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QUESTIONS | ANSWERS
Are Psilocybin mushrooms addictive? Can I take them every day?
Not really. It’s more difficult to become psychologically “addicted” to psilocybin, and it’s unlikely you’ll feel the need to take psilocybin mushrooms – whether a microdose or a macrodose – daily.
Due to the way that psilocybin impacts the chemical pathways in your head, a large tolerance is created after each experience. Long after the psychedelic effects subside, 10-14 days is required to entirely eliminate this tolerance and retain baseline. A dosage increase of nearly 300% is required for a next-day experience, which will likely be less impactful than the previous.
However, there is a growing number of individuals who take “sub-threshold” doses, multiple times a week, known as micro-dosing. This self-applied therapy is usually strictly controlled and used for things like creativity to treating anxiety.
Meanwhile, non-psilocybin or “functional” mushrooms are often used on a daily basis to build up a tolerance in your system and achieve full effects.
How do I make psilocybin tea?
Making psilocybin tea is relatively easy – you just need hot water and mushrooms to steep in it! Like any other herb, you steep the plant/fungi matter – ground preferably – in order to extract the properties. The psilocybin steeps into the water, making the mushroom experience much easier on the stomach.
Unless you’re particularly keen on the taste of mushrooms, you might want to add a tea bag or a few to help mask the taste and make the experience more enjoyable. For more details on making psilocybin tea, visit this article.
First-time growing: PF Tek?
Question: I want to grow Mexican Dutch Kings but I have never grown mushrooms before. Do I have to use manure or can I use a PF Tek?
Answer: Mexican Dutch Kings are simply a strain of Psilocybe cubensis, aka ‘shrooms’ or ‘cubes’. The MexiDutch Kings are simply a marketing name for the cultivar that was a favorite in Amsterdam before they were banned. Either way, all Psilocybe cubensis strains can be grown via the PF Tek and do not require manure or tub growth. However, ‘novelty’ strains like albinos or Penis Envy might be more fickle and are best avoided until you have more growing experience.
Thanks for the question MickMack!
How do you store psilocybin tea?
Question: After I make my tea can I store it just like I would regular tea?
Answer: Magic mushroom tea can be treated like iced tea. It can be stored for a few days in the fridge, or frozen for longer storage. The addition of other ingredients like sugar may accelerate the growth of unwanted bacteria.
However, depending on how you brewed the psychedelic tea, conversion of psilocybin (the inactive ‘pro-drug’) to psilocin (the active compound) may make the potency variable. This process is slowed in the freezer, with psychedelic ice cubes maintaining potency for months.
Thanks for the question Scott!
How do you pronounce Psilocybin?
Question: How do you pronounce Psilocybin?
Answer: According to legendary mycologist and psilocybin aficionado, Paul Stamets, ‘psilocybin’ is pronounced sil-o-SY-bin. However, some pronounce it sy-lo-SY-bin.
What is the “Lemon Tek”?
Question: What is the “Lemon Tek”?
Answer: The “Lemon Tek” uses chemistry to influence the potency and duration of Psilocybin mushrooms. By mixing dried, whole or ground, Psilocybe cubensis with fresh or prepared lemon juice, the effects can be accelerated and intensified.
Through a mechanism that has not yet been confirmed, the experience has a faster onset and conclusion. The effects are intensified and is often used to make the most of a smaller, available dose.
Not suggested for beginners
What is an average dose of Psilocybin Mushrooms?
Question: What is an average dose of Psilocybin Mushrooms?
Answer: In most cases, “magic mushrooms” will be encountered in the form of dried Psilocybe cubensis. Doses should always be weighed, the number of mushrooms is not a reliable metric. An “average” dosage of dried P. cubensis is 1-2g, “intermediate” is 2-3.5g, “experienced” dose would be 3.5-5g. Your personal experience and research will help you decide your dose. A rule of thumb for fresh P. cubensis is to multiply the weight by a factor of 10. Other species of mushrooms and “truffles” have their own dosage indications.
How safe are Psilocybin mushrooms?
Question: How safe are Psilocybin mushrooms?
Answer: According to a global drug survey completed in 2017, magic mushrooms were considered the safest recreational drug.
Compared to users of MDMA, LSD or cocaine; users of magic mushrooms were five times less likely to require medical attention.
“Magic mushrooms are one of the safest drugs in the world” says Adam Winstock, founder of the Global Drug Survey and consultant addiction psychiatrist.
