LEGALIZE SHROOMS

CANNABIS CULTURE – The Case For Legal Magic Mushroom Dispensaries

“An engineer named Roberto Weitlaner was the first white man in modern times to score teonanacatl, but the specimens he sent to Harvard in 1936 rotted before they arrived and could not be identified. In 1938 Weitlaner’s daughter attended a magic mushroom ceremony. The same year Schultes identified two species of teonanacatl – Stropharia cubensis and Panaeolus sphinctrinus – and noted one form of Psilocybe. Fifteen years later Weitlaner escorted the Wassons to the remote mountain village of Huautla de jimenez in Oaxaca, where they observed the sacred mushroom rite. They met the now legendary curandera Maria Sabina, who courageously overturned cultural barriers by permitting them (and the Life magazine photographer who filmed it) to experience the bemushroomed state and thus become the first non-Indians since the days of Cortez to turn on with hallucinogenic mushrooms. The following year Parisian mycologist Roger Heim accompanied Wasson to Mexico and identified 14 species and several subspecies belonging to three genera: Psilocybe, Stropharia and Conocybe. Some were new to mycology, but all produced the characteristic effects of the LSD high. For this reason Heim gave some specimens to Hofmann, who confirmed their psychedelic effects by tripping on a moderate dose in his Swiss lab. ‘Everything turned Mexican’ to the Swiss chemist. (This proved to be a characteristic effect of the drug.) The supervising physician even turned into a knife-wielding Aztec priest at one point, and Hofmann expected to be sacrificed. At the same time his detachment allowed him to feel amused at the absurdity of the hallucination. The peak of intoxication left him reeling ‘in a whirlpool of form and color.’ For psilocybin (and mescaline) gives far more colorful visions than LSD, and for Americans and Europeans presents images from an earthier, more primitive past. Maria Sabina’s generosity was repaid in 1962 when Hofmann brought her some psilocybin pills he had synthesized in Sandoz labs. She found the pills to be just as effective as the mushrooms and was no longer limited to the mushroom-growing season for performing her healing arts.”

– Michael Horowitz, “PSILOCYBIAN MUSHROOMS/PSILOCYBIN/PSILOCIN,” High Times Encyclopedia of Recreational Drugs, 1978 (1)

 

 

 

Magic mushrooms seem to be in the news a lot these days. Shrooms are totally legal in the Bahamas, Brazil, Jamaica, Nepal, Samoa; magic truffles are legal in the Netherlands, the police look the other way in many jurisdictions, and as of February 2021, magic mushrooms have been legal in Oregon “for mental health treatment in supervised settings.” (2)

 

The Coca Leaf Café, where I work part-time, has been put in the news cycle twice recently – once by the CBC (3) and once by the Vancouver Sun (4) – both stories involving the mushroom dispensary service provided inside the cafe.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The CBC report had a quote from Dr. Devon Christie, senior lead of psychedelic programs at Numinus Wellness – a Canadian based company (with clinics in Vancouver, Montreal and Toronto) that offers professional assistance with therapeutic trips: 

“However, it isn’t a process patients should undergo alone but in a controlled setting, paired with a licensed clinician, she said.” (5)

I couldn’t find the cost of hiring one of their therapists to assist me in my shroom trip on their website. (6) I did, however, find an investors website that reported that their wellness clinics made $648,000 in revenue from “nearly 6,200 clinic appointments”, (7) which works out to about 105 dollars per appointment. 

Personally, I don’t know of many people who can afford a trip advisor for 100 dollars per trip – or even afford it as a one-time service – but I’m just a poor retail worker without any rich friends, so it might just be the social circles I operate in. It’s nice to know that they’re out there if you have the means. I’m certain there are some people who would benefit from a trained professional – especially people who have suffered severe trauma and require someone knowledgeable in both shrooms and psychology. 

But the vast majority of those using mushrooms can manage just fine with a little help from their friends. We offer “trip advice” at our mushroom dispensary for free so the proletariat can enjoy magic mushrooms too. 

Quite frankly, I have enjoyed mushrooms numerous times and I never really needed advice in order to enjoy my trip – I only needed a reliable source of shrooms to avoid being poisoned or ripped off. Maybe this particular sacrament doesn’t require a priest to be beneficial. 

Could it possibly be that the same type of people who argue that pot distribution should be handled only by elites are the same type of people who argue that magic mushroom distribution should only be handled by elites? It’s possible. One of the people on team Numinus is Dr. Evan Woods, who proudly takes credit for helping to turn the relatively inclusive underground/legacy pot economy into a cartel: 

“Early in his career, Dr. Wood’s research contributed to revision of international guidelines for the treatment and prevention of HIV infection among persons who use drugs. Subsequently, he led efforts that have contributed to the legalization of adult cannabis use in Canada . . .” (8)

I remember talking with Dr. Wood in my Herb Museum a few years back, trying to explain to him that the vast majority of cannabis growers and dealers weren’t violent – an observation that was recently verified by Professor Susan Boyd, who in her book “Killer Weed: Marihuana Grow Ops, Media and Justice” pointed out that only 6% of Canadian grow ops investigated by the police involved firearms on site – 

“which is only slightly higher than the 5.5% of the Canadian population overall that has valid firearms licenses.” (9)

But Dr. Wood ignored the advice he was given by pot activists and perpetuated the myth (in his “Stop The Violence” campaign) that the main source of the violence from the black market wasn’t the police – it was the legacy growers and legacy dealers: 

“Stop the Violence BC is a coalition of law enforcement officials, legal experts, medical and public health officials and academic experts concerned about the links between cannabis prohibition in BC and the growth of organized crime and related violence in the province.” (10)

 

Arguably, all Dr. Wood has really been taking credit for is the theft of the pot industry by elite groups of well-connected police and Liberal Party insiders (11) and actual dangerous organized crime members who have been allowed to invest in Licensed Producers anonymously by the architects of the Cannabis Act. (12) 

Some of my activist friends have argued that Dr. Wood might not have the nuanced understanding a life-long pot activist would have and that Dr. Wood invested a considerable amount of his own money in a genuine attempt to stop black-market violence through advocating for a legalization model he genuinely felt would be the best possible option. 

