Rock paintings indicate that people in North Africa were ingesting hallucinogenic mushrooms as far back as 9000 BCE. Aztec and Mayan ruins also contain representations of mushrooms. Indigenous societies of Central and South America use psilocybin in sacred ritual to this day.
Psilocybin from fungi turns to psilocin upon ingestion. There are over a hundred psychoactive species from the genus Psilocybe distributed around the world. People use “magic mushrooms” both recreationally and in ritual. Psilocybin is considered relatively safe as there is no lethal dose and it is non-addictive.
Psilocin is the pharmacologically active metabolite of psilocybin. It has a similar structural to serotonin. Psilocin stimulates serotonin’s 2A receptors by binding to them in the central nervous system.
