7 ms·

> disclaimer: ymmv, please get a sitter, if not, do it outside (best to do it on the grass) where you are safe, comfortable, and calm. I just want to echo how

> disclaimer: ymmv, please get a sitter, if not, do it outside (best to do it on the grass) where you are safe, comfortable, and calm. I just want to echo how important this disclaimer is. There's no free lunch, and psilocybin can be incredibly challenging. For some people it is massively helpful for depression, but this is not a guarantee. Do your research and have a guide (if at all possible).

pmoriarty 5y ago
Something else that's critically important is to make sure you know what you're getting is actually psilocybin and not something else, and that the dosage actually is what you expect. If you're part of a research study at a respected institution, that's easy. Not so easy if you're getting it on the black/gray market or picking mushrooms yourself. So if you have to get it from the black/gray market, educate yourself thoroughly on how to tell if it's real and what the dosage you're getting is. Alan Rockefeller has some great videos on psilocybin mushroom identification: [1] [2] [1] - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pInqVRRva7M https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pInqVRRva7M [2] - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VcL-7u80kjs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VcL-7u80kjs
- ghostly_s 5y ago
  Psylocibin mushrooms are easy to propagate (as far as mushrooms go) and I’m not aware of any other psychoactive chemicals found in mushrooms that won't kill you, so what is it that you are concerned about? I've never heard of someone buying "counterfeit" magic mushrooms.
  - pmoriarty 5y ago
    "I've never heard of someone buying "counterfeit" magic mushrooms." Just because you haven't heard of it doesn't mean it doesn't happen. First, mushrooms can be misidentified, due to carelessness or ignorance. A misidentified mushroom can be poisonous. So that's my primary concern. Second, it's easy to just add whatever chemical you want to non-psychedelic mushrooms, so it's quite possible that you'll get some non-psychedelic mushrooms with some mystery drug added to them. Third, if someone on the street (or even a friend) offers you something they claim is psilocybin, there's no way of knowing if it really is psilocybin unless you test it. Figuring out the substance's purity/dosage is even more difficult, as labs in the US that do commercial drug testing aren't legally allowed to report purity, and reagent testing isn't going to tell you. The amount of psilocybin/psilocyin in mushrooms also varies greatly, so going by gram of mushroom weight (dry or fresh?) isn't very reliable.. especially if you don't know exactly which species each of the mushrooms are and someone's just selling you some mystery "magic mushrooms".
    - tomatowurst 5y ago
      This is ridiculous. People selling psilocybin mushrooms aren't going out of their way to sell you counterfeits because the profit margin is already so low for this category and you could easily tell apart shitake mushrooms from psilocybin mushrooms. Nobody is on the streets selling psilocybin like they sell other drugs, it would be like people trying to pass off broccoli as marijuana. I'm sorry but you sound like Nancy Reagan right now. You are trying to warn people about something that you yourself have barely experienced or knowledgeable about by taking some other tangent item and applying it here because it is "drugs".
      - pmoriarty 5y ago
        What assurance do I have that some rando at a festival who claims to have "magic mushrooms" is actually selling psylocybin mushrooms? None. They might have picked some "little brown mushrooms" in a field somewhere thinking they were psylocybin mushrooms but not gone to the effort to identify them properly, or just not known how to do it, or made a mistake. Or maybe they got it from someone who told them that's what they were, but themselves didn't know, etc. Or they (or their supplier) might have gone the easy route and bought some mushrooms and sprinkled some "bath salts" on them. As a consumer you just don't know -- especially if they're dried, crumbled mushrooms which could be just about anything or a mix of stuff. It's just sad hearing people who are so adamantly determined to stick their head in the sand and trust whatever drug they're being peddled is what their dealer claims it is. Nancy Reagan's famous line was "Just say no." I'm not saying "Just say no". I'm saying "Just say know." Educate yourself. Test your stuff. Be smart. Don't just guzzle down whatever you're given without satisfying yourself that it actually is what your provider claims it is.
        ghostly_s 5y ago
        Why would someone waste their time foraging for psylocibin mushrooms to sell? They can be grown for basically free and in much larger quantities. Dried psylocibin mushrooms are still easily identifiable. If a rando drug dealer was claiming to have psylocibin capsules, for instance, sure, that would give me pause. But again - have you EVER heard of this happening? I've not. You're talking nonsense.
- loceng 5y ago
  They're openly being sold in Canada; I believe end-of-life care research had such positive results that has now lead to it now being given to terminally ill cancer patients to help them come to terms with their situation. https://dose.land https://dose.land You may end up on a list but that didn't stop marijuana for propagating through society when illegal; now legal in Canada, widely available, a big industry, and tax revenue source.
- 2fast4you 5y ago
  As a general PSA: If you’re using any drugs it’s important to test with a reagent to make sure it’s what you expect. You can by kits with excellent instructions from DanceSafe. https://dancesafe.org/ https://dancesafe.org/
vmception 5y ago
I just want to get to the point where what you wrote is written in fine print on the side of a bottle, specifically because the FDA saw it happen in the clinical trials for that specific use case Instead we are just left with this hodgepodge of random completely different experiences controlled for nothing
dr_dshiv 5y ago
Be deliberate and have fun. And always know that you will sober up. you are on drugs — you aren’t crazy — you will be fine — you didn’t break your brain.
- neuroma 5y ago
  Yeah sadly not always true. Some people go get lasting problems from certain drugs. They can provoke psychiatric deteriorations. Examples: potent cannabinoids, amphetamines, high dose psychedelics. Lots to be said about set, setting and underlying vulnerabilities. Still probably a healthy mantra to recite to anyone in the midst of overwhelm as most people a fine, and its a caring act.
  - dr_dshiv 5y ago
    My understanding is that people’s experiences can be toxic and ptsd producing—it isn’t the biological action of the drugs themselves (high dose amphetamines as the exception).
    - neuroma 5y ago
      Are you invoking mind body dualism? Or referring to the limits of modern biology?
      - dr_dshiv 5y ago
        Both, I suppose. It comes down to why we have biology vs physics -- there are emergent phenomena that don't make sense to study only at the level of more reductive elements. Yes, chemistry is important in experience -- or taking chemicals wouldn't effect our experience. But we can clearly understand how an experience is psychologically damaging without haven't a clue as to its chemical underpinnings. And the point is that drug experiences can be damaging -- even if the drugs themselves are non-toxic.

