Magic mushrooms - how we met. "magic" mushrooms What effects do magic mushrooms cause?

Magic mushrooms are another species of little-studied representatives of the mushroom kingdom. They are also called magic, psychogenic or hallucinogenic mushrooms. The fruiting bodies of such mushrooms contain hallucinogenic substances.

After consumption, the victim’s consciousness changes, the perception of space changes, emotions sharply intensify, and thinking changes. Such altered consciousness in a person is defined by the term psychedelic trip. The English use the word Trip to mean travel.

In our country, collecting and storing hallucinogenic mushrooms is prohibited by law.

Magic mushrooms have been known since ancient times. In Siberia, shamans have always used magic mushrooms to enter a trip state. In this state, sorcerers penetrated the fourth dimension and quite successfully treated people and animals. To enter the trip you need quite a lot of these small mushrooms, so all the mushrooms were given only to the shamans.

But observant reindeer herders noticed that deer with great pleasure eat snow soaked in the urine of shamans. Further it is clear: reindeer herders began to collect the urine of shamans in special vessels and use this drug. Cheap and cheerful! For this reason, the reindeer herders did not even think of moonshine.

Scientists suggest that the drug is not absorbed by the human body, but activates some processes. By the way, scientists believe that this only applies to male urine.

How do magic mushrooms affect a person?

After just 10 minutes, tingling appears in the fingertips, slight dizziness occurs, and the pulse rises slightly. Then the color perception changes: all colors appear much brighter than in reality. Distant objects come closer, and close ones move away.

The peak of the trip occurs after an hour: all sensations intensify sharply, all objects come to life. Logical thinking deteriorates sharply. The victim cannot adequately communicate with people around him. The peak of altered consciousness lasts up to three hours.

The most detailed description of the state of a trip can be found in the famous fairy tale about Alice in Wonderland. There the caterpillar directly offers the girl a bite from the mushroom cap. After each dose, the child felt as if her body was changing.

Scientists note that a similar state is produced by the use of LSD. Hey Carroll! Back in the century before last, he suggested that children use hallucinogenic mushrooms. And he described all the symptoms of poisoning with great knowledge of the matter.

What effects do magic mushrooms cause?

Lewis Carroll bashfully kept silent about the fact that Alice could very well have damaged her psyche and physical health. The trip state is very often accompanied by nausea and vomiting, diarrhea and drooling. Involuntary tears flow down my face.

This is what Alice really should have looked like after talking to the caterpillar. I think that the shamans looked no better.

What are they, magic mushrooms?

Science knows about 25 types of hallucinogenic mushrooms. There is no exact classification, but hallucinogens are divided into two types.

• The fruiting bodies contain psilocybin and psilocin. These include: bell-bellied dung beetle, hay dung beetle, dung bald head, fiber and some others. Even the names are pretty disgusting.
• The second type is some fly agarics. These are: panther fly agaric, green toadstool, conical grebe, red fly agaric, royal fly agaric and gray fly agaric.

Attention!!! The article in no way constitutes propaganda for the use of any narcotic or hallucinogenic substances!!!

AND The history of hallucinogenic (not quite the right word, because mushrooms do not cause hallucinations, a person always understands that various visions come to him, but this is not a hallucination in the psychiatric sense) mushrooms goes back many millennia. When a person first tried these mushrooms, no one knows. Western civilization first encountered them during the colonization of America. Columbus's discovery brought Europeans not only new lands and new wealth, but also introduced them to the alien and mysterious Indian culture, which had developed in isolation for thousands of years.

C Central America, and Mexico in particular, are unique in that this territory is home to the largest number of hallucinogenic plant species known to modern science. Many of these plants were traditionally used by the Indians. These plants include the peyote cactus (Lophophora wiliamsii), certain types of hallucinogenic mushrooms (Psilocybe mexicana, etc.), the ololihuki vine (Turbina corymbos and Ipomoea violacea) and the so-called “Mary's leaves” (Salvia Divinorum).

P The first written mention of the use of mushrooms with hallucinogenic activity for religious purposes is found in the descriptions of Spanish chroniclers and naturalists who came to Mexico in the 16th century shortly after its conquest by Cortez. “Indian shamans, using this mushroom, enter an altered state of consciousness, while in which they communicate with spirits, predict the future, heal people, in a word, they do everything that a shaman is supposed to do.”

AND It is interesting that according to Indian beliefs, in order to heal a person from an illness, a shaman can give a hallucinogenic drug to the patient, he can use it himself, or both the shaman and the patient use the drug. In other words, the concept of medicine in the Indian worldview differs from the European one; it can be taken by both the patient and the doctor.

ABOUT One of the most authoritative among the early authors is the Franciscan monk Bernardino de Sahagún, the author of a work entitled “General History of the Events of New Spain.” In his various works, he pointed to the active use of mushrooms, described in detail the effects of taking hallucinogens and their use for various purposes not only by priests, but also by ordinary Aztecs for entertainment, relaxation and recuperation. It is known that during the coronation of the Aztec emperor Montezuma, magic mushrooms were served at the table.

IN Nahuatl - in the Aztec language, these mushrooms were called teonanactl, which translated means “sacred mushroom”, “flesh of god”. The use of psilocybe mushrooms was widespread not only in Mexico, but in El Salvador, Guatemala and other countries. This is confirmed by numerous finds of 30-centimeter stone sculptures of mushrooms, decorated with the faces of gods and demons, the age of the oldest of them reaches 3000 years.

WITH The Holy Inquisition could not agree with such practices and the use of these “satanic plants” was brutally eradicated. Many Indians met their death on the gallows or at the stake due to the consumption of these plants. However, it was not possible to eradicate these traditions. Subsequently, descriptions of these practices ceased, largely due to the fact that hallucinatory phenomena were interpreted by subsequent researchers as the result of local superstitions. This was also facilitated by the fact that in 1915 the American botanist Dr. W. E. Safford, in an address to the Botanical Society in Washington and in the Society's theses, pointed out that the effects described by the Spanish monks were actually the result of taking dried peyote, and not mushrooms.

WITH In those very times nothing was heard of magic mushrooms. The tradition of using peyote in a modified form has successfully survived to this day, and many scientists have studied it. Rituals associated with mushrooms have been kept in deep secrecy only in the most remote corners of Mexico from civilization.

AND Indians believe that the mushroom talks to a person and, through a state of intoxication, reveals its secrets to him. Both ancient pre-Columbian and Christian traditions are intertwined in today's Indian beliefs. In the modern interpretation, it is not spirits who talk to the shaman, but Christ himself communicates with him through a mushroom. The Indians guarded these rituals so jealously that all this time not one of the white people knew about it. Some scientists even began to doubt the reliability of medieval chronicles. However, scientists have long noticed that the effect of certain psychoactive substances is very mysterious, and the concept of “toxic psychosis” only covers a complex of unstudied phenomena that are directly related to the characteristics of a healthy human psyche.

ABOUT One of the first researchers to recognize the cognitive potential of ecstatic intoxication was the American philosopher and psychologist William James. At the beginning of the twentieth century, he suggested that “...Our normal, or, as we call it, rational consciousness represents only one form of consciousness, and other forms, completely different from it, exist next to it, separated from it only by a subtle partition... Our understanding of the world cannot be complete if we do not take into account these forms of consciousness." (The Varieties of Religious Experience, p. 302) The mushroom Psilocybe cubensis was first described by the American botanist Earle in 1906 in Cuba.

IN In 1933, anthropologist Robert J. Weitlaner and Dr. Richard Evans Schultz, a botanist at Harvard University, discovered the growth of fungi of the genus Psilocybe in Latin America. That same year, a group of young American anthropologists, led by Jan Bassett Johnson, attended secret ritual ceremonies associated with the use of hallucinogenic mushrooms in Guautle de Jimenez, Oaxaca. But these researchers were only spectators; they were not allowed to take part in eating the mushrooms. It was only in 1938 that the American botanist Richard Shults obtained specimens of these mushrooms in a remote village in the mountains of southern Mexico.

AND The history of the further development of psychopharmacology and ethnomycology (the science that studies the traditions of using mushrooms) certainly belongs to a couple of American researchers - Valentina Pavlovna Wasson, Russian by birth, and her husband, R. Gordon Wasson. In 1955, New York millionaire and part-time ethnobotanist Gordon Wasson visited the same place and for the first time in the history of whites in Mexico, a white man took an active part in a shamanic ceremony and consumed these mushrooms.