Other activist friends have told me that Dr. Wood didn’t listen to the pot activists or academics he interviewed before he began his Stop The Violence campaign and stigmatized the legacy market operators unnecessarily, helping the government to exclude them from the legal pot market, and then went on to participate in the takeover of the psychedelic economy by the rich and well-connected. 

My reasonable side says that either one or both of these views could be correct. My intuition says that it’s probably the latter – academics have a responsibility to destigmatize the producers of illegal drugs instead of stigmatizing them in order to take away their income and rationalize elite control of all psychoactive plants and substances.

Let’s assume that – like pot – there are shroom prohibitionists, and there are shroom monopolists, and then there are shroom activists (like myself) who wish to include any adult who wishes to participate in the shroom economy be given access, and anyone who wishes to have access to a safe-point-of-sale (with parental permission for those under-19 year old) to get that access – therapist or not. 

So . . . what are the typical risks that come with using magic mushrooms? Are they inherent in the mushroom itself, or are they a function of prohibition? Is there such a thing as magic mushroom harm reduction? Do you need someone with a degree to help you trip, or will a peer with some personal experience suffice? Have the number of people who have accidentally overdosed on magic mushrooms gone up or gone down since the opening of the mushroom dispensaries of Vancouver? Has the number of people poisoned/died from the mis-identification of wild mushrooms increased or decreased since the dispensaries opened? Ultimately, do the benefits of mushroom dispensaries outweigh the risks? If the benefits do outweigh the risks, what would reasonable magic mushroom dispensary regulations look like? Let’s look at these questions one by one, mustering as many facts as possible. 

What are the typical risks that come with using magic mushrooms? 

Like all drugs, the risks are mainly – but not exclusively – dose-related. At mushroomdispensary.com – the website affiliated with the Mushroom Dispensary that I work at – we have a page of “protocols” that address the major risks involved, and what to expect at different dose levels: 

“Psilocybin is non-toxic. Like cannabis, it is effectively impossible to die from a psilocybin overdose. Dosages of psilocybe mushrooms from 1000mg to 3000mg can produce profound psychedelic effects. Larger doses can often produce feelings of anxiety and fear. Because psilocybin interacts with the serotonin system, you should exercise caution when combining psilocybin with other serotonergic substances. These dosages below are a general guide, and can vary by bodyweight and personal psychology. 

• MICRODOSE: At microdose levels between 75mg and 200mg, psilocybin will produce very little or no noticeable psychedelic effect. At these low doses, there will usually be feelings of reduced anxiety, peacefulness, and increased human connection. 
• MID-LEVEL: A mid-level dose between 500mg and 800mg will typically produce noticeable psychedelic effects but low-intensity and manageable. If you are planning to do a high-level dose for the first time, it is recommended to try a mid-level dose first to get acclimated to the experience. 
• HIGH-LEVEL: A high-level dose between 1000mg and 2000mg (1-2 grams) will usually produce a strong psychedelic breakthrough effect and is the best range for psychedelic therapy purposes. Users often report feelings of love and forgiveness, personal epiphanies, insights, increased creativity and sensuality, 
• VERY HIGH: Doses over 3000mg will produce intense psychedelic effects along with a higher potential for feelings of fear and anxiety, without increased therapeutic benefit. Mid-level doses and higher will definitely impair driving. Microdoses should not affect your ability to drive or perform other tasks. However, we urge caution as you adjust your dosage to the appropriate level. We recommend not exceeding 3000mg per dose. Doses higher than 3000mg (3g) typically are less pleasant with reduced therapeutic value. Do not take high-level doses of mushrooms by yourself. Do not engage in risky behaviours after taking high-dose mushrooms. Do not swim, drive or climb. Treat the mushroom experience with caution and respect. 

MICRODOSING PROTOCOLS 

Below you will find some basic information about how to use mushroom microdoses for therapeutic purposes. These will typically be doses from 75mg to 200mg. 

WEEKLY REGIMEN It can take a few weeks of experimentation to determine your preferred dosage for maximum benefits. Typically we will recommend taking a microdose two times a week, or once every three days. If you have a typical workweek, then we usually recommend taking your first weekly dose on a day off like Saturday and your second weekly dose on Tuesday. The body quickly develops a tolerance for psilocybin. Taking psilocybin too often produces a rapidly diminishing effect. If you take a dose every day, the effect will be greatly reduced. This is why it is important to space out each dose by at least 2 days to ensure maximum benefits. We recommend the twice-weekly schedule as it is easy to remember and work into a routine. However, some people do recommend different protocols. You might find benefit dosing two days in a row and then have two days off, or possibly microdosing every second day. You can feel free to experiment to find what works best for you. We don’t recommend microdosing more than two or three days in a row at most, not because of potentiual harm, but due to the diminished effect from tolerance. A two-day break is usually enough to completly reset your tolerance. After the first few weeks you should have figured out what dose level is right for you. You can then continue to dose at that level. After a course of 12-16 weeks of doses you can consider taking a 1-2 week break and seeing how you feel. At that point, if you wish to continue microdosing, you could then do another 12-16 week course, and then consider taking another 1-2 week break to evaluate. Microdosing for several months can often produce long-lasting effects and a reduced need to continue using mushrooms. You should take breaks every few months if you want to test how you feel without the microdoses. Many people eventually choose to only microdose once in a while, or at certain times of year, or for a few weeks now and then when they want a reset. It is not harmful to continue microdosing regularly for a long time, but generally people find a reduced need for microdosing as it produces long-term benefits. 