Does Psilocybin interact with other substances?
Question: Does Psilocybin interact with any medications or other substances?
Answer: Psilocybin interacts with some other medications. These include SSRIs, MAOIs and other antidepressants. Depending on the preparation method, mushrooms can also interact with acids (like lemon juice) and potentiators (like Syrian Rue). Extra research and caution is suggested before combining Psilocybin with any other substance, even alcohol and cannabis.
Do Psilocybe mushrooms contain other active compounds?
Question: Other than Psilocybin, do Psilocybe mushrooms contain other active compounds?
Answer: There are at least four hallucinogenic compounds that have been found in Psilocybe mushrooms.
Psilocybin is usually the most abundant. As a “pro-drug”, it is broken down into Psilocin in the body. Psilocin is active, and found naturally in mushrooms as well.
Some species contain the similar compounds Baeocystin and Norbaeocystin, though at much lower levels. The fungus P. baeocystis, where they were first found, gave these compounds their names.
How does Psilocybin affect the brain?
Psychedelics are thought of as ‘mind-expanding’ drugs, so it has commonly been assumed that they work by increasing brain activity. But surprisingly, it was found that psilocybin actually caused activity to decrease in areas that have the densest connections with other areas. These hubs constrain our experience of the world and keep it orderly. We now know that deactivating these regions leads to a state in which the world is experienced as strange.
What is psilocybin?
Question: What is psilocybin?
Answer: Psilocybin is a naturally occurring psychedelic prodrug compound produced by more than 200 species of mushrooms, collectively known as “magic mushrooms.” The most potent are members of the genus Psilocybe, such as P. azurescens, P. semilanceata, and P. cyanescens, but psilocybin has also been isolated from about a dozen other genera.
What is Psilocybe?
Question: What is psilocybe?
Answer: Psilocybe is a genus of gilled mushrooms that includes over 150 different species, found around the world from the tropics to the arctic. Each species has its own set of features that define it, from the size and shape of the cap, to the size and shape of the microscopic spores they release to reproduce. This genus is best known for the species with psychedelic properties.
Read more about Psilocybin Mushrooms here
How Long Does Psilocybin Stay in Your System?
Everything you ingest takes time to work its way through your body until it is used up and eliminated. Psilocybin from mushrooms is no different. And though the effects of it may be gone, it doesn’t mean the drug is completely out of your system. So, how long does psilocybin stay in your body?
Well, the initial effects take hold usually about 30-45 minutes after you’ve ingested the psilocybin mushrooms. After about 1.5 hours, the effects have reached their peak and you’ll be dealing with waves of highs for at least 6 hours.
But just because the effects have started to fade, it doesn’t mean the psilocybin is leaving your system. This just means the metabolite psilocin your body has created has entered your bloodstream and is working its way out of your body through your kidneys. Of course, these are just general times. There are other factors that you need to consider before you take those mushrooms.
What Type of Mushroom is it?
There are almost 200 different species of psilocybin mushrooms around the world and some of them are much more potent than others. For instance, Psilocybe azurescens is one of the most potent mushrooms around. It has a 1.78% psilocybin content by weight, so it will hit you harder and longer than other types. Psilocybe liniformans only has a 0.16% psilocybin content, so it will work its way out much faster.
In order to know exactly how long does psilocybin stay in your system, first you need to know your mushrooms. But there are other factors as well, which have more to do with you than what you’re ingesting.
Your Body’s Metabolism
Even if you and your friends all take the same type and amount of psilocybin mushrooms, it may stay in your system longer than it does in some of theirs. This is because of the difference in your bodies and their characteristics. Some factors to consider are:
- Your age – the younger you are, the faster your body will metabolize what you put into it. And those above 65 also have lowered blood flow to their liver and kidneys, which slows the rate the psilocybin would be removed.
- Liver and kidney functions – Your liver breaks down the psilocybin, using enzymes and gene variations which help to speed this process along. Then it is sent to the kidneys, where it is excreted when you use the bathroom. If you have liver or kidney disease, this process will slow down.
- Metabolic Rate – The faster your metabolism is, the quicker things are cleared from your body.
- Body Mass – This refers to the combination of your weight and height. The more your body mass is, the faster that body will eliminate the psilocybin from your system. So, bigger is better!
