The Microscope is publishing monographs from McCrone Research Institute’s A Modern Compendium of Microcrystal Tests for Illicit Drugs and Diverted Pharmaceuticals (4th revision: September 13, 2021), which contains 19 different drugs and their microcrystal test reagents. This issue includes the final installment of monographs, with the following drugs/reagent...
Fatalities implicating psychedelic mushrooms are not a common clinical situation in everyday forensic medicine. Despite classification as an illegal drug in many countries, psilocybin mushrooms have the reputation of being safe. We report the case of a young man who jumped from a second story balcony under the influence of psilocybin mushrooms. The psilocin ...
In nature, there are >200 species of fungi with hallucinogenic properties. These fungi are classified as Psilocybe, Gymnopilus, and Panaeolus which contain active principles with hallucinogenic properties such as ibotenic acid, psilocybin, psilocin, or baeocystin. In Chile, fungi seizures are mainly of mature specimens or spores. However, clandestine laborat...
IntroductionPsilocybin is a psychedelic tryptamine that has shown promise in recent clinical trials for the treatment of depression and substance use disorders. This open-label study of the pharmacokinetics of psilocybin was performed to describe the pharmacokinetics and safety profile of psilocybin in sequential, escalating oral doses of 0.3, 0.45, and 0.6 ...
In recent years, new drugs, commonly known as new psychoactive substances (NPS), appeared on the market, which include, among others, synthetic cannabinoids, cathinones, and tryptamine analogs of psilocin. The aim of this work was to develop and validate a new method for simultaneous screening and quantification of 31 NPS in oral fluid by ultra-high-performa...
Psilocybin is the psychotropic tryptamine-derived natural product of Psilocybe carpophores, the so-called "magic mushrooms". Although its structure has been known for 60 years, the enzymatic basis of its biosynthesis has remained obscure. We characterized four psilocybin biosynthesis enzymes, namely i) PsiD, which represents a new class of fungal l-tryptopha...
New psychoactive substances (NPS) are a new breed of synthetically produced substances designed to mimic the effects of traditional illegal drugs. Synthetic cannabinoids and synthetic cathinones are the two most common groups, which try to mimic the effects of the natural compounds 9Δ-tetrahydrocannabinol and cathinone, respectively. Similarly, synthetic try...
A rapid new spectrophotometric method is developed for the determination of psilocin and psilocybin using the oxidative coupling reaction with 3-methylbenzthiazolinone-2-hydrazone. The method is precise and accurate. It can be applied to the estimation of psilocin and psilocybin in forensic exhibits. Keywords: 3-methylbenzthiazolinone-2-hydrazone, psilocin, ...
The aim of the study was to develop a methodology for the determination of γ-hydroxybutyric acid (GHB), ibotenic acid (IBO) and psilocybin (PY) abuse in human saliva.
Drug abuse is a worldwide problem. Although commonly abused drugs can be identified during routine urine drug testing, less commonly abused drugs may escape detection. These less commonly abused drugs not only include some designer drugs such as synthetic cannabinoid but also include abuse of psychedelic magic mushroom (active ingredients: psilocybin and psi...
The taxonomic identification of the biological material contained in the hallucinogenic mushrooms culture media, was carried out using a DNA-based approach, thus highlighting the usefulness of this approach in the forensic identification of illegal samples also when they are present as basidiospores mixed in culture media and spore-bearing fruiting body are ...
Substances of plant origin have been used to induce hallucinations for a long time, in religious ceremonies and rituals as well as in pain relief. Psilocybin and psilocin naturally occur in the fungal genus Psilocybe. Due to the psychedelic effects and relative harmlessness of these substances and the fact that they do not cause physical addiction, psilocybi...
Sixty years ago, the ethnomycologist R. G. Wasson discovered an ancient mushroom cult in Oaxaca, Mexico.1, 2 The famous mycologist R. Heim classified the psychoactive mushroom species in the genera Psilocybe and the eminent natural product chemist Albert Hofmann published the isolation, structural elucidation and synthesis of the new alkaloids psilocybin and...
The pharmacological activities and acute toxicity of the psilocin (PC) and dried residues of the crude extracts of psychotropic mushrooms were investigated in mice. The hallucinogenic substances were effectively isolated, by using methanol, from the species of Psilocybe semilanceata and Pholiotina cyanopus, that were collected in the north-east region of Pol...
A method for the simultaneous extraction of the hallucinogens psilocin, bufotenine, lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) as well as iso-LSD, nor-LSD and O-H-LSD from hair with hydrochloride acid and methanol is presented. Clean-up of the hair extracts is performed with solid phase extraction using a mixed-mode cation exchanger. Extracts are measured with liquid ...
Abstract Pholiotina cyanopus was collected from wood chips and other woody remnants of undetermined tree species. Its basidiomata were found in June within the area of closed sawmill in the central part of Żywiec city (SW Poland). Description and illustration of Ph. cyanopus based on Polish specimens are provided and its ecology, general distribution and com...
Five Psilocybe species with unresolved systematic position (P. atrobrunnea, P. laetissima, P. medullosa, P. pelliculosa, and P. silvatica) were investigated using four molecular markers (EF1-α, ITS, LSU, and IGS). Phylogenetic analysis revealed that with the exception of P. laetissima, which is now rightfully classified in the genus Leratiomyces, all investi...
A procedure based on ultra-high-pressure liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry has been developed for the determination of mescaline, N,N-dimethyltryptamine, psilocin, psilocybin, salvinorin A in hair of consumers of psychedelic vegetal material such peyote or trichocereus cacti, psilocybe mushrooms, Salvia divinorum or psychedelic beverage ayahuasc...
