It seems like “psychedelic mushrooms” or “entheogens” are available everywhere. You can buy them in liquor stores, bodegas, gas stations, unlicensed dispensaries, smoke shops, from CBD brands, and off of the internet. When you look a bit more closely at the brightly colored mylar packaging, however, you probably won’t find the word “psilocybin” or proper dosage information. Instead, you might find “mushroom blend,” “Amanita Muscaria,” “Muscimol,” or “trippy blend,” or some variation of this type of loose verbiage.
Just as confused as everyone else, we decided to put one of our journalists, Webb Wright, on the story to find out what, exactly, is in these alleged “mushroom” products that have proliferated in the grey market, much like delta-8 and the dozen other new alt-cannabinoids. So we purchased a sample of every type of product—chocolate bars, gummies, mints, and teas—and had them tested through Hyphae Labs to find out if these products do, in fact, contain psilocybin.
What we found was concerning because many of the products available don’t contain psilocybin or mushrooms at all. They contain another synthetic compound called 4-AcO-DMT, which, as of now, is considered a “research chemical.” It’s made in a lab and it’s considerably cheaper to buy (usually from China) and put into a product than grow mushrooms and pursue a traditional manufacturing process. Lastly, 4-AcO is not explicitly listed in the Controlled Substances Act, and it converts to psilocin (the compound that actually elicits the psychedelic experience) in our bodies, which is why people are putting it in everything and calling it “mushrooms.” The issue isn’t that 4-AcO is made in a lab—it’s that people think they’re buying psilocybin products when, in fact, they aren’t at all.
Below are DoubleBlind’s test results. We are publishing a full investigative feature on this issue in the next iteration of DoubleBlind Magazine, Issue No. 11, which is set to hit stands in May. Stand by! And, as always, know your dealer and test your drugs.
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