- Food and Beverage Intake – The more food you’ve eaten before taking the psilocybin mushrooms, the longer it will take for your stomach to absorb it. But water is a must since psilocybin leaves the body when you urinate, so drink as much as possible.
Psilocybin Drug Tests
There are a few different ways to test for psilocybin in the system:
- Urine tests – This is the easiest and least invasive way to test for psilocybin. A urine sample is collected and tested using solid phase extraction. The detection time is usually within 24 hours but could be up to 48 hours for some people.
- Blood tests – This one is rarely used because it is invasive and has only a 3-5 hour detection window.
- Hair tests – This involves collecting 20-50 hair follicles from an individual and testing each follicle for psilocybin, which can remain in those follicles for up to 4 weeks.
How Did You Take It?
One more thing to consider is how you took the psilocybin in the first place. Did you eat the dry mushrooms or make some tea? If you took it orally, the mushrooms need time to get through your system, so could take up to 15 hours to leave you completely. So, keep this, and all the factors listed above, in mind before you take any type of psilocybin.
How Much Psilocybin is in a Gram of Mushrooms?
There are hundreds of different species of magic mushrooms growing all over the world. But no two mushrooms are identical, even though they may look similar. And different mushrooms affect different people in different ways, due to the psilocybin content. So, how much psilocybin is in a gram of mushrooms? Well, it isn’t an easy answer.
There is some generalized information out there on the potency of different mushrooms, including the following as noted in Erowid:
- P. azurescens has 1.78% psilocybin
- P. bohemica has 1.34% psilocybin
- P. semilianceata has 0.98 % psilocybin
- Both P. baeocystis and P. cyanescens have 0.85 % psilocybin
- P. tampanensis has 0.68 % psilocybin
- P. cubensis has 0.63% psilocybin
- P. weilii has 0.61% psilocybin
There are so many more species of psilocybin mushrooms around, so we won’t get into all of them. And these are not exactly accurate for every mushroom in each category. This is because there are a few factors that affect the potency of each mushroom.
Factors that Affect Psilocybin Mushroom Potency
As we’ve already shown, the potency of different species of magic mushrooms can vary greatly. But there are a few other things that can alter the potency, even in mushrooms of the same species, strain or batch.
First, the biosynthesis of the psilocybin mushrooms happens when the fruit bodies or sclerotia are formed. For this reason, the young, small mushrooms tend to have a much higher dose of psilocybin in them than the more mature ones.
Other things that can affect the potency is the strain of each species, the growing conditions, and the drying conditions. There is even a difference between those mushrooms that grow in the wild and those that are cultivated. The wild ones are stronger, with a higher psilocybin content than the ones you grow yourself.
How you store mushrooms also affects the potency. A fresh mushroom slowly loses its psilocybin content over time and only has traces left after being stored for four weeks. But dried mushrooms are much more stable, retaining their potency for years in many cases.
For this reason, it is almost impossible to determine the psilocybin content in any specific batch of mushrooms. But for the most part, most mushrooms have anywhere from about 0.5%-2% psilocybin of the dried weight of the mushroom.
This means, that for one gram of mushrooms, there will be anywhere from 5-20 milligrams of psilocybin. But there is no way to know the exact potency of the mushrooms you’re about to take without a bunch of scientific tests.
Psilocybin Dosing
If you are nervous about taking the mushrooms because you are afraid the potency will be too strong for you, start by taking a smaller dose of mushrooms. Then, if the effects are not too severe, you can take a bit more. This way, you will be able to figure out the potency level for that specific batch of mushrooms, which will help you determine how much to take each time. Until you get the next batch, that is. Then you’ll need to start the process all over.
What is set and setting?
Question: I see people talk about set and setting and that it’s important. Setting is the place, but what is set?
Answer: Set is short for mindset and internal components, along with goals and intentions, with which you approach a trip. Setting is the environment and external components of the undertaking. These are as important as substance and dosage when it comes to psychedelic experiences.
What are the legal issues?
Question: Can I order without using my real name?
Answer: Right now, the selection featured in our ‘Products’ section are offered by 3rd parties, and we provide information and links solely for your information. As we do not produce, distribute, profit from, or market these products, each vendor will have their own rules regarding their own products. Unfortunately, psilocybin and the products that contain it are illegal in Canada. Buying these products would be done so at your own risk. The websites themselves often explain the best practices to undertake while ordering their products, for your safety and anonymity.