What are magic mushrooms ?

In the past people used the term ‘magic mushrooms’ as slang for the psilocybe semilanceata or ‘liberty cap’ mushroom, the most common type of ‘magic mushroom’ in the UK. More recently people have used the term ‘magic mushrooms’ to include other mushrooms that have similar ’trippy’ effects, like hallucinations. But 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. Here are the main effects and risks of magic mushrooms: 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.