IN Subsequently, the Wassons joined forces with the French professor of mycology Roger Heim. Accompanying the Wassons on their further expeditions, Heim identified teonanacatl and showed that they belonged to the family Strophariaceae, genus Psilocybe. The mushroom Psilocybe mexicana he discovered turned out to be especially suitable for artificial cultivation. These events turned the course of history, and it was thanks to them that Westerners became acquainted with magic mushrooms.

P At first, information about mushrooms was available only to a narrow circle of readers of specialized scientific journals. The chemists were faced with the question: what substance is responsible for the extraordinary properties of these mushrooms? Several laboratories in different countries simultaneously tried to solve this riddle. This situation resembled a cheap detective story for the simple reason that one of Wasson’s assistants was none other than a CIA agent. This organization had its own plans regarding hallucinogens. At that time, targeted research was carried out, the purpose of which was to establish whether it was possible to use psychotropic drugs as a “drug of truth”, for zombifying people, mass “brainwashing” and for other similar base purposes. The CIA did its best to prevent the dissemination of information about them outside America. In secret circulars, mushrooms were declared a “national prerogative.” However, samples of the mushrooms found their way to Europe.

IN In the 50s, G. Wasson gave samples of stropharia (psilocybe) cubensis to Albert Hofmann, the inventor of LSD, from the laboratory of Sandoz, Switzerland. In 1957, based on the material received from Heim, Hofmann isolated substances from these mushrooms that were almost indistinguishable from LSD in action, and also synthesized them. He calls the substances psilocybin and psilocin.

E These results were first published in March 1958 in the journal Experientia, in collaboration with Professor Heim and Hofmann's colleagues Dr. A. Bark and Dr. H. Kobel. Shortly thereafter, the pharmaceutical firm Sandoz began commercializing psilocybin, making it available to research laboratories around the world.

H The man who made knowledge about magic mushrooms available to the masses was Timothy Leary. In 1960, he tried magic mushrooms, and this event changed not only his life, but also the fate of many millions of people. Mushrooms had such a stunning effect on Leary that he decided to devote his entire life to the study of hallucinogenic substances. In the 1960s, as a professor at Harvard University, he and his partner Richard Alpert conducted hundreds of experiments using LSD and psilocybin. Of particular note among these studies is the so-called “Concord Project,” during which Leary and Alpert conducted psychedelic sessions using psilocybin among prisoners at the Concord prison - the experiment was a failure. However, Leary is best known not for his scientific research, but for its consequences. For the American establishment, he was an odious figure, a “seducer of youth,” an apologist for the use of drugs, etc. Leary was an idol of hippies, and at one time even ran for governor of California. After he was kicked out of Harvard, he was the head of several organizations that, among other things, conducted seminars using psychedelics. He became an increasingly undesirable figure for the authorities, and in 1966 he was put behind bars on a trumped-up drug smuggling case.

IN Soon after, LSD was banned in the United States, followed by psilocybin, and then similar legislative changes were adopted in most of the "developed" countries of the world. Undoubtedly, LSD was and remains a psychedelic not only of the sixties, but of the present time. However, after its ban, people interested in the psychedelic experience began to look for a legal replacement. Psilocybin mushrooms have caught the attention of many. Oddly enough, it was the prohibitive measures of the late 60s that gave a powerful impetus to mushroom research. Enthusiasts all over the world began searching for psilocybin-containing mushrooms and methods for their artificial cultivation. One of these people was Terence McKenna.

IN In 1975, under the pseudonyms Oss and Eric, he and his brother Dennis published a booklet, A Guide to Growing Magic Mushrooms, which described methods for growing the mushroom Stropharia (syn. Psilocybe) cubenis. Following this, a large number of books by other authors were published with improved and revised techniques, however, it should be recognized that the McKenna brothers were the first. In parallel with this, literature appeared on wild mushrooms. It turned out that several dozen species of mushrooms containing psilocybin or psilocin grow in nature. These mushrooms grow in all regions of the world, with the exception of the polar regions.

T The traditions of using the species in Russia over the past 1000 years are covered in esoteric darkness, although hidden mushroom allusions are present, for example, in Pskov architecture, tombstones of Old Believers, and folklore.

History of discovery

1000 - 500 BC.- The peoples of Central American cultures create “stone mushrooms” (sculptures), found in our time in Mexico and Guatemala.

13th - 15th century- The Vienna Codex describes the ritual use of mushrooms by various deities, depicting some of them holding mushrooms in their hands.

