there is a great demand for psilocybin on the black market. 
Psilocybin is much more expensive to synthesize than LSD, 
and nearly everything sold in the illicit trade as psilocybin turns 
out to be LSD mixed with filler and coloring or LSD combined 
with other drugs to modify its effects (13). In the past few years, 
various forms of alleged psilocybin mushrooms have also 
turned up on the black market; these often turn out to be 
ordinary cultivated mushrooms, Agaricus bisporus (Lange) 
Imbach, treated with LSD (14). 
I had no difficulty locating some of these false psilocybin 
mushrooms in the university community of Eugene, Oregon, in 
the fall of 1973. The particular ones that I obtained were frozen, 
sold for $15 an ounce, and were said to be cultivated in Wash- 
ington. A teaspoonful of the coarsely chopped material was 
one dose. Of course, there is no way to identify mushrooms 
that are chopped and frozen, but the flavor and texture were 
consistent with canned Agaricus bisporus. On analysis (15), 
these mushrooms contained LSD and phencyclidine (PCP), a 
depressant drug that produces variable mental symptoms and a 
peculiar type of muscular incoordination. Apparently, PCP 
effectively disguises the actions of LSD; even experienced 
users of hallucinogens have refused to believe that these adult- 
erated mushrooms could owe most of their properties to LSD. 
PCP is a clever choice as an additive, because real psilocybin- 
containing mushrooms sometimes cause motor restlessness or 
weakness, possibly on account of secondary constituents. 
False psilocybin mushrooms turn up in many guises, from 
dried mushroom chips to brown powders, often selling for $50 
an ounce or more. In every instance that I have had them 
analyzed they have turned out to contain LSD or LSD mixed 
with PCP. An amusing variety, manufactured in Austin, Texas, 
is a light brown powder sold as ‘‘psilocybin mushroom 
spores.’’ The spores are probably the least active parts of 
hallucinogenic mushrooms. 
In the American South, where Stropharia cubensis is the 
principal active species, it is possible for people to collect 
sufficient quantities of this large, easily recognized, fleshy 
mushroom to enable them to sell it. But the active species of the 
Pacific Northwest are tiny and thin fleshed, gatherable only 
with some difