Introduction to Psilocybin – Effects of Psilocybin – History of Psilocybin
· “Magic Mushrooms” have been part of human culture since the earliest recorded history.
· They have been utilized for many different purposes, ranging anywhere form spiritual enlightenment to recreational uses.
· “Alice” encountered it in her “Wonderland” as early as 1865. It had not been until more recent years that much has been know about the drug and its chemical properties.
· With the realization of this drug and its use becoming better studied it has been established that active component in magic mushrooms is a molecule called psilocybin.
· Psilocybin (along with another molecule, psilocin) are the compounds responsible for causing the hallucinations associated with the drug.
· Psilocybin is present in hundreds of species of fungi, most commonly in the Psilocybe genus.
· Magic mushrooms containing psilocybin have made clear and distinct impacts on society and have also been greatly affected by society and its view on the drug.
· Either way psilocybin has been a very important molecule in history.