Magic Mushrooms

What are magic mushrooms?

‘Magic mushrooms’ is a slang word for psilocybe semilanceata or ‘liberty cap’ mushrooms (the most common type of ‘magic mushroom’ in the UK) and any other mushroom which produces similar ’trippy’ effects, like hallucinations.
It is important to know that different types of ‘magic mushroom’ will differ in how strong and how toxic they are.

For example, the amanita muscaria or ‘fly agaric’ mushroom is stronger than the traditional ‘liberty cap’ mushroom

After picking, magic mushrooms are often eaten raw or are dried out and stored. Some people use the dried mushrooms to make tea. Drying reduces the weight of the ‘magic mushrooms’, but not their potency. People don’t tend to eat fly agaric mushrooms raw as they can make you feel really sick and also because there is a greater risk of poisoning and death from this family of mushrooms.

Effects

• Colours, sounds and objects appear distorted.
   
• Your sense of time and movement can speed up – or slow down.
   
• You may feel disoriented, tired or sick – and some users can get stomach pains or diarrhoea. 

They can also have other effects:

• Magic mushrooms can distort colours, sounds and objects. They can make you feel as if your senses are mixed up so that, for example, you think you can hear colours and you can see sounds. Some people can feel more emotionally sensitive or more creative or feel enlightened.
• They can also speed up and slow down your sense of time and movement.
• They can make it feel like you're dreaming when you're awake.
• Sometimes, magic mushrooms can make you feel disoriented, tired or sick and can give you stomach pains or diarrhoea.