Naked Science Forum
Life Sciences => Plant Sciences, Zoology & Evolution => Topic started by: paul.fr on 29/04/2008 16:35:37
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Are they really magic? Why?
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Magic only if you regard poisons as magic (to the witch doctor, if he wishes to retain his mystique, I suppose they are - but no more than opiates, or deadly nightshade).
The actual poison (and psychoactive ingredient) in magic mushrooms is generally psilocybin, although other toxins can sometimes be there also. The problem is that the concentration of the psilocybin can vary from species to species, but under UK law, collecting mushrooms with even the slightest trace amounts of psilocybin is now illegal, which many mycologists complain makes it almost impossible to collect any mushrooms at all.
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The sale of fresh magic mushrooms used to be legal due to a loophole in the law. That was until the Drugs Bill 2005 closed this loophole.
Magic mushrooms contain psilocybin and psilocin and under the Misuse of Drugs Act these hallucinogenic chemicals are class A drugs like heroin, crack and cocaine. The bill classes fresh magic mushrooms as a 'preparation' of psilocin or psilocybin, and therefore possession of magic mushrooms (fresh and prepared) is now illegal.
Fly Agaric mushrooms are also hallucinogenic but they contain no psilocybin or psilocin and so are not illegal. However they are difficult to take safely and there's much debate over whether Fly Agaric mushrooms are deadly or not.
(from http://www.thesite.org/drinkanddrugs/drugsafety/thelaw/magicmushroomsandthelaw (http://www.thesite.org/drinkanddrugs/drugsafety/thelaw/magicmushroomsandthelaw))
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The magic mushrooms commonly picked in the UK are commonly called Liberty Caps (Psilocybe semilanceata) and are fairly potent. They grow to around 4" high and are dependant on the season, around late summer time.
What they look like:
(https://www.thenakedscientists.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Ftbn0.google.com%2Fimages%3Fq%3Dtbn%3A2IMGlUjs-ZgJ%3Awww.dkimages.com%2Fdiscover%2Fpreviews%2F820%2F20070168.JPG&hash=8826ab71020c8ad54f15584832dc7a09)
If you ate just the above amount you would notice it and would soon be in magic land, obviously the more you take the longer and more pronounced the "trip"
Some personal "Magic" experience from about 27 years ago, but first the disclaimer...
Don't do drugs, if you do ask yourself why you need to as they can mess you up.
In the early 1980's I drove some friends to Hainault forest to see if we could find some having never taken them before. We parked the car and went looking. After some time we came across sparse patches of them growing in a number of places and proceeded to pick them and put them in a bag for later. After a while picking them we decided we had enough and proceeded home, or tried to.
In the act of picking them some of the active ingredients had been adsorbed through the skin and we were already feeling the effects but the trouble was, no one could remember where we had parked the car!
It was a nice sunny day so we wandered around for ages, the sky seemed tartan and the trees seemed to be dancing and we were laughing like mad but, we still couldn't find the car and in the end had to get a bus home.
I seem to remember the bus ticket collector looking weird as he had a cartoon colour face that kept changing colour. I was told later that when the conductor asked where I was going to my reply was "home" cos I couldn't remember the name of the place only where it was. I think ET the film had just been released and he must have though I was parodying that but I'm not sure. A friend ended up paying for me as I couldn't figure out the money.
We went back the next day and found the car after realising I had parked it in the main car park. [;D]
The feeling is like an LSD trip but not so intense and with none of the bad comedown as with some LSD. The feeling would take too long to describe in any detail but I have to say I enjoyed it.
However, I'm glad to say I stopped doing stuff like that in 1984 and have no desire to do so again. [:)]
I think the Magic side comes from the fact that mushrooms hallucinogenic effects have in the past been used by prophets, shaman and others in some of their rituals.
Its alleged that the red fly agaric with its white spots has associations with Santa's costume and then entering via the chimney. The shaman used to feed the reindeer with some mushrooms and then drink the reindeer urine as it purified the mushrooms in some way.
Amanita muscaria.
(https://www.thenakedscientists.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.wildlifetrust.org.uk%2Fcheshire%2FIMAGES%2Fwatch_fly_agaric.jpg&hash=6b61f12ab1d3f43d172fe1385a1d3183)
They are also associated with "faeries" or the fairy and can be seen a lot in early pictures and book illustrations.
So there you go, the magic of Santa, faeries and mushrooms. [;D]
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Great story, Bee. I have not laughed so much in ages...
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It's like Queen said - "We are the champignons".
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hahahaha How did you get on a trip like that from just touching wild growing mushrooms? I might go looking for some to touch in the woods lol.
There was some mushrooms growing on one side of the yard in my school about 4years ago. On the school side by the gate where their was a patch of grass, and they started spitting out clowds of smoke. So we started throwing bits of food at it because it was dinner time and the clowd must of been about 3ft off the ground! Do you think if we breathed in the gas it could of made us start tripping?