MICRODOSE DOSE LEVEL We usually recommend starting on a low dose of 50mg and then increase the dose to the appropriate level. Depending on body weight and other factors, the typical user will settle on a microdose level between 75mg and 150mg. But some people will require a lower or higher dose. We recommend that you take 50mg in your first dose, then increase it by 25mg each time. So your second dose would be 75mg, your third would be 100mg, and so on. If a certain dose level produces unwanted side effects then next time reduce the dose down by 25mg. It will usually take around three weeks to find the dose you prefer. You can also feel free to experiment with the frequency of dosing, although we find many people report good benefits with the twice-weekly dosing protocol. Once you find a dose level that is beneficial, you can stick with that. 

HIGH-DOSE PROTOCOLS A high dose of mushrooms is usually anything over 1000mg (1 gram) of dried mushrooms. Different strains can have varying effects but the overall experience will be similar. You can expect the experience to begin within an hour of ingesting mushrooms. The experience will peak at around 3 hours after dosing, and then continue in a reduced manner for another 3-4 hours. Many users report feelings of empathy, forgiveness, insight, epiphanies, increased creativity, sensuality, spirituality, visual distortions and psychedelic effects. Sometimes mushrooms can produce stomach aches. These feelings will usually pass fairly quickly. Taking mushrooms with a small amount of food can reduce this effect. When taking a high dose mushrooms for therapeutic purposes, it is best to have a trusted person with you. This person’s role is to be reassuring, to help you feel safe, and to offer guidance or feedback if needed. Do not take a psychedelic mushroom dose on your own. If you are in a deep depressive state or crisis point, do not take a psychedelic level dose of mushrooms at that time. If you are taking a psychedelic level mushroom dose for the first time, do it at a place and time where you will be safe and comfortable with a trusted person. You may be psychologically and physically vulnerable during a mushroom trip. Psilocybin mushrooms are non-toxic. You are very unlikely to be physically harmed even by very large doses. The effects are mainly psychological. For most people, doses over 3000mg are more likely to produce fear and negative emotions, without increase therapeutic benefit. Doses in the range of 1000mg to 2000mg (1-2 grams) are usually best for psychedelic therapeutic purposes. The best dose level can be affected by bodyweight and personal psychology. It is usually best to start with a mid-level dose and then try a higher-level dose the next time if desired. It is best to separate your high-level doses by at least one to two weeks. This allows some time to integrate the experience.” (13)

Now it’s not exactly true that it’s impossible to die of a magic mushroom overdose – it’s just that they’re extremely rare. I have only been able to find four deaths on record – one involving a shroom-induced fever in a six-year-old boy, and at least two of which have extenuating circumstances that go a long way to explain why death from shroom overdose is so rare:

“Death from the use of correctly-identified psilocybin mushrooms are extremely rare. With around 2-5% of the US population under 55 having tried a psilocybin mushrooms and around 4.4% of 18 year olds in 2012 having tried psilocybin mushrooms (Monitoring the Future, 2012, volume 1, figure 5-4g), there are millions of uses of psilocybin mushrooms just in the United States every year. Until the 2012 paper by Lim et al. (see below), Erowid was unaware of any documented fatalities attributable to the pharmacological effects of psilocybin-containing mushrooms. There are a number of fatalities associated with misidentified poisonous-lookalike wild mushrooms that individuals took thinking they were taking magic mushrooms and instead were poisoned, but even these are extremely uncommon. . . . Pharmacological fatalities are those deaths caused by the direct action of a plant or drug in the body, not including deaths caused by accidents or as a result of inebriated behavior. 

Incident: Anonymous Female, 2012 # In 2012, a 24-year-old female died following a cardiac arrest 2-3 hours after consuming magic mushrooms. She had received a heart transplant 10 years prior. Six months before her death she had had a clinic review and was ‘well with no physical limitations’. The plasma levels reported in the autopsy suggest a fairly high dose of psilocybin-containing mushrooms. Lim TH, Wasywich CA, Roygrok PN. ‘Letter to the Editor: A fatal case of ‘magic mushroom’ ingestion in a heart transplant recipient’. Internal Medicine Journal. Nov 19, 2012 (online).1268-9. Autopsy confirmed a healthy cardiac allograft (no allograft vasculopathy). Plasma toxicology revealed a psilocin level of 30 mg/L (consistent with magic mushroom toxicity) and a tetrahydrocannabinol level of 4 mg/L. No alcohol or other common drugs of abuse were detected. […] Only two deaths have been previously reported directly attributable to magic mushroom ingestion … We postulate that in this case excessive sympathetic stimulation of the transplanted heart as a result of Psilocybe mushroom toxicity led to fatal ventricular arrhythmias.’ 

Incident: Anonymous Female, 1996 # One death (commented on by Lim, Wasywich, and Roygrok) was reportedly the result of ‘neurological sequelae (somnolence and convulsions) 6-8 h after ingestion of an unknown quantity of magic-mushrooms’. Post-mortem toxicology revealed very high plasma psilocin concentration (4000 mg/L). Gerault A, Picart D. ‘Intoxication mortelle à la suite de la consommation volontaire et en groupe de champignons hallucinogeèes’. Bull Soc Mycol France 1996;112: 1-14. 

