970. This means it is illegal to manufacture, buy, possess, process, or distribute without a license from the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).

    • Sources

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