By Ruth Hill R.N.
Is your spiritual experience from psilocybin or the junk in the gummy? According to a paper published September 11 in JAMA Network Open, researchers reported the magic mushroom gummies and chocolates sold in Portland contained undisclosed ingredients, including caffeine, cannabis extract, and synthetic psychedelics that haven’t undergone regulatory testing. Due to the excitement around psilocybin’s potential use in treating a range of mental health conditions, products available online or in Portland shops show up mislabeled.
A review of 12 magic mushroom edibles in this study found that they contained no trace of psilocybin, the compound normally responsible for the substance’s psychedelic effects. If a “magic mushroom” edible ever took you on a psychedelic trip, you might be in for a surprise. There’s a high chance that what you ate didn’t have any psilocybin.
Mushrooms in the United States
Psilocybin in magic mushroom species causes visual hallucinations when consumed in sufficient doses. Contrary to the government’s Schedule I classification, magic mushrooms show improvement in treatment for PTSD and other mental illnesses.
Several states have decriminalized psilocybin, with efforts to legalize the drug advancing across the country. A smaller number of states, Colorado, New Mexico, and Oregon—where the researchers purchased the edibles for research—allow assisted adult use of the drug under strict conditions. However, as with cannabis, legal channels to acquire them for study are prohibitively expensive. And if you’re in a state, like Oregon, that does not decriminalize them, people might go to these shops and buy these products that are either blatantly illegal or kind of in this gray area.
Spiritual Experiences for the Wrong Reasons
Such cheap, accessible edibles were purchased and analyzed by van Breemen and his colleagues from the new JAMA Network Open study. First, the team sent the samples to a state-licensed facility that certifies drug quality for legal psilocybin centers in Oregon. Surprisingly, the tests revealed that the edibles contained no psilocybin.
The researchers then tried to pinpoint what, then, was in these so-called magic mushroom edibles. By employing some analytical chemistry, they found that the edibles contained many unexpected ingredients, including compounds like tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the primary psychoactive ingredient in cannabis.
The team did identify psilocin, a naturally occurring compound in psychedelic mushrooms, in two gummies. But if the psilocin had truly come from mushrooms, the researchers would have found other related compounds, which they didn’t. That strongly suggests the psilocin was lab-made, they said.
That wasn’t all. Some of the brands also had an unlisted addition of synthetic psychedelics that mimic natural, psychoactive compounds. Their effects on human health haven’t been adequately studied, van Breemen added, making their hidden presence in these easily accessible edibles even more alarming.
“Advances in analytical chemistry are needed to detect new synthetics and other adulterants in consumer products,” van Breemen said. The next steps, he added, will be for science to expose misbranding, to support law enforcement and regulatory agencies, and to assist poison control centers and hospitals as they encounter overdoses caused by unknown compounds.
Conclusions
Many unregulated retail magic mushroom edibles lack psilocybin and are adulterated with synthetic tryptamines, botanicals, or other undeclared compounds. The presence of synthetics, with unknown toxicology and pharmacology, raises significant safety concerns. Other adulterants also pose potential risks, especially when consumed unknowingly. Mislabeling and ingredient substitution endanger consumers and erode public trust in emerging psychedelic therapies.
Given their widespread availability, including online distribution, there is an urgent need for improved testing standards, stricter regulation, enhanced quality control, and state and federal enforcement. One study limitation is the small number of products tested. These findings are consistent with previous studies that found mislabeling and adulteration of A. muscaria and Psilocibe spp.—products, including edibles.
Psilocybin is not yet legal in California, but several cities have decriminalized it, meaning enforcement of personal use laws is a low priority. Several California cities have passed measures to decriminalize psilocybin, including Oakland, Santa Cruz, Berkeley, San Francisco, Eureka, and Arcata. For more resources on the use of medical psilocybin, go to Palm Springs Psychedelic Society.
