Psychedelic mushrooms occur naturally, are wide distributed and easily accessible. The need for reviews and comprehensive field guides is urgent due to the recent surge of research into psychedelic mushrooms along with public interest. Psilocybin and psilocin are recorded in mushroom species of Psilocybe, Galindoi truffles Panaeolus, Pluteus, and Gymnopilus. This review discusses species identification, taxonomy and classification, available DNA sequence data and psychedelic species in Psilocybe, Panaeolus, Pluteus, and Gymnopilus, as well as similar looking genera that could be harmful. Psilocybin mushroom, any of several species of hallucinogenic fungi found across a number of genera, especially Psilocybe mexicana and P. cubensis.

There’s little evidence that people can become physically addicted to magic mushrooms. There are no known symptoms of withdrawal once you stop using them. Mental / emotional dependence can happen if a person feels like they need a drug, or like they can’t live without it. If you take magic mushrooms often, over time you could develop a higher tolerance, which means that the same amount of magic mushrooms may no longer give you the same effects anymore.

Psilocybin can also be synthetically produced and administered in standardized dosages, which is generally the form used in clinical settings. Hawaii’s state Senate cited the FDA designation in March when it approved a bill that would assemble a task force to develop a long-term plan to make psilocybin available to adults over the age of 21 seeking mental health treatment. Connecticut lawmakers convened a group to study psilocybin last year and adjusted its state budget to fund therapy programs administering psychedelic treatments to veterans and retired first responders.

The new Imperial treatments cost more than £2,000 each, including doctors and therapists, and many patients could need multiple treatments each year for continued benefits. Malievskaia would not comment on how much Compass would plan to charge, but says she wants to maximise how many people can access the drug. Carhart-Harris says psilocybin therapy would be significantly more expensive than antidepressants and potentially more than counselling. "There is a cold reality to why selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors [antidepressants] dominate mental healthcare and that is that they are cheap," he says.

Magic mushrooms (except fly agaric) are usually eaten raw but may be dried and stored for later use. They can be cooked into food or made into a tea or infusion and drunk. 20 – 30 liberty caps would be regarded as a full dose, but only one or part of a large fly agaric would be required. Grob, who’s also affiliated with the Heffter Research Institute, has studied psilocybin extensively and authored research on the subject, including, among other things, a pilot study in 2011 on psilocybin treatment for anxiety in people with cancer.