16th century- An Aztec statue was found depicting the Prince of Flowers, decorated with 6 psychoactive plants: mushrooms, tobacco, morning glory...

June 15, 1521- Mushrooms and peyote are used clandestinely, since the use of all psychoactive substances with the exception of alcohol is prohibited by Europeans in Mexico. Catholic priests punish for using mushrooms, peyote...

1560 - Franciscan friar Bernardino de Sahagún records in his Florentine Codex the Aztecs' use of hallucinogenic mushrooms and peyote. He believes that peyote was already in use in the 3rd century BC.

1938 - Schultes and Reko travel to Mexico and collect specimens of several varieties of psychoactive mushrooms, which are still in the Harvard herbarium.

June 29, 1955- Ethnobotanist R. Gordon Wasson took an active part in a shamanic ceremony in Mexico and consumed mushrooms with Maria Sabina.

May 13, 1957- Wasson publishes an article on his research on psychoactive mushrooms in Life Magazine, considered the first public press coverage of their existence.

1958 - Psilocybin was first isolated by Albert Hofmann.

1960 - Timothy Leary uses psychoactive mushrooms for the first time in Mexico. He and Richard Alpert then began a series of experiments with Harvard graduate students using pure psilocybin.

1960s- Tablets (pills) with psilocybin appear, they are produced by the famous Sandoz laboratory.
Hofmann gives synthetic psilocybin to Maria Sabina.

April 1962- 20 students at Boston University are participating in a "psilocybin" experiment.

1963 - Leary and Alpert were relieved of their duties at Harvard, at least partially.

October 27, 1970- The well-known drug control law “U.S. Drug Abuse Regulation and Control Act of 1970” (List I, II, III) is issued. It places most known hallucinogens (LSD, psilocybin, psilocin, mescaline, peyote, hashish, and MDA) in Schedule I. Coca bush, cocaine, and intravenous methamphetamine are in Schedule II. Other amphetamines and stimulants, including non-IV methamphetamine in Schedule III.

1960-1977 - Psilocybin was studied as a drug for psychotherapeutic purposes during the 1960-1970s. All research was planned until 1990, but completed in 1977.

June 5, 2002- Japan. Mushrooms become illegal and cannot be sold in Japan. They are prohibited from being consumed, but well-known Japanese stores were previously allowed to sell all available mushrooms.

Even before our trip to Bali, we learned that special "magic" mushrooms. It’s very strange, since there are very serious penalties for drugs here. Up to and including the death penalty. But since, in the presence of execution, the government allows this type of psychostimulants, then there is nothing wrong with trying it. Safely. So on one of our first evenings in, we went looking.

The very first bar selling magic mushrooms should have alerted us. An employee of the establishment was lying pressed into the sofa. Apparently it was a cook (or a mushroom picker?), since his imprint was almost epic - his body seemed to be glued to the fabric. Apparently he experienced overload like a real astronaut on his flight into space. It was a bit expensive there and we moved on.

In general, after about twenty minutes we found a place with reasonable prices. After some hard bargaining, the price dropped to $15 for portions for two. Grandfather took a bag of some toadstools from the refrigerator, threw them into the mixer, and poured two bottles of Coca-Cola into it. A minute later we had swill in our plastic takeaway cups, classified by Lena as coca cola with mushroom flavor . Terrible rubbish. But there is nowhere to retreat, because the 15 bucks already paid are behind.

We stocked up on water at the store (the Internet reported that after taking it we were very thirsty). While I was in the store, Lena was sitting on her bike and waiting for me. At this time, a local mushroom lover approached her and talked to her. He was properly pumped up and was rubbing something in. He said that they took the goods for a good price. He tried to depict sexual intercourse on his fingers and claimed that after mushrooms there was good sex. But only need Viagra . He offered a Viagra tablet to Lena. Why does she need it? Lena tried to pretend that nothing like that was happening and was generally making small talk, although the guy was clearly flying somewhere in the sky and his whole conversation looked more like nonsense. You send someone like that to three letters, and he will come down from heaven and throw out a trick. Or it will simply fall on your tailbone from surprise. And answer us. Then I came up. He offered Viagra to me. I said thank you, no need, everything works there and we went to the room.

