UCSD Researchers Caution Against Unregulated ‘Magic Mushrooms’

SAN DIEGO—A type of “magic mushroom” is gaining interest in the United States, but scientists at the University of California–San Diego (UCSD) warned June 10 it may not be the one people think they are purchasing. In a paper published Monday in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, scientists at the UCSD Herbert Wertheim School of Public Health and Human Longevity Science suggest that the growing market for Amanita muscaria “may be sparked in part by emerging clinical research supporting the safety and efficacy of psilocybin as a treatment for depression,” a university spokesperson wrote. Like the more famous psilocybin mushrooms, Amanita muscaria mushrooms have psychotropic effects, including a feeling of weightlessness, visual and auditory hypersensitivity, space distortion, unawareness of time, and colored hallucinations....