Title: Magic mushroom , New Scientist, 02624079, 6/3/2006, Vol. 190, Issue 2554
Magic mushroom
IN JULY 1914, one man's lunch forever changed the way most of us looked at mushrooms. Mr W, as he is known, went mushrooming in Maine, then tucked into his pickings with his niece. After the meal, they started to feel strange. Time seemed to slow down. "We became very hilarious, with an irresistible impulse to laugh and joke immoderately," Mr W recounted. They then experienced vivid hallucinations.
Mr W's experiences were so noteworthy that they were reported in the journal Science. This was something of a turning point, according to historian Andy Letcher, whose new book Shroom explores the cultural history of the magic mushroom. Previously, mushrooms had been classed as edible or poisonous. Now a third category was recognised: hallucinogenic.
What proportion of mushrooms fit into this category? Of the thousands of different species, around 200 are hallucinogenic. These can be divided into three groups. First are mushrooms such as the liberty cap (Psilocybe semilanceata), which contain the psychoactive alkaloid psilocybin. We know of 186 psilocybin-containing species, 76 of which are found in Mexico, where there is a long tradition of using hallucinogenic mushrooms. Mushrooms in the second group contain a different set of alkaloids such as muscimol. They include species such as the red-and-white spotted fly agaric (Amanita muscaria), used as an intoxicant in remote parts of Siberia. Mushrooms in the final, smaller group contain ergoline alkaloids, from which LSD is derived.
The term "magic mushrooms" usually refers to psilocybin-containing varieties. The effects of this chemical are similar to those of LSD, though it is 200 times less potent. When eaten, it is converted by stomach enzymes to its pharmacologically active form, psilocin. Psilocybin's powerful effects stem from its ability to mimic the action of the neurotransmitter serotonin, which plays an important role in perception.
As well as inspiring generations of hippies, magic mushrooms arouse much curiosity among scientists. At the Los Angeles Biomedical Research Institute, studies are under way to test whether psilocybin can reduce the anxiety about dying suffered by the terminally ill, and since 2001 psychiatrist Francisco Moreno of the University of Arizona in Tucson has been testing the hallucinogen as a treatment for obsessive-compulsive disorder.
Why do magic mushrooms produce hallucinogens? No one knows, but the chemicals are probably a metabolic by-product. Inevitably, "shroomers" — those with a fondness for consuming magic mushrooms (the word entered the online Oxford English Dictionary last year) — often claim they are a gift from God.
Shroom: A cultural history of the magic mushroom, by Andy Letcher, is published on 15 June by Faber and Faber
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