Incident: Anonymous, Date Unknown # An early death (commented on by Lim, Wasywich, and Roygrok) of which ‘details […] are scanty’. Buck RW. ‘Mushroom poisoning since 1924 in the United States’. Mycologia 1961;53:537-8.” (14)

Another magic mushroom-related death involved a shroom-induced fever in a six year old in Portland, Oregon in 1962. (15)

A supposed magic mushroom-related death in B.C. in 2009 – reported as such by the police – turned out not to be so after the toxicology report came back – but the police never corrected their initial speculations publicly. (16)

But these four shroom-related deaths are significantly less than the number of deaths involved with caffeinated energy drinks, (17) so one might reasonably expect similar regulations and restrictions. 

That’s overdose deaths. Are there any other risks? In the video that accompanied the Vancouver Sun article, Robert Rogers, herbalist and author of the book Psilocybin Mushrooms: The Magic, Science and Research suggests that addiction is a risk: 

“. . . today, there are a number of young people who suffer traumas of different types – including right through COVID – who are microdosing. That is they’re taking about a tenth of a normal dose, and they’re doing that on a daily basis. And I think that they’d be better off if they were under supervision and did a full dose – get the relief – get the shift in consciousness – rather than doing . . . trading one addiction for another addiction.” (18)

Firstly, trading an addiction from a potentially lethal, hazardous and/or expensive drug such as SSRI antidepressants, alcohol, tobacco, cocaine, heroin or other hard drugs for an addiction to a cheaper, safer and more effective drug would be a big win for most people. Addiction simply means an “attraction” – it can be positive or negative. And magic mushrooms have already been investigated as a means by which people can cure themselves of hard drug addiction. (19)

Secondly, dosing and/or microdosing shrooms can treat more than just trauma. 

There is evidence that shrooms can treat cluster headaches. (20) 

There are many studies that support the use of shrooms – sometimes in microdoses – for anxiety and depression. (21) An international study found that “79% of individuals who microdose with psychedelics report improvements in their mental health.” (22) One study indicated that psilocybin was at least as effective – if not more effective – than “established antidepressants.” (23) Another study found microdosing shrooms resulted in “increases in conscientiousness and reductions in neuroticism”. (24) Even in double-blind studies, shrooms did well:

“A 2006 double-blind study sponsored by the U.S. government found that about 80 percent of people who took psilocybin reported that their well-being improved and remained that way for months after their psychedelic experience (the control group did not). Even over a year later, participants said that it was one of the most meaningful experience of their lives and that they continued to see benefits of it.” (25)

Shrooms are a potential treatment for the somewhat universal minor or major cases of stress/depression/fatigue/insomnia/boredom that comes with late stage capitalism. Until the revolution comes, microdosing shrooms can mitigate an otherwise unacceptable but difficult-to-escape situation. 

 

As well, shrooms in various doses can help with creativity-deficit or writers-block related issues, or be taken simply for pleasure to help one enjoy an enjoyable life even more. Limiting shrooms to “trauma treatment” and nothing else is mis-understanding the true potential of the medicine. 

Are these risks inherent in the mushroom itself, or are they a function of prohibition?

Considering the two adults who died of shroom overdoses that we have details about involved either a heart-transplant recipient who may have had very rare vulnerabilities, or someone who had about 17.2 grams (4000mg of psilocin in 1 liter of blood times 4.3 liters of blood in the average sized female body) of psilocin (not 17 grams of magic mushroom, but 17 grams of the active ingredient within the magic mushroom) in her bloodstream which, given the typical amount of blood in the average-sized female (26) and given that there are about “10–12 mg of psilocybin per gram” of magic mushroom (27) and given that psilocybin turns into psilocin in the body (28) we can therefore conclude: 10 grams of shrooms would provide 100mg of psilocin, 100 grams of shrooms would provide 1000mg of psilocin, and 1700 grams of shrooms (1.7 kilograms) would be about 17.2 grams of psilocin. 

In other words, the heart-transplant recipient died from eating around 12 grams of shrooms, and the other overdose case involved well over a kilo and a half of shrooms – a kilo is 2.2 pounds. 

To avoid mushroom overdose deaths in the legal shroom market, warnings such as “don’t take shrooms if you have a heart condition – such as having had a heart transplant” – or “avoid eating over an ounce of shrooms” might be added to the warning section of the free information handouts available. Problem solved. 

As for the infants who died of a shroom-induced fever, a warning-label on all mushroom bags saying “keep away from children and pets” and child-proof bags for all threshold-dose mushroom candies should suffice to minimize harm to children and pets from accidental mushroom ingestion. These protocols are already in place at the mushroom Dispensary I work at. 

Is there such a thing as magic mushroom harm reduction?

Magic mushroom harm reduction is nearly identical to cannabis harm reduction. (29) It basically involves understanding a short list of harm-reduction related concepts:

Dose: amount you take at one time. 

Titration: how you determine and/or control your dose. 

Familiarity: how often you have used that particular shroom. 

Quality: how perfect the shroom is. 

Purity: how clean the shroom is. 

Potency: how strong the shroom is. 

Freshness: how recently it was harvested and dried. 

Strain/cultivar/variety: what kind of magic mushroom it is, and what active ingredients it contains. 

Setting: your surroundings. 

Mindset: your temperament, attitude, intelligence and experiences. 

Individual Physiology: how healthy you are, diet, sleep and your other drug habits. 

Mode Of Administration: method you use to get it inside your body. 

Concurrent Drug Use: what other stuff you’re on at the moment. 

Substitution: what you’re using shrooms instead of, or what you’re using instead of shrooms.

