https://arstechnica.com/science/2024/06/people-are-seizing-being-intubated-after-eating-microdose-chocolates/
"Extreme caution" urged as at least 8 people in 4 states sickened, 6 hospitalized.
It's not entirely clear what is in the chocolates or what could be causing the illnesses. The FDA said it was working with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as well as America's Poison Centers to "determine the cause of these illnesses and is considering the appropriate next steps."
On its website, Diamond Shruumz says that its chocolate bars contain a "primo proprietary blend of nootropic and functional mushrooms." The website also contains reports of laboratory analyses on their products, some of which indicate the absence of select known fungal toxins and compounds such as the hallucinogen psilocybin and cannabinoids.
My guess is that they accidentally grew/used the wrong type of mushroom. PCR tests on the bars will tell us for sure.
Second, really really shitty of the article to imply these bars have cannabis or psilocybin when they do not have either of these compounds according to the manufacturer's website.
they do not have either of these compounds
Instead what many of these "shroom" products do is use other kinds of fungus that is known to cause altered states and hallicinations, such as the perfectly legal Amanita Muscaria, which if you're not familiar is that iconic red mushroom with white spots, which you may have also been taught is extremely toxic.
It is, but in low doses it can bring about states of relaxation or sleepiness and the head-shops and shady online dealers sell the stuff promising to get you "high." The trip from a high dose of Amanita Muscaria is akin to torture people have said, so if people are eating whole bags of this shit trying to get high, they're poisoning themselves and having horrible experiences.
An amanita species being mixed in accidentally is actually exactly what I suspect happened to their bars. But there are many many other mushrooms that could do this too. Per their product page, there's no amanita in these, either. Mushrooms also tend to absorb toxins, pesticides, and heavy metals, so they may be the right species but otherwise contaminated as well. Many options.
I bet they mixed something up. My mother loved mycology and could identify a thousand different mushrooms, and the more she learned the more she learned not to trust fungus gathered in the wild, they all have a lot of imitators and lookalikes that can be incredibly dangerous.
I was wondering how they’d manage to sell them without getting slammed by FDA and law enforcement. Of course it doesn’t contain the real deal! I’d guess you’re right about the mushroom strain, or at least some contamination occurred.
I haven't had these bars, but I've had many similar "shroom" products. A lot of the time they'll use real mushrooms like lion's mane for the flavor and weak "it's healthy" claims. While I don't know what the psychoactive plants they use, they're typically legal plant sources of DMT. One of the products I buy even lists a couple plants from their proprietary blend, and includes roots from a cousin of ayahuasca. Well, other plants in that same genus are poisonous.
They don't contain anything like that: https://diamondshruumz.com/shop/chocolate-bars/dark-chocolate/
No they do not! Our Diamond Shruumz products are meticulously crafted with a proprietary blend of natural ingredients. There is no presence of psilocybin, amanita or any scheduled drugs, ensuring a safe and enjoyable experience. Rest assured, our treats are not only free from psychedelic substances but our carefully crafted ingredients still offer an experience. This allows you to indulge in a uniquely crafted blend designed for your pleasure and peace of mind.
Second, really really shitty of the article to imply these bars have cannabis or psilocybin
Do they imply that? Doesn't seem like it to me. They quote the website where the company says
The website also contains reports of laboratory analyses on their products, some of which indicate the absence of select known fungal toxins and compounds such as the hallucinogen psilocybin and cannabinoids.
Then they say the company did not respond to a request for comment before press.
Dr. Beth Mole does good reporting (you can look at her past articles about Covid, for example), it seems there is limited information about this currently.
I already quoted that fully. Just because they have "articles" about thlse substances, does not make them relevant here. No where does she clarify that these products do not contain psilocybin. The article is misleading at best. The author is a human subject to bias and error like anyone.
I never said they had articles about these substances. Please feel free to re read my comment.
No where does she clarify that these products do not contain psilocybin.
That is correct, I will take a guess that's because no one knows what is in them. The company did not comment, there does not seem to be any other information.
When someone does an analysis they will know. Why would a credible reporter say 'it does not contain psilocybin' if they don't know and have no way to verify?
I used "articles" as a synonym to the word "reports" in the quoted text.
The company's literal website (linked in the article) has an FAQ that states this, which is where I got the info. The author should've done better. She should've stated that psilocybin isn't in the original recipe.
https://diamondshruumz.com/shop/chocolate-bars/dark-chocolate/
No they do not! Our Diamond Shruumz products are meticulously crafted with a proprietary blend of natural ingredients. There is no presence of psilocybin, amanita or any scheduled drugs, ensuring a safe and enjoyable experience. Rest assured, our treats are not only free from psychedelic substances but our carefully crafted ingredients still offer an experience. This allows you to indulge in a uniquely crafted blend designed for your pleasure and peace of mind.
Further, read this thread. There are numerous comments from users who are confused what these bars are made of. Doesn't seem like good reporting to me.
Am I having a stroke or are you?
indicate the absence of select known fungal toxins and compounds such as the hallucinogen psilocybin and cannabinoids.
The article says that the tests say there is no psilocybin.
some of which indicate the absence of select known fungal toxins and compounds such as the hallucinogen psilocybin and cannabinoids.
'Some of which' sounds like perhaps some reports indicated the presence.
Let's agree to disagree. There are clearly numerous people itt "having a stroke" because they all thought these mushrooms were psychoactive after reading the article. That's bad writing. It's a bad piece. It is what it is. We don't all do our best work on everything. But if she's supposed to be informing us, she failed.
I take it more that the company is opaque about what is in them, so no one really knows.