We lay down on the bed and drank the mushroom cola to the bottom. We started waiting for the effect. Some kind of bullshit. Nothing happened other than mild nausea from the vile drink. Finally, after about ten minutes, I started to feel something. Something unpleasant began to stir in my chest. An emotional upsurge began. First bubbles of euphoria . It was not very pleasant, since the “joy” was forcibly infused with chemicals. I tried to resist, but who am I against magic mushrooms?

After another 10 minutes the swelling began to get much worse. Some kind of hormonal surge began and euphoria overwhelmed me. This is a very complex feeling of some kind of childish joy. Deep and dull, unconditional. I just experienced a wild emotional upsurge. I looked at the ceiling and it made me happy, I looked at the walls - the same thing. I kept raising my hands to my mouth in an involuntary gesture of intense admiration. Sometimes he jerked his legs, like a child happily knocking on the bed. It was a primitive joy, not conditioned by thoughts or feelings. Something coming from within. That's what made it scary. With your insincerity. I experienced not a real human feeling, not spiritual delight, but a cruel hormonal storm. It became almost impossible to control, I surrendered more and more to the power of nature . I decided to read Twitter. Some messages made me delighted and laugh, although I sincerely did not understand what was so humorous about them. I could laugh just like that, and not with the usual, unnatural laughter for me.

After 40-50 minutes, another stage began. The euphoria subsided a little, and I regained some control over my mind. Apparently the first absorption of chemicals has subsided. There was a deeper penetration into the brain. Now it began world of hallucinations . A thought that Lena told me popped into my head. That, they say, the real essence of a person comes out under the mushrooms. I began to think about my essence.

Then my gaze came across the door. There was a sticker with the name of the manufacturer “Maniac”. Damn, what kind of fool calls a door a maniac? What if this is a sign? What the hell sign? That I'm a maniac? Damn, there you go. It turns out I maniac . So what now? What to do about it? Don't know. What for? Well, I'm a maniac. No, it's some kind of nonsense. Which maniac am I? What do maniacs even do? Well, I don’t know, they’re killing someone. Ugh, what disgusting. What a disgusting thing, I’m a maniac. But it's disgusting. Some kind of dissonance. What should we do about it? It is necessary that no one finds out. Otherwise there is some kind of disorder. I'm a maniac, this is not bullshit. They will also jail you. No one needs to know. And I lay there, hiding the fact that I was a maniac.

Then I looked at the next bed. It was tucked into a sheet with drawings from the cartoon Madagascar. Lion, hippopotamus, giraffe and zebra. They stand together, dance and smile happily. My gaze fell on the giraffe. He looked at me unkindly . He knew I was a maniac. He judged me. I turned away. Then he looked again. The giraffe continued to look at me. Damn, this kind of sucks. What is he looking at, you bastard? And in general, he is drawn. Just a sheet. Just a drawing. But he, the bastard, continued to watch! I clearly didn't like him. It was mutual. I turned away again.

A minute later he turned back. The giraffe laughed and smiled sweetly. Damn, how could I think so badly about such a cool giraffe. He squints his eyes so fervently. How could I have thought that he was somehow looking at me badly? Then my gaze fell on the zebra. Damn, she didn’t look unkindly, but generally evil. The zebra hated me. Her eyes clearly let me know that I was almost a mortal enemy for her. No matter where I turned, I felt her evil eyes on me. The drawing smiled. But the eyes said something else. And her smile was evil.

After about ten minutes, it was clear that the mind was tired of the manifestations of hatred and began to get distracted.

I noticed the fan on the wall. He was big. Spinning. And gave a shadow on the wall. Something was wrong here. There's some kind of mystery here. He was not blowing correctly. And in general he was suspicious. I didn't like this fan. He was hiding something . And then it dawned on me. Surely! This is all a setup; in fact, the fan is not real. In fact, the shadow from the fan is real. Only the shadow matters, and the fan itself is just a cover. Damn, first there's a zebra, and then there's a fan. The whole room is kind of a complete setup. I looked at the zebra. She kept an eye on me...

Out of the corner of my eye I noticed the curtain moving. I was afraid. I realized that she was moving from the wind from the window. But it was still creepy. What if it's not the wind? What if it just seems like it to me? Or does it not seem like it, and she actually came to life? The curtain began to play with waves again. I looked at the door to make sure it was all just the wind. But, damn it, now the door was also moving. I looked at the curtain. She was moving. I looked at the door. The door, the dog, also moved. Ahh, the door is moving ! She organized “the sea is agitated.” Then I realized that it was specifically covering me. Just imagine, I didn’t understand what hit me before. I needed a door playing with waves for this. I was dumbfounded. And it was sausage.