If you understand these concepts and how they relate to your use of shrooms, you understand shroom harm-reduction. 

Do you need someone with a degree to help you trip, or will a peer with some personal experience suffice?

Until “trip supervision” is covered under the healthcare system, not everyone will be able to afford a “clinical gatekeeper,” “licensed clinician” or “professional sitter” for their trips. Most people will have to continue to rely on their peers and trusted friends and family. It is obvious after a year of working in a magic mushroom dispensary that many people have gained a benefit from using magic mushrooms without the aid of a professional. So long as no major health issues arise from the existence of these mushroom dispensaries – and there’s no evidence that they have – people should be free to continue to get access to the services provided by these dispensaries. 

Have the number of people who have accidentally overdosed on magic mushrooms gone up or gone down since the opening of the mushroom dispensaries of Vancouver?

According to Paul Kroeger – cofounder of the Vancouver Mycological Society – the number of people who have reported a case of magic mushroom poisoning (not death, but some kind of unpleasant/scary experience) to the BC Center for Disease Control has gone up in recent years. Kroeger is compiling the data and will publish his findings soon. 

In conversations I’ve had with Kroeger, he has agreed that mushroom prohibition has failed to address mushroom-related harms, and shares this author’s belief that education is a far better tool to deal with these ignorance-based problems. Kroeger has expressed interest in helping to create a poster or pamphlet-based educational campaign that could address the increase in unwanted magic mushroom exposures in both adults and children. I personally look forward to assisting in the distribution of these posters and/or pamphlets to all the local mushroom dispensaries, to the cannabis dispensaries, and the harm-reduction drug peace activist groups. 

Has the number of people poisoned/died from the mis-identification of wild mushrooms increased or decreased since the dispensaries opened?

A 2019 article in the BC Medical Journal has identified 3 poisonings – and one death – from eating the highly toxic “Death Cap” mushroom in British Columbia – all three poisonings occuring before the mushroom dispensaries began opening up in 2019: 

“Death caps can easily be misidentified as an edible variety of mushroom, as seen in three cases of amateur foragers who mistook the death cap for other species. In 2003 a 43-year-old man in Victoria consumed an immature death cap he thought was a puffball mushroom. In 2008 a 63-year-old woman in Vancouver consumed a mature death cap she assumed was a paddy straw mushroom, a common variety in Asia but one not native to North America. Both patients recovered following hospitalization. In 2016 a 3-year-old boy died after consuming a death cap foraged from a residential street in Victoria.” (30)

 

 

 

 

While the ages of the three BC victims (43, 63 and 3) indicate the foragers either mis-identified what they thought were culinary mushrooms or else accidentally ingested a deadly mushroom from sheer infant curiosity, information regarding the age of victims of wild mushroom poisoning out of Ontario between 2013 and 2017 demonstrates the fact that at least some people who were poisoned by foraged wild mushrooms might have been looking to get high: 

“Figure 1 shows the distribution of cases by age group in the 1,012 cases where age was documented. The majority of cases (57%, 573/1,012) are younger than 12 years of age, which likely reflects accidental ingestions resulting in limited toxicity. Nearly a quarter of cases (23%, 237/1,012) are within the age group of 12-30, which may include individuals seeking psychedelic mushrooms.” (DML’s emphasis) (31)

 

This accidental poisoning of young people who were possibly looking to get high is even more understandable when one compares the look of some psychedelic mushrooms – most notably the White Golden Teachers or the Albino Penis Envy – and compare the look of those mushrooms with the deadly Death Caps and the Destroying Angels. Unless you were an expert, it would be difficult to tell the difference. 

There was a paper published in 2019 out of the Ontario Poison Center in Toronto which identified two cases of people mistaking a Cortinarius mushroom for a magic mushroom. They were probably Cortinarius orellanus – also known as “Fool’s Webcap.” (32) The paper also mentioned a case of a 15 year old having a bad reaction to a confirmed magic mushroom – a Psilocybe cubensis:

“There are two case reports in the literature describing possible association of ‘magic mushroom’ ingestion and renal injury. The first was of a 28-year-old man who presented with renal failure and required dialysis. He had mistakenly eaten a Cortinarius mushroom, instead of a hallucinogenic mushroom. On renal biopsy, orellanine toxin was detected, confirming the exposure. The second case was a 20-year-old woman who presented with symptomatic renal failure 5 days after ingesting what she believed to be ‘magic mushrooms’. Her symptoms resolved with supportive treatment, and she did not require renal replacement therapies. Of note, she denied experiencing the expected hallucinations or altered sensorium after ingesting the mushrooms. The authors suspected that this patient’s renal failure was in fact due to consumption of a Cortinarius mushroom, however the identity of the mushroom she ate was never confirmed, and the patient was lost to follow-up. Here, we report a case of a patient with evidence of AKI (acute kidney injury) on day 2 post-ingestion of confirmed Psilocybe cubensis mushroom. Based on the temporal association of exposure to the mushrooms in the absence of any other possible cause, we have hypothesized that the AKI was related to Psilocybe cubensis ingestion.” (33)

Paul Kroeger argues that younger teens may be extra sensitive to magic mushrooms, which may be a good reason to encourage them to delay tripping until they are older, or at the very least take extra care in supervising their use to make sure only micro or moderate doses are taken. 

 

This author is unable to find similar data for British Columbia. But if it is true that almost a quarter of those poisoned by wild mushrooms are young people looking to get high, then the existence of magic mushroom dispensaries will no doubt act as a force for safer magic mushroom access, a reduction in overall mushroom misidentification, and – if allowed to exist and be accessed by those seeking magic mushrooms – reduce the overall number of mushroom-related fatalities and serious mushroom poisonings from an already relatively low number to an even lower number. 

