"Published reports on the home cultivation of P. cubensis began to circulate in scholarly journals as early as 1975 (Weil, 1975a, 1977; Ott, 1975, 1978). At the time when these first reports describing the home cultivation of hallucinogenic mushrooms appeared in print, ethnobiologist Jonathan Ott and Dr. Andrew Weil could scarcely imagine the enormity of both small and large scale mushroom cultivation operations which were sprouting up, so to speak, across the United States, Great Britain and Europe."
This report above is from Allen and Gartz, 2002 Psilocybian Mushroom Cultivation: A Brief History.
And more info:
"Dennis and Terrance McKenna, along with Jeremy Bigwood and Kathleen Harrison, using the pseudonyms of Oss and Oeric (1976), produced the best selling of all of growing manuals intended for a small audience interested in the home cultivation of Psilocybe spp. This book described several newly developed techniques originally employed in the cultivation of Agaricus bisporis. Instructions to be used in propagating Psilocybe cubensis were accompanied by step-by-step photographs of the process involved, enabling the grower to produce a good crop of mushrooms (Fig. 10). Eventually, this piublication was translated into several foreign language editions (See Fig. 10a).
The tremendous popularity of this growing manual encouraged many users into becoming home cultivators of hallucinogenic fungi. Its successful popularity in the drug subculture led to the proliferation during the next two years of more than half a dozen more books on mushroom cultivation (Harris, 1976; Gotlieb, 1976[1997]; Unsigned, 1976a [Hongero Presses Mushroom Cultivators Bible]; Pollock, 1977; Gould & Meridith, 1977; Stevens & Gee, 1977).
Oss and Oerics growing manual was also followed by the publication of more than a dozen hallucinogenic mushroom guides and identification manuals. By 1985, French and German translations of Oss and Oeric's book appeared in print in Europe (Stijve, 1989, Pers. Comm.)."
And Ott further stated,
"Over the years, these advertisements for mushroom growing supplies have reached millions of potential cultivators, many of whom obviously attempted to cultivate P. cubensis. In 1978, an independent researcher of psychoactive plants and author of several books and articles on the subject of hallucinogenic fungi claimed that "there is probably not a sufficient quantity of wild mushrooms to satisfy the demand[s] of a growing number of users" (Ott, 1978)."
And further Weil wrote the following:
In 1980, Andrew Weil reported that "a number of companies now sell by mail kits to grow the mushrooms and spores of the common species. Federal law controls all `materials' containing psilocybin. Spores of the mushrooms do not contain the drug and are (therefore) legal, although they produce illegal material when they germinate." Weil then goes on to say that "growing mushrooms from spores is not as easy as growing higher plants from seeds, but many people have learned to do it, especially with P. cubensis. As a result, that mushroom is now available all over America."
And from the United Nations Bulletin on Narcotics we get the following report and a response form Gartz and I:
"A RECENT REPORT AND OBSERVATION
A recent United Nations paper (Seigel, 1985), which reviews current drug use among California teenagers, reported that "psilocybin mushrooms are the hallucinogenic drug of choice among young people in California. This trend has been supported by the proliferation of sale of mushroom spores and growing kits which enable users to cultivate their own products cheaply, reliably, and directly. The most common cultivated species has been [and still is] P. cubensis, selling for approximately $10.00 per unit (usually one dried gram)." This report further states that the "use of psilocybin may decrease" one reason being that "the inconvenience of growing and the storing of psilocybin mushrooms is likely to result in their decreasing use." This same government funded report also states that a decrease in the use of these mushrooms by the youth of California might also come about because of the availability of many newer designer drugs, some of which are not, as yet, under the control of the federal government.
Three misleading and confusing factors pertaining to this report should be mentioned and clarified:
1. Most teenagers who purposely consume psychoactive fungi for recreational purposes only require one dried gram of P. cubensis to achieve an altered state of consciousness, while the normal recommended clinical dosage for this species had previously been reported as being from 3-5 dried grams (Stein, 1958; Ott, 1976, 1978, 1993). This higher dosage would be relatively comparable or equivalent to the amount of mushrooms eaten during a Mazatec healing and curing ceremony. If teenagers were able to consume a larger amount of mushrooms they would most likely "run the risk of a negative [(not dysphoric)] reaction" to the inebriation. Most teenagers feel content with the mild one gram dosage which is not a danger to their health.
2. Although it is true that many teenagers are involved one way or another in the illegal use of both illicit and legal drugs--the primary ones being alcohol, tobacco and Cannabis--there are just as many who may be prone to experiment with psychoactive fungi. However, those who do most likely would never be involved in their cultivation; the reason being, many teenagers who use psychoactive mushrooms know how to pick them and would rather pick them than grow them. This would be applicable since many young people would not have enough patience required, for the time involved, in growing them."
3. Large quantities of P. cubensis can easily be grown quite efficiently in the space of a walk-in-closet or small room. Over the past fifteen years, one of the authors (JWA) has been most fortunate in being able to gain the confidence of several growers, many of whom allowed him to observe both small and large scaled cultivation operations in progress. One observation which JWA became aware of was that none of the growers of P. cubensis whom the author met with had ever felt or thought that it was an inconvenience in growing or storing their entheogenic fungi crops.""
And for the shrooms in China:
Mj
AS for China, there ae several references to magic mushrooms in early Chinese Heral remidy manuals.
Particularly from the Chin Dybnasty which describe Cures for the Laughing Sickness for certain tyoes of mushroom poisonings.
I have no records of South American Indians cultivating any mushrooms. The Mazatec (Nahuatl Indians did not cultivate any shrooms nor did the Olmecs, Toltecs or aztecs for that matter.
The earliest cultivators of mushrooms are the Termites and Ants who raise certain species of mushrooms for food both underground and above ground.
Mj
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