Outside the window, a lizard jumped out on the terrace near the lamp. She was hanging from the ceiling upside down. And she tried to tell me something. I tried as hard as I could, I felt that she was telling me something, but I could not understand. Then the lizard turned in the other direction. She probably wants to give me some kind of sign. I was sure that she wanted to tell me something that would change my whole life. But I didn't understand. In the end, my mind became weak and I simply watched with admiration. wise lizard . She continued to give me signs, but I no longer paid attention. I just admired her wisdom. Every movement of the lizard was symbolic, every movement was imbued with higher knowledge. She was clearly some kind of deity among lizards. Or maybe a human deity turned into her form?

Then Lena got tired of sitting at home and wanted to go out to the store. I had not yet completely lost the remnants of my mind, and suggested that in our state this was not a good idea. But it was very hot (including from the action of mushrooms), so we got dressed and went to get some air. It was a little wobbly, but it was very interesting. All senses were heightened. The brain perceived what was happening in an enhanced mode. The graffiti on the walls was alive and filled with emotions . We heard every sound clearly, although normally we wouldn’t even pay attention. The sound of a car, drops from the roof, a dog. All together and each individually were perceived as an absolutely complete creation. Self-sufficient and unique. In the store I started giggling stupidly again at the sunscreen stand. Just. He stood and laughed. The seller didn't show it. Apparently, people here are used to this.

We returned to the hotel and sat on the balcony. I stood and looked at the sky. My brain was drawing stars. In a matter of moments, the lines of lonely dots formed complex patterns, scattered and merged into a new silhouette. Hundreds of stars at the same time, the mind worked at maximum speed, the imagination painted entire starry canvases.

Gradually the chemistry left the blood. As the Internet promised, the effects of the mushrooms lasted about four hours. What can we say based on the results? It was an interesting experience. Which we are not going to repeat. To be honest, we don't understand why this was allowed on . This is a real drug that has a strong effect on the psyche. And people here ride bikes under mushrooms! But in general, everything was imbued with artificiality and a feeling of unreality. Primitive euphoria after leaving, it only caused disgust. During the action of the chemicals, everything seemed more real and symbolic than in ordinary life. Everything made so much more sense. After the drug wears off, you realize how stupid it was. For some, this may seem like an enhancement of consciousness, a doping for thinking. In fact, this is a return to the roots, back to the monkeys. Part of the mind was simply cut off, and the emotions, although incredibly strong, were impoverished in meaning. Unfeeling emotions.

Experimental methods in some countries are using mushrooms to treat severe types of depression. In such clinical cases, this is probably justified. But if you are a healthy, self-sufficient person, then taking such substances will only be a mockery of you, your experience and your consciousness. Magic mushrooms They promised so much, but as soon as they weakened, their promises disappeared just like a thick blanket of drug intoxication. This is just a deception. And real life is around us. And in ourselves.

Psilocybin (or simply hallucinogenic) mushrooms were known to mankind 6-9 thousand years ago. Magic mushrooms were used in their rituals by African shamans, priests of the Mayan and Aztec tribes, residents of India and other southern countries. Today, such gifts of nature are recognized as a full-fledged drug, comparable in effect to LSD. And in Russia, the cultivation, storage and sale of magic “mushrooms” is prohibited by the Criminal Code.

What are psilocybin mushrooms?

Psilocybin mushrooms are inedible mushrooms that contain two main alkaloids - psilocin and psilocybin. Psilocybin, once in the intestines, is destroyed and converted into psilocin, which is considered half as toxic. Hallucinogenic mushrooms are distributed throughout the world, but most of them grow in America.

Scientists are still arguing about whether psilocin-containing fruits should be classified as poisonous. Although alkaloids are extremely toxic, their lethal dose is very large, and it is quite difficult to obtain it by consuming “mushrooms”. However, such products may contain other dangerous toxins, which is why today official medicine recognizes them as poisonous.

The main dose of hallucinogenic poison in such mushrooms is concentrated in the stem, a small percentage is in the cap.

There are several mushroom genera in the world that contain psilocin:

• psilocybe (about 150 species are known, more than 115 act as drugs);
• fiber (5 types contain psilocin, 4 of them are deadly poisonous);
• Gymnopil (14 hallucinogenic species);
• paneolus.

Photos of life-threatening mushrooms

Effect on the body

The effect of psilocybin mushrooms has been studied in great detail; in the scientific literature you can find detailed descriptions of people who have experienced the “mushroom effect” on themselves. But the effect of mushroom hallucinogens on the brain has long remained an area of ​​scientific theory and speculation.

It is reliably known that psilocin, entering the intestines and then into the blood, excites the receptors of the joy hormone - serotonin.

Therefore, after use, a feeling of euphoria, pleasant emotions, visual images and other narcotic effects arise. The action of many modern drugs is based on the same principle.

Recent research at Imperial College London has provided more insight into the effects of psilocin on the human body.

When it enters the blood, the alkaloid immediately rushes to the brain and specifically affects neurons in 3 areas of the brain, causing irreparable harm:

• anterior part of the cingulate cortex;
• posterior part of the cingulate cortex;
• medial frontal zone (MPZ).

The posterior cingulate cortex and MPZ are a very special part of the brain that is always in a state of active work. All metabolic processes in this corner of consciousness proceed 20% faster than in other parts of the brain. Even when a person is resting, completely relaxed, not thinking about anything or worrying, this area continues to process information. Here, all news flows are combined into a single whole, forming a unique picture of the world, characteristic of this particular person.

After exposure to psilocin, neurons in this part of the brain are practically switched off, and all mental and metabolic processes are suspended. The picture of the world changes dramatically - a powerful shift in reality occurs (hallucinations, etc.).

The anterior cingulate cortex is involved in the formation of depressive moods; during depression, this area is highly aroused. The mushroom hallucinogen also inhibits neurons in this area. Therefore, when taking a psilocybin drug, your mood often improves and anxious thoughts go away (but not always).
The video shows the effects of psilocybin mushrooms on the human brain:

Effect

Scientists compare the effect of taking hallucinogenic mushrooms with the effect of the drug LSD. The main difference is only in duration (LSD “works” almost twice as long).

But psilocybin mushrooms have one peculiarity - they affect each person differently. Each person may have different symptoms, hallucinations, and the time of the trip (psychedelic attack). Observations have shown that if a person ate mushrooms in a good mood, then visions and emotions were colored in positive tones. If you were in a depressed state, the mushroom drug can cause an attack of rage, aggression, even attempts to harm yourself or other people.

The first unusual sensations begin after 15-20 minutes of eating magic mushrooms on an empty stomach. At first, the person is confused; dizziness, trembling of arms and legs, fear, paranoia and other phenomena reminiscent of signs of schizophrenia may begin. Typical drug symptoms soon appear.

Researcher Carl Graham identified 5 levels after consuming psilocybin mushrooms:

1. Minor short-term memory disorders occur, sensitivity to music and color perception worsens.
2. The surrounding objects seem to come to life, begin to breathe, move, colors acquire saturation and depth. Colored circles and bright patterns float before your closed eyes. The sense of time changes greatly - it becomes slow and viscous.
3. Individual hallucinations appear, and real objects can merge with them. Kaleidoscopic patterns float in front of your closed eyes in 3D. The perception of time is distorted even more - time can freeze at one point.
4. A person completely loses the sense of time, and with it, his own “I”. There is a feeling as if fragments of personality are moving into surrounding objects, trying to revive them. Hallucinations of transformation begin.
5. Contact with reality disappears completely. A person feels diffused in time, space, the Absolute. The familiar world disappears, only visions exist.

Consequences of use

After the first use, psilocin does not bring obvious consequences. Coming out of a mushroom trip is quite painless; hallucinogens do not cause severe withdrawal symptoms. But in some cases, a so-called afterglow may occur - for several days, a person’s state is controlled by the emotions that he felt during his psychedelic journey.

The danger of hallucinogenic mushrooms can also be associated with other toxic substances that can cause severe poisoning. Chitin in psilocybin mushrooms can be no less dangerous. It provokes acute pancreatitis and other disorders of the gastrointestinal system.

With long-term systematic use of hallucinogenic mushrooms, serious changes in the psyche, behavioral disorders, paranoia, and even personality destruction are possible. The cardiovascular system, kidneys, stomach and intestines are affected.

