TRAGIC FLYING ATTEMPT UNDER THE INFLUENCE OF "MAGIC MUSHROOMS"

In this study a fatal case caused by the ingestion of magic mushrooms is reported. After a trip to the Netherlands a young girl had ingested a handful of psilocybe mushrooms with a soft drink. Soon later, she was trying to fly from the window and died in the street while falling from a room situated on the second floor of a house. The victim was not known by the law enforcement authorities to be a chronic drug addict. The autopsy revealed a traumatic cause of death whereas post-mortem toxicological analysis outlined consumption of psilocybin and cannabis. Psilocybin/psilocin content in the mushroom was determined by capillary electrophoresis. The general toxicological screening for drugs was negative except for psilocin and cannabinoids in blood and urine. Quantification of psilocin was done by EI-GC/MS operating in the SIM mode after derivatization with MSTFA and with bufotenin (a constitutional isomer) as internal standard. The concentrations were 0.06 mg/l for heart blood and 0.22 mg/l for femoral venous blood. Moreover, blood levels for cannabinoids were the following: 0.03 mg/l (THC), 0.008 mg/l (11-OH-THC) and 0.09 mg/l (THC-COOH). No psilocin could be detected in hair. This is the first case to our knowledge that psilocybin consumption was indirectly related to a fatal outcome.