pmoriarty 5y ago

Something else that's critically important is to make sure you know what you're getting is actually psilocybin and not something else, and that the dosage actually is what you expect. If you're part of a research study at a respected institution, that's easy. Not so easy if you're getting it on the black/gray market or picking mushrooms yourself. So if you have to get it from the black/gray market, educate yourself thoroughly on how to tell if it's real and what the dosage you're getting is. Alan Rockefeller has some great videos on psilocybin mushroom identification: [1] [2] [1] - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pInqVRRva7M https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pInqVRRva7M [2] - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VcL-7u80kjs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VcL-7u80kjs

ghostly_s 5y ago
Psylocibin mushrooms are easy to propagate (as far as mushrooms go) and I’m not aware of any other psychoactive chemicals found in mushrooms that won't kill you, so what is it that you are concerned about? I've never heard of someone buying "counterfeit" magic mushrooms.
- pmoriarty 5y ago
  "I've never heard of someone buying "counterfeit" magic mushrooms." Just because you haven't heard of it doesn't mean it doesn't happen. First, mushrooms can be misidentified, due to carelessness or ignorance. A misidentified mushroom can be poisonous. So that's my primary concern. Second, it's easy to just add whatever chemical you want to non-psychedelic mushrooms, so it's quite possible that you'll get some non-psychedelic mushrooms with some mystery drug added to them. Third, if someone on the street (or even a friend) offers you something they claim is psilocybin, there's no way of knowing if it really is psilocybin unless you test it. Figuring out the substance's purity/dosage is even more difficult, as labs in the US that do commercial drug testing aren't legally allowed to report purity, and reagent testing isn't going to tell you. The amount of psilocybin/psilocyin in mushrooms also varies greatly, so going by gram of mushroom weight (dry or fresh?) isn't very reliable.. especially if you don't know exactly which species each of the mushrooms are and someone's just selling you some mystery "magic mushrooms".
  - tomatowurst 5y ago
    This is ridiculous. People selling psilocybin mushrooms aren't going out of their way to sell you counterfeits because the profit margin is already so low for this category and you could easily tell apart shitake mushrooms from psilocybin mushrooms. Nobody is on the streets selling psilocybin like they sell other drugs, it would be like people trying to pass off broccoli as marijuana. I'm sorry but you sound like Nancy Reagan right now. You are trying to warn people about something that you yourself have barely experienced or knowledgeable about by taking some other tangent item and applying it here because it is "drugs".
    - pmoriarty 5y ago
      What assurance do I have that some rando at a festival who claims to have "magic mushrooms" is actually selling psylocybin mushrooms? None. They might have picked some "little brown mushrooms" in a field somewhere thinking they were psylocybin mushrooms but not gone to the effort to identify them properly, or just not known how to do it, or made a mistake. Or maybe they got it from someone who told them that's what they were, but themselves didn't know, etc. Or they (or their supplier) might have gone the easy route and bought some mushrooms and sprinkled some "bath salts" on them. As a consumer you just don't know -- especially if they're dried, crumbled mushrooms which could be just about anything or a mix of stuff. It's just sad hearing people who are so adamantly determined to stick their head in the sand and trust whatever drug they're being peddled is what their dealer claims it is. Nancy Reagan's famous line was "Just say no." I'm not saying "Just say no". I'm saying "Just say know." Educate yourself. Test your stuff. Be smart. Don't just guzzle down whatever you're given without satisfying yourself that it actually is what your provider claims it is.
      - ghostly_s 5y ago
        Why would someone waste their time foraging for psylocibin mushrooms to sell? They can be grown for basically free and in much larger quantities. Dried psylocibin mushrooms are still easily identifiable. If a rando drug dealer was claiming to have psylocibin capsules, for instance, sure, that would give me pause. But again - have you EVER heard of this happening? I've not. You're talking nonsense.
loceng 5y ago
They're openly being sold in Canada; I believe end-of-life care research had such positive results that has now lead to it now being given to terminally ill cancer patients to help them come to terms with their situation. https://dose.land https://dose.land You may end up on a list but that didn't stop marijuana for propagating through society when illegal; now legal in Canada, widely available, a big industry, and tax revenue source.
2fast4you 5y ago
As a general PSA: If you’re using any drugs it’s important to test with a reagent to make sure it’s what you expect. You can by kits with excellent instructions from DanceSafe. https://dancesafe.org/ https://dancesafe.org/

vmception 5y ago

I just want to get to the point where what you wrote is written in fine print on the side of a bottle, specifically because the FDA saw it happen in the clinical trials for that specific use case Instead we are just left with this hodgepodge of random completely different experiences controlled for nothing

dr_dshiv 5y ago

Be deliberate and have fun. And always know that you will sober up. you are on drugs — you aren’t crazy — you will be fine — you didn’t break your brain.

neuroma 5y ago
Yeah sadly not always true. Some people go get lasting problems from certain drugs. They can provoke psychiatric deteriorations. Examples: potent cannabinoids, amphetamines, high dose psychedelics. Lots to be said about set, setting and underlying vulnerabilities. Still probably a healthy mantra to recite to anyone in the midst of overwhelm as most people a fine, and its a caring act.
- dr_dshiv 5y ago
  My understanding is that people’s experiences can be toxic and ptsd producing—it isn’t the biological action of the drugs themselves (high dose amphetamines as the exception).
  - neuroma 5y ago
    Are you invoking mind body dualism? Or referring to the limits of modern biology?
    - dr_dshiv 5y ago
      Both, I suppose. It comes down to why we have biology vs physics -- there are emergent phenomena that don't make sense to study only at the level of more reductive elements. Yes, chemistry is important in experience -- or taking chemicals wouldn't effect our experience. But we can clearly understand how an experience is psychologically damaging without haven't a clue as to its chemical underpinnings. And the point is that drug experiences can be damaging -- even if the drugs themselves are non-toxic.