Ultimately, do the benefits of mushroom dispensaries outweigh the risks?

Given the massive amount of research currently being undertaken into the medicinal benefits of magic mushrooms, and the current demand for them, and the lack of obvious health problems associated with them (with rare exceptions) and the obvious benefits of a safe supply of high-quality, properly identified cultivars, it seems that the benefits of the magic mushroom dispensaries outweigh the risks. 

If the benefits do outweigh the risks, what would reasonable magic mushroom dispensary regulations look like?

If magic mushrooms were legalized, what would be the ideal regulatory model? Firstly, there should be no “caps” on the number of suppliers. Magic mushroom cultivators and wildcrafters should be able trade inspections for licenses, and should be inspected by professional mycologists to make sure they know what they’re doing and are familiar with all the standard safety protocols. Information should be made available to maximize the purity and quality of the products. The goal should be to transform illegal operations into legal ones, rather than suffer another corporate shroom cartel takeover – similar to what happened in the cannabis industry. 

Second, magic mushroom retailers should be required to obtain their mushrooms from licensed cultivators and wildcrafters, thereby guaranteeing proper identification of the mushroom. Quality control standards should be put in place to make sure no substandard products make it to the consumer, and that proper labeling and packaging protocols are followed. Food safe protocols should be mandatory, and point-of-sale educational materials should be made available. Finally, participation in educational campaigns – such as posters educating the public about proper storage of magic mushrooms or the identification of particularly lethal local wild mushrooms – should be another criteria for acquiring a license to sell magic mushrooms. 

Online mail-order and delivery services should be similarly regulated. In this way all consumers can benefit from the best regulations possible, and nobody in the legacy magic mushroom market need lose their income. 

The lessons that came with cannabis prohibition and cannabis “legalization” can be applied to magic mushroom legalization. As with all other illegal drugs, the harms are prohibition based and ignorance based. The solutions to all problems presented involve education and some reasonable, harm-based regulations. 

Amazing online resources:

“The Discovery Of Mushrooms That Cause Strange Visions,” Life Magazine, May 13, 1957

“The Discovery Of Mushrooms That Cause Strange Visions,” Life Magazine, May 13, 1957

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Golden Guide to Hallucinogenic Plants by Richard Evans Shultes GOLDEN PRESS, NEW YORK, 1976, Western Publishing Company, Inc.

 

 

GOLDEN PRESS, NEW YORK, 1976, Western Publishing Company, Inc.

The Vaults of Erowild – psilocybin mushrooms

 

 

Citations: 

1) Michael Horowitz, “PSILOCYBIAN MUSHROOMS/PSILOCYBIN/PSILOCIN,” High Times Encyclopedia of Recreational Drugs, Stonehill Publishing Company, NY, 1978, pp. 199-200

See also: https://www.mediamatic.net/en/page/184971/history-of-the-magic-mushroom

2) “On 3 November 2020, voters passed a ballot initiative in Oregon that made ‘magic mushrooms’ legal for mental health treatment in supervised settings from 1 February 2021.”

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legal_status_of_psilocybin_mushrooms

3) “Magic mushroom dispensaries operating openly in Vancouver – The city now boasts a handful of dispensaries; VPD says it is focused on gang-fuelled trafficking of opioids,” Joel Ballard · CBC News · Mar 16, 2022

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/magic-mushroom-dispensaries-in-vancouver-1.6385792

4) “Vancouver dispensaries hope to spur legalization by selling magic mushrooms – Dana Larsen cites studies suggesting psilocybin can help treat people with depression and PTSD,” Sarah Grochowski, Apr 03, 2022

https://vancouversun.com/news/local-news/vancouver-dispensaries-hope-to-spur-legalization-by-selling-magic-mushrooms   

5) “Magic mushroom dispensaries operating openly in Vancouver The city now boasts a handful of dispensaries; VPD says it is focused on gang-fuelled trafficking of opioids,” Joel Ballard · CBC News · Mar 16, 2022

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/magic-mushroom-dispensaries-in-vancouver-1.6385792

6) https://numinus.com/services/

7) “The group’s Numinus Health division, which runs a network of wellness clinics, reported $648,000 in revenue, up 62% sequentially and nearly 1,900% from the same quarter last year when it only had one clinic. The firm had nearly 6,200 clinic appointments during the quarter.” 

“Numinus Wellness sees big jump in revenue in 1Q as Health Canada expands Special Access Program for psychedelic treatment,” 20 Jan 2022

https://ca.proactiveinvestors.com/companies/news/971773/numinus-wellness-sees-big-jump-in-revenue-in-1q-as-health-canada-expands-special-access-program-for-psychedelic-treatment-971773.html

8) https://numinus.com/team/dr-evan-woods-md-phd/

9) Affidavit of Professor Susan Boyd, 2014

http://www.johnconroy.com/pdf/Affidavit-of-Susan-Boyd-January-15-2014.pdf

10) stoptheviolencebc.org/about-us/

11) “The Liberal Party elite is heavily invested in the medical marijuana Licensed Producers mail-order business,” April 11, 2017

https://pot-facts.ca/the-liberal-party-elite-is-heavily-invested-in-the-medical-marijuana-licensed-producers-mail-order-business/

12) “The Canadian Senate created a loophole that allowed mobsters to invest in LPs,” January 28, 2019

http://pot-facts.ca/the-canadian-senate-created-a-loophole-that-allowed-mobsters-to-invest-in-lps/

13) https://mushroomdispensary.com/protocols/

14) “Psilocybin Mushrooms Fatalities / Deaths,” by Erowid

https://erowid.org/plants/mushrooms/mushrooms_death.shtml

15) Paul Kroeger, co-founder of the Vancouver Mycological Society, personal communication. 

https://www.vanmyco.org/about-vms/club-personnel/

See also: “Convulsions from psilocybe mushroom poisoning,” E L MCCAWLEY, R E BRUMMETT, G W DANA, Proc West Pharmacol Soc . 1962; 5:27-33.    https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/13932070/

16) Paul Kroeger, personal communication. 