Physical dependence on psilocybin mushrooms does not develop, even if you take magic mushrooms very often. But in most cases, mental dependence appears, which requires traditional complex treatment. Working with a psychotherapist, visiting special groups, and supporting family and friends will help you get rid of the craving for magic mushrooms.

Video about the consequences of consuming psilocybin mushrooms:

About eight percent of American adults have used hallucinogenic or, in other words, “magic mushrooms.” And this is not surprising, since these mushrooms are a natural psychotropic remedy that is easily accessible to most lovers of unforgettable experiences. However, is it so harmless?

The properties of hallucinogenic mushrooms have been known to people for a long time. The Aztecs called hallucinogenic mushrooms “teonacatl” (sacred mushroom or flesh of the god). Eating these mushrooms allowed the shaman to enter a state where the secrets of the future were revealed to him. The shaman could also communicate with spirits and heal people. Three thousand-year-old figurines in the form of mushrooms with the faces of various deities, discovered in Mexico, Guatemala and El Salvador, confirm that the practice of eating hallucinogenic mushrooms is not a new thing.

What about mushrooms?

The group of hallucinogenic mushrooms currently includes 25 species, most of which belong to the genus Psilocybe. These mushrooms prefer swamps, peat, humus and manure to any other habitats. “Magic mushrooms” owe their effect to various psychoactive substances such as psilocybin, psilocin, and sometimes baecystin and norbaecystin. According to the mechanism and features of action, these substances are very similar to the well-known drug LSD. But unlike LSD, the effects of psilocybin are shorter-term (a few hours).

The century of deep study of hallucinogenic mushrooms began in the 60s of the last century, when Harvard University professor Timothy Leary first decided to try them. This experimental “meal” is said to have transformed his entire life, leaving a deep impression. Subsequently, he supervised many experiments aimed at studying psychotropic drugs.

The first symptoms from taking hallucinogens will make themselves felt in approximately 30-60 minutes. Unusual sensations will appear: heaviness, tingling or numbness of the limbs, dizziness, nausea or cold. These are the first harbingers of change, allowing you to suspect something is wrong. Subsequently, a change in the visual field or some movement of objects appears. Paints and colors change. What was once straight can bend, something distant can come closer.

If you read the work “Alice in Wonderland,” then you will remember how, on the advice of the caterpillar, Alice experimented with her body, biting off a mushroom from different sides. The use of psychotropic drugs, such as LSD or psilocybin, gives similar sensations. The perceived size of the body may change.

By the end of the hour, the effects of psychotropic substances reach their maximum: a kaleidoscope of patterns and changed objects appears. The boundary between one’s own body and the environment is blurred; the body may seem alien. Sounds and smells become different. The hallucinogenic extravaganza ends with a decrease in the concentration of psychoactive substances in the human blood, after about three hours.

The Dangers of Magic Mushrooms

One theory links the hallucinogenic effects of psilocybin to an effect on a subtype of serotonin receptor. Studies have confirmed that blocking this type of receptor before consuming psilocybin almost completely eliminated its effects. Hallucinations, changes in consciousness in the form of depersonalization, anxiety or split personality did not actually occur.

According to another opinion, LSD and psilocybin have a significant effect on the activity of connections between nerve cells (synapses). They disrupt and disorganize the conduction of impulses. Some pharmacologists believe that after the molecules of the substance are removed, organic disorders remain in the cells. With repeated use, the volume of violations increases. Therefore, if a single use of hallucinogens in a healthy person may not have an effect, then over time mental changes may occur that resemble the clinical manifestations of schizophrenia.

This means that the use of hallucinogenic mushrooms leads to an artificially induced mental disorder. Therefore, in the pharmacological classifier, hallucinogens are located in the section of psychodysleptics (“psyche-destroying”). They have been adopted by many countries as toxic substances.

However, the above does not frighten “hunters of unusual experiences.” The popularity of “magic mushrooms” is likely due to their availability and relative safety (at first glance). Since the lethal and effective dose of these psychotropic substances differ hundreds of times, death is a rare accident. Low mortality creates favorable conditions and attracts new “travellers”. But this “security” is deceptive. The development of psychosis is a matter of time.

Therefore, for those who value their mental and physical health, it is better not to even experiment with hallucinogenic mushrooms.