In recent years, psychedelics have shifted from being symbols of hippie counterculture to becoming tools embraced by scientists, therapists, and even lawmakers. The United States was an epicenter of this shift: Oregon regulated psilocybin therapy through Measure 109 in 2020, and other states have considered following suit.
However, the market’s expansion has also brought new risks, like products sold as “magic mushrooms” that do not actually contain psilocybin, the compound that produces psychedelic effects. So, what’s going on?
The study that raised alarms
Researchers at Oregon State University (OSU) analyzed 12 edibles (11 gummies and a chocolate bar) sold in Portland stores under the label “magic mushroom edibles.” They were purchased and tested at Rose City Labs, in collaboration with OSU and Shimadzu, the company that supplied the analytical equipment. The results were disturbing: none of the products contained psilocybin, the classic active compound in shrooms. Though the sample size was small, the extent of mislabeling made the findings significant.
Instead, the testing revealed other substances: kava, caffeine, THC, hemp extracts, and even synthetic compounds such as 4-AcO-MiPT and 4-HO-DET, psychedelics from the tryptamine family. Other samples contained muscimol, the active active compound of the Amanita muscaria mushroom, a different species from Psilocybe, with very different pharmacology.
Furthermore, some samples did not contain natural psilocybin, but rather small amounts of psilocin, the active molecule into which psilocybin is normally converted within the body. In this case, the researchers noted that the psilocin did not come from actual mushrooms, but had likely been synthesized in a laboratory.
“We don’t know what harm they might cause,” cautioned Richard van Breemen, co-author of the study and professor at OSU.
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Author: Camila Berriex / High Times
