At Narconon Suncoast, we have helped many people of many generations fight addiction.  The “gateway drug” in many cases simply depends on what the individual had access to.  In some cases individuals start on their journey to addiction with alcohol, others start out using psychedelics, some start with prescription meds, while still others begin by smoking pot.  In this article we take a look at psilocybin mushrooms – also called magic mushrooms, caps or shrooms. 

Psilocybin is a hallucinogen which has been described by users as so easy to obtain it might as well be marijuana.  One reason for it being so common on the street is because it is grown – not manufactured.  Additionally, magic mushrooms don’t lose their psilocybin content even when freeze-dried or cooked, so they can be transported easily because they don’t need to be fresh.  They can be brewed into tea or eaten directly.

One big cause of death among those using shrooms is the same danger faced by anyone eating any type of mushroom from an unknown source – people have made mistakes and assumed one mushroom was a psilocybin mushroom and it was actually a poisonous mushroom.

A Short History of Shrooms

Hallucinogens have been a part of rituals in various tribes throughout the Americas and Mexico.  Some Native American tribes used to take peyote and psilocybin mushrooms to achieve a vision which would tell them something about themselves, or about their tribe.  Often, these rituals were coupled with fasting or water deprivation to enhance the hallucinatory experience.

In present day, mushrooms are still considered something which will help a person transcend to another reality.  There are even forums, blogs, and other sources which inform potential users how best to set up a space so that they can get high “safely.”  These sources also share past highs experienced by the writers.  Unfortunately, these online sources make mushroom usage appear inviting and safe.  Mushrooms are not safe.  They are a Schedule 1 controlled substance, which means the drug has a high potential for abuse and that it is unsafe to take without medical supervision.

Dangers of Magic Mushrooms

Any hallucinogen has the potential to cause extremely erratic and unsafe behavior.  Mushrooms are no exception and can induce nausea, psychosis, panic, terror, disassociation with reality, a “bad trip,” depression, flash backs, impaired memory, and accidental death.  Even one use of this drug can cause an individual to experience hallucinogen persisting perception disorder – which means they might experience hallucinations long after ingesting the drug. Also, the user can build a tolerance to the drug, which means that as they take the drug, they will take more and more of it to try to achieve the same high as they did at first.

Chasing a high in this fashion is one of the factors which leads to addiction.  A person attempts to achieve the same high by taking more and more of the drug.  Since all drugs are actually poisons to the body, this type of activity can lead to overdose.  Symptoms of overdose include: difficulty breathing, increasingly bad trip, loss of control, mental confusion, decreased heartrate, liver problems, and death.

Magic mushrooms are generally considered a gateway drug, but many people who take hallucinogens take or are addicted to other drugs as well.  If you know someone who is addicted to drugs or alcohol, call us at (877) 850-7355.  Our program is effective on all types of addiction.

Refs: NIDA, Brown University, DEA