Magic Mushroom Edibles Found to Contain Undisclosed Ingredients—And No Psilocybin
Researchers tested 12 “magic mushroom” edibles. None contained psilocybin, but most contained undisclosed ingredients, including synthetic drugs whose safety hasn’t been tested in humans
Magic mushrooms (Psilocybe cubensis).
Researchers tested 12 “magic mushroom” edible products sold in Portland, Ore., and found no trace of psilocybin, the hallucinogenic compound that gives magic mushrooms their name. Instead seven of the products contained at least one undisclosed active ingredient. Such ingredients included cannabis extract and synthetic psychedelics whose effects and safety have not been formally documented or studied.
“We found no evidence of mushroom compounds of any kind, coming from any species,” says the new study’s co-author Richard van Breemen, a pharmaceutical sciences professor at Oregon State University. The research was published on Thursday in JAMA Network Open.
Psilocybin and other psychedelic drugs have received a lot of attention in recent years as potential treatments for mental health conditions such as depression and post-traumatic stress disorder. “There’s a lot of hype around these substances, so people are increasingly trying them outside current legal pathways,” says Lori Bruce, a bioethicist at Yale University, who researches psychedelics.
If you’re enjoying this article, consider supporting our award-winning journalism by subscribing. By purchasing a subscription you are helping to ensure the future of impactful stories about the discoveries and ideas shaping our world today.
In June 2024 the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced that the agency was investigating reports of severe illness after people consumed certain purported psilocybin edibles. By last October, 73 hospitalizations and three deaths—all possibly associated with such products—had been reported across 34 states. “The mislabeling highlighted in this [study] causes harms,” Bruce says. “And as usage rates increase across the U.S., harms from retail products are also likely to increase.”
Psilocybin comes from several mushroom species, including some in the genus Psilocybe. When consumed, the body breaks down the compound into psilocin, an alkaloid that can cause startling visual hallucinations and psychological effects, often including intense introspection. The U.S. federal government classifies both psilocybin and psilocin as Schedule I drugs, meaning they’re deemed to have a high potential for abuse and no currently accepted medical use.
But a handful of states have recently legalized the manufacture, sale, possession and use of psilocybin under certain conditions. Both medical and recreational use are legal in Colorado, and New Mexico passed a law this year that legalizes certain medical uses. In Oregon the regulations are stricter: the drug must be taken in the company of a licensed facilitator at a specific “psilocybin service center.” These centers receive psilocybin from licensed growers, whose products are tested by a licensed laboratory.
Oregon does not allow the sale or use of psilocybin products outside of these centers; it is otherwise a criminal offense to buy, sell or possess the drug in the state. But the legal channels are prohibitively expensive to many: the average trip costs somewhere between $750 and $1,200.
This dynamic may be leading more people to try purported psilocybin products that are untested and prohibited but nonetheless sold at some retail stores, says legal researcher Mason Marks, a law professor at Florida State University who focused on psychedelics. “A lot of people are very curious about these substances. 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.”
For the new study, the researchers purchased 12 edible products (11 gummies and a chocolate) that were advertised as containing “magic mushrooms” and were sold at gas stations and convenience stores in Portland. These products are “being marketed widely in local convenience stores and on the Internet,” van Breemen says.
The edibles were first tested at a state-licensed facility that normally certifies the quality of the drug for Oregon’s psilocybin service centers. None of the products contained any psilocybin at all. To determine what they actually did contain, van Breemen and his colleagues turned to more advanced mass spectrometry techniques.
Seven products contained undisclosed active ingredients such as caffeine, kava extract (a legal herbal supplement with antianxiety and hallucinogenic effects) and cannabis extract (including the plant’s main psychoactive ingredient, tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC). Four of the gummies contained no active ingredients at all.
Two of the gummies did contain psilocin, which also occurs naturally in some mushrooms in small quantities—and which is easier to synthesize in a laboratory than psilocybin. If the psilocin in the edibles came from natural sources, the researchers would expect to also detect other, related compounds from mushrooms. Such compounds turned out to be absent, leading van Breemen and his colleagues to conclude that the psilocin was likely synthetic.
Of greatest concern to the researchers, though, was the identification of synthetic psychedelic, or “syndelic,” compounds in two of the gummies. These drugs, mipracetin and 4-hydroxy-diethyltryptamine, have a chemical structure that is similar to that of psilocybin and psilocin and are psychoactive. Their effects on the body have not been studied in humans. “We don’t know what harm they might cause,” van Breemen says.
Van Breemen was surprised by the extent of the mislabeling. “Over the years, we’ve tested many botanical dietary supplements,” he says. “Rarely do you find 12 products, none of which contain what they’re supposed to contain. So the sample number is small, but the number of mislabeled or adulterated products was significant.”
This is an “important and timely study,” Bruce says. “Psychedelics show initial promise for intractable mental health disorders, but science is still teasing out who will benefit and who will be harmed from their psychedelics experience.” The Trump administration has indicated an interest in deregulating psychedelics for therapeutic purposes. In this context, Bruce adds, “the concerns I raise may become more widespread.”
Allison Parshall is an associate editor at Scientific American covering mind and brain and she writes the weekly online Science Quizzes. As a multimedia journalist, she contributes to Scientific American‘s podcast Science Quickly. Parshall’s work has also appeared in Quanta Magazine and Inverse. She graduated from New York University’s Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute with a master’s degree in science, health and environmental reporting. She has a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Georgetown University.
If you enjoyed this article, I’d like to ask for your support. Scientific American has served as an advocate for science and industry for 180 years, and right now may be the most critical moment in that two-century history.
I’ve been a Scientific American subscriber since I was 12 years old, and it helped shape the way I look at the world. SciAm always educates and delights me, and inspires a sense of awe for our vast, beautiful universe. I hope it does that for you, too.
If you , you help ensure that our coverage is centered on meaningful research and discovery; that we have the resources to report on the decisions that threaten labs across the U.S.; and that we support both budding and working scientists at a time when the value of science itself too often goes unrecognized.
In return, you get essential news, captivating podcasts, brilliant infographics, , must-watch videos, challenging games, and the science world’s best writing and reporting. You can even gift someone a subscription.
There has never been a more important time for us to stand up and show why science matters. I hope you’ll support us in that mission.
Thank you,
David M. Ewalt, Editor in Chief, Scientific American
Source: www.scientificamerican.com