Thanks to Doubleblind for this:
The shroom boom continues to spread across North America as psychedelic entrepreneurs test the appetite of law enforcement to extinguish it. But, in Florida, one hemp dispensary found a creative workaround.
Chillum, close to downtown Tampa, is selling Amanita muscaria, the red and white spotted shroom depicted in a popular emoji. It can be sold legally because it does not contain the prohibited psilocybin.
Chillum now advertises itself as a “mushroom and hemp dispensary,” and it is seemingly the first of its kind in the US. Since garnering a wave of media attention, founder Carlos Hermida claims his store has seen an upshot of visitors after the dream-inducing, psychoactive shroom went on sale in August.
A. muscaria, commonly known as fly agaric, contains the psychoactive compounds muscimol and ibotenic acid. It is illegal in Louisiana, which has particularly tight laws on tripping. Often falsely thought of as deadly due to the likelihood of vomiting and diarrhea after consumption—especially raw consumption. From raw consumption, it is also prohibited in Holland, the UK, and Romania. But it is not controlled in the vast majority of the US.
The iconic mushroom has a long history of usage in Siberia, specifically in the Kamchatka peninsula around where the word shaman derives. Tribes “collected amanita, dried it in the sun, and consumed it either whole, in a water or reindeer milk extraction, or mixed it with plant juices to sweeten its flavor,” says ICEERs, a psychedelic advocacy nonprofit.
A. muscaria experience is not the same as psilocybin—or other classical psychedelics, for that matter. Muscimol, Amanita’s primary active compound, engages the same pathways in the brain as alcohol and has sedative, hallucinogenic, and deliriant properties that can take you out of reality. Amanita and psilocybin mushrooms are also prepared and dosed differently.
And while the Amanita experience holds personal and spiritual significance among several cultural traditions and individual explorers, trips can be challenging and uncomfortable in ways uncharacteristic of classical psychedelics. Accidental injury, distress, and physical illness are well-known risks of Amanita, particularly with high doses. Advocates recommend having a sitter to help prevent accidents—like walking into traffic or falling asleep in the cold.
Some believe mushrooms have been used across the world since ancient times. “The fungus grows naturally in the highlands of Mesoamerica and some mushroom myths and sculptures suggest the use of Amanita muscaria in Guatemala and southern Mexico at the time of creation of the Mayan civilization, around 1500-1000 BC,” adds ICEERs. Indigenous usage in both northern Canada and around Lake Michigan, where it was known as miskwedo, has also reportedly been documented.
Now, regulators in both the US and Canada are considering legalizing psilocybin mushrooms for medicinal use.
The US federal government is preparing for the legalization of psilocybin in conjunction with therapy within several years, while a special access program is underway in Canada for those in emergency medical need.
Chillum
1714 E 7th Ave
Tampa, FL 33605
Homepage
https://chillumdispensary.com/product-category/mushrooms/magic-mushrooms/