“RCMP here have issued a warning against consuming magic mushrooms, after the death of a B.C. man. Cpl. Bryson Hill said preliminary results from an autopsy performed on a 23-year-old man who died while in the Halfway Hot Springs Nov. 8, indicate his death could be linked to him taking what he thought were hallucination-causing magic mushrooms or psilocybin mushrooms. News reports identified the man as Dieter Eggers of Taylor, near Fort St. John. Eggers was with a friend at the hot springs when he suddenly stopped breathing. It will be a week before police receive toxicology results, but until then police were ‘working to prevent any further incidents’ by issuing the warning. ‘Although police have not yet been able to determine the origin of the mushrooms suspected to be linked to this death, police are urging everyone to avoid consuming anything that is believed to be ‘magic mushrooms’ or psilocybin mushrooms as there may be poisonous substances being sold as magic mushrooms,’ said the news release.”

“‘Magic’ mushrooms may link to fatality,” Times Colonist, Victoria, B.C., Canada, Nov. 17, 2009, p. 9

https://mycotopia.net/topic/51984-magic-mushrooms-being-prematurely-blamed-for-hotspring-death/

17) “Death by Energy Drinks 1. A near-fatal case in Australia was researched in 2009. Between 8 am and 3 pm the 28-year-old patient drank 7-8 cans of an unnamed energy drink. He collapsed at 3 pm and suffered a cardiac arrest. Luckily after CPR, paramedics restarted his heart and he recovered.  Researchers “…postulate a possible role of excessive consumption of caffeinated energy drinks in triggering the life-threatening cardiac events”. 2. A Nigerian man died after drinking 8 cans of Bullet Energy Drink. He did this as part of a bet to win less than 100usd. After he finished the last can, he became unconscious and was pronounced dead a short time later. It is unclear how much caffeine is in Bullet, but it seems comparable to that of a Red Bull. Source. 3. A Japanese man died from drinking too many energy drinks along with a possible intake of caffeine pills. Shinichi Kubo, a professor of forensic medicine at the university, concluded that the man had died from a caffeine overdose and reported the results to the police after carrying out an examination. While no other illness or abnormality was recognized, a small amount of alcohol was found in the man’s blood and a high concentration of caffeine was contained in his gastric residuals, blood, and urine. Source. 4. In 2017, a 16-year-old South Carolina high school student died from consuming too much caffeine according to the Richland County Coroner. (src.) There was no pre-existing heart condition discovered during the autopsy. It is believed that Davis Allen Cripe consumed a large McDonald’s latte, a large Mountain Dew, and an unknown energy drink within the two hours proceeding his collapse in the classroom. This comes right on the heels of a recent study that found energy drinks to have a greater impact on blood pressure and heart rate than beverages that contain just caffeine alone. Even though Davis didn’t consume a lethal amount of caffeine, something with the combination of what he consumed caused him to have a severe arrhythmia, which led to his death. monster energy drink deaths 5. The FDA is investigating 13 deaths that have been attributed to 5 Hour Energy Shot over the last four years. Death by Monster 1. A tragic fatality occurred in the US in 2011 after a 14-year-old girl consumed two 24 ounce cans of Monster (480mg caffeine) before going into cardiac arrest. 2. In 2013, a mother filed a lawsuit against Monster for the death of her 19-year-old son. He consumed 3 Monsters in the 24 hours prior to his death and about 2 to 3 a day for the last 3 years. Three 16 oz. Monsters would contain 480 milligrams of caffeine. 3. In 2015 a 19-year-old man reportedly drank 3 1/2 twenty-four fluid ounce Monsters and then played basketball. He collapsed while playing and died at the hospital. His father is now suing Monster (January 2017) for unspecified damages. This young man would have consumed 840 mg of caffeine in short period of time. The cause of death was cardiac arrhythmia which was triggered by the excessive caffeine and vigorous exercise. Source.”

Documented Deaths By Caffeine

https://www.caffeineinformer.com/a-real-life-death-by-caffeine

18) “Vancouver dispensaries hope to spur legalization by selling magic mushrooms – Dana Larsen cites studies suggesting psilocybin can help treat people with depression and PTSD,” Sarah Grochowski, Apr 03, 2022, at 3:28 of the video.

https://vancouversun.com/news/local-news/vancouver-dispensaries-hope-to-spur-legalization-by-selling-magic-mushrooms   

19) https://www.washingtonian.com/2014/01/07/professor-probes-psychedelic-drugs-for-a-cure-to-nicotine-addiction/

20) “Cluster Headache Treatment with Psilocybin Mushrooms & LSD”

https://erowid.org/plants/mushrooms/mushrooms_medical1.shtml

See also: “Longtime Sufferers of Cluster Headaches Find Relief in Psychedelics,” Valerie Vande Panne, Jul. 12, 2017 https://www.thedailybeast.com/longtime-sufferers-of-cluster-headaches-find-relief-in-psychedelics

“Suffer from migraines? Psilocybin can reduce their frequency, study finds,” Mike Hitch, November 24, 2020 https://happymag.tv/psilocybin-magic-mushroom-decrease-migraines/

21) “Consistent efficacy-related brain changes, correlating with robust antidepressant effects across two studies, suggest an antidepressant mechanism for psilocybin therapy: global increases in brain network integration.” 

“Increased global integration in the brain after psilocybin therapy for depression,” Richard E. Daws, Christopher Timmermann, Bruna Giribaldi, James D. Sexton, Matthew B. Wall, David Erritzoe, Leor Roseman, David Nutt & Robin Carhart-Harris, Nature Medicine, 11 April 2022

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41591-022-01744-z

“Respondents tended to experiment with microdosing in phases, reporting mostly positive consequences from this form of drug use. Reported effects included improved mood, cognition, and creativity, which often served to counteract symptoms especially from conditions of anxiety and depression.”

“Powerful substances in tiny amounts: An interview study of psychedelic microdosing,” Petter Grahl Johnstad, Nordic Studies on Alcohol and Drugs, February 15, 2018

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1455072517753339

PSILOCYBIN FOR DEPRESSION AND ANXIETY IN PATIENTS WITH CANCER:  “…psilocybin produced large decreases in clinician- and self-rated measures of depressed mood and anxiety, along with increases in quality of life, life meaning, and optimism, and decreases in death anxiety. At 6-month follow-up, these changes were sustained…” 

“Psilocybin produces substantial and sustained decreases in depression and anxiety in patients with life-threatening cancer: A randomized double-blind trial.” Journal of Psychopharmacology, November 2016 

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0269881116675513

PSILOCYBIN FOR RAPID AND SUSTAINED REDUCTION IN ANXIETY AND DEPRESSION “…psilocybin produced immediate, substantial, and sustained improvements in anxiety and depression and led to decreases in cancer-related demoralization and hopelessness, improved spiritual wellbeing, and increased quality of life.”

“Rapid and sustained symptom reduction following psilocybin treatment for anxiety and depression in patients with life-threatening cancer.” Journal of Psychopharmacology, November 2016 

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0269881116675512

“Psilocybin was well tolerated by all of the patients, and no serious or unexpected adverse events occurred. Relative to baseline, depressive symptoms were markedly reduced 1 week and 3 months after treatment. Marked and sustained improvements in anxiety and anhedonia were also noted.”

“Psilocybin with psychological support for treatment-resistant depression: an open-label feasibility study,” The Lancet, May 2016 

https://www.thelancet.com/pb/assets/raw/Lancet/pdfs/S2215036616300657.pdf

“Potential of psilocybin to alleviate psychological and spiritual distress in cancer patients is revealed,” January 31, 2013

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/01/130131095040.htm

Mushrooms as Medicine? Psychedelics May Be Next Breakthrough Treatment Written by Gigen Mammoser on February 12, 2019

https://www.healthline.com/health-news/benefits-of-medical-mushrooms

22) “International study finds 79% of individuals who microdose with psychedelics report improvements in their mental health,” Beth Ellwood, October 28, 2020

https://www.psypost.org/2020/10/international-study-finds-79-of-individuals-who-microdose-with-psychedelics-report-improvements-in-their-mental-health-58391

23) “Trial of Psilocybin versus Escitalopram for Depression,” Robin Carhart-Harris, Ph.D., Bruna Giribaldi, B.Sc., Rosalind Watts, D.Clin.Psy., Michelle Baker-Jones, B.A., Ashleigh Murphy-Beiner, M.Sc., Roberta Murphy, M.D., Jonny Martell, M.D., Allan Blemings, M.Sc., David Erritzoe, M.D., and David J. Nutt, M.D., April 15, 2021 N Engl J Med 2021; 384:1402-1411

https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa2032994

24) “Microdosing psychedelic drugs associated with increases in conscientiousness and reductions in neuroticism,” Journal of Psychedelic Studies, April 2021

https://www.psypost.org/2021/04/microdosing-psychedelic-drugs-associated-with-increases-in-conscientiousness-and-reductions-in-neuroticism-60274

25) “Study: Magic mushrooms are the safest drug But they’re still illegal.” 

SARA CHODOSH | PUBLISHED MAY 25, 2017

https://www.popsci.com/magic-mushrooms-safe/#page-2

26) “. . . about 9 pints (4.3 liters) of blood in an average-sized female (5 feet 5 inches tall and weighing 165 pounds)”   https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/321122#blood-volume

27) Psilocybin

https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/immunology-and-microbiology/psilocybin 

28) “Psilocybin is converted in the liver to the pharmacologically active psilocin, which is then either glucuronated to be excreted in the urine or further converted to various psilocin metabolites.”

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psilocybin

29) https://pot-facts.ca/cannabis-harm-reduction-concepts-are-not-difficult-to-understand/

30) “The world’s most poisonous mushroom, Amanita phalloides, is growing in BC,” Maxwell Moor-Smith, BSc, Raymond Li, BSc(Pharm), MSc, Omar Ahmad, MD, FRCPC, bc medical journal vol. 61 no. 1, january/february 2019 bcmj.org  https://bcmj.org/sites/default/files/BCMJ_Vol61_No1-poison-mushroom.pdf

31) “EVIDENCE BRIEF Foraged Mushroom Consumption in Ontario,” November 2019

https://www.publichealthontario.ca/-/media/documents/e/2019/eb-foraged-mushroom-consumption.pdf

32) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cortinarius_orellanus

33) “Acute renal injury cause by confirmed Psilocybe cubensis mushroom ingestion,” Emily Austin, Hilary S. Myron, Richard K. Summerbell, and Constance A. Mackenzie, Med Mycol Case Rep. 2019 Mar; 23: 55–57. Published online 2018 Dec 22. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6322052/