They seem to be trying to say 'hey bro, we got the good shit, he he,' , but it turns out it's oregano and hemlock.
PCR tests on the bars will tell us for sure
That sounds like some "science hippie" words.
I say they should give the chocolates to the folks that run things in Texas. They're good at making decisions using only their gut.
EDIT: well, that's what I get for not putting a /s on my comment
What? PCR is used constantly every day by the CDC and in the medical industry to identify species (usually pathogenic) via genes. Kary Mullis got a Nobel prize for it. It's literally as mundane as any other lab test now.
Kids just need to get a hold of the real thing. These candies do not contain psilocybin rather a chemical cocktail meant to emulate its effects. I’ve tried the fake stuff and it sucks compared to real psilocybin.
Some of them are legal plant sources of DMT, and those ones are good. Of course they still advertise themselves as shroom bullshit though
DMT is not orally active unless you're on a MAOI, which is dangerous and could potentially explain the symptoms being described. I wouldn't trust any chocolate being sold as both psychoactive and containing DMT. You're either getting ripped off or taking something potentially very dangerous.
That's interesting, I have genes that basically mean I'm on a natural MAOI at all times. Should I stay away from DMT then? Is that why Salvia was such a hellish nightmare?
Definitely stay away from DMT unless you want to trip balls. You should probably be on a restricted diet too, MAO inhibition is not safe and eating things like cheese could potentially send you to the hospital. I would recommend consulting a doctor if you haven't, literally the wrong food can be life threatening so it is really something to take seriously. Also, Salvia is inherently a hellish nightmare for most people. It's a very weird drug that fucks with perception in such a fundamental way that it is very hard to have a good time.
Yes I am on a low tyramine diet, that is actually how I found out about my genes (migraines from tyramine lead to gene test). There are also several meds I can't take as well. But I had never known about DMT interacting with it.
DMT does not need to be heated to be active. Ayahuasca is a tea, but the psychoactive ingredient is more than just DMT from mimosa hostilis. Let's do a quick biochemistry lesson: the reason DMT isn't orally active is NOT because it hasn't been "heated", it's because an enzyme called monoamine oxidase in our bodies is used to break down the DMT faster than it can cross the blood-brain barrier. If the chemical compound can't cross that barrier and make it into the brain, it has no effect.
The act of taking a monoamine oxidase inhibitor (MAOI) to prevent the enzyme from breaking the drug down makes it orally bioavailable long enough to be absorbed into the blood stream and carried to the brain. And because the enzyme used to break DMT down has now been inhibited, the effects will last much, much longer.
The fallacious logical progression of "if you can make a tea out of it, you can naturally extract it, if you can extract it, you can put it into edibles." is so incredibly fucking dangerous. Please don't speak with such confidence without any education behind it. People could seriously be hurt.
And just to add: Ayahuasca is not just a tea of DMT vines. It is specifically a mixture of DMT and MAOI, so it can be active - and be active for quite some time
But yeah, that's nothing to mix in during your typical Saturday night.
Precisely, ayahuasca only actually works due to some of the synergistic alkaloids that are in the concoction. There is one, actually I think a couple (it's been a long time since I've done biochemistry work), natural monoamine oxidase inhibitor in the various roots/plants that gets brewed.
These internet chocolates never contain mushrooms according to everyone I've known or read about who have had them. If you're lucky you get 4-aco-dmt which is safe and hard to tell apart from the real thing. This is an unregulated market and no one else cares about your health. Be careful out there.
We've had a spate of mushroom related "events" in Australia. Seems to be centred around Melbourne.
Of course it's entirely possible that nothing except reporting has changed, but that would mean that "journalists" do actual research, but that doesn't pay for clicks, so who knows what reality is.
I'd love a package to get access to all sorts of news, but each news source seems individually subscription-based, and that all adds up. So I just stick with AP and BBC.
If I could pay like $25/mo and get access to all the popular news sources I'd do it.
That's just the thing though. The "real" journalism people are missing now, used to cost more than 25$ a month for ONE newspaper subscription. And the printing isn't the expensive part.
People aren't ready to pay for that level of journalism anymore, so it doesn't exist anymore.
Yeah, that's never going to happen.
The media is too centralised, owned by too few people with too much money and an agenda to run the world.
We were raised with the notion that information must be free, but forgot to figure out how to pay for food for the ones producing that information.
Once the rivers of gold (real-estate advertising and pages and pages of personal adverts) dried up, journalism was doomed and freedom of the press with it.
The closest we still have is public broadcasting, but that is being decimated by Neo Liberal claptrap beholden to interest groups.
If we don't figure this out soon, democracy as we know it will vanish, if it isn't too late already.
Very weird product. Sold as "micro dosing", but there's absolutely no information about what exactly you're dosing. None of the mushrooms in the recipe are psychotropic.
But the branding is heavily implying that you will be high, and even encourages large doses, with a graphic of bloodshot eye for reference.
So either this stuff is cheaply-made snake oil that doesn't dose you with anything meaningful, and they just poisoned everyone with some sort of bacteria from dirty equipment, or they are adding some sort of drug to the product that is leading to extreme side effects.
My brother went from touting the benefits of microdosing to taking massive doses (we're talking total disassociation) within a month because of these ads. The other day he wrote about how he had his wife with him to make sure nothing went wrong, but she fell asleep.
I've done shrooms on occasion and it's fun, but these ads are fucking people up in more ways than one.
I don't know what exactly he takes, I just know he takes mushroom gummies he orders from some Facebook ad he saw and he has big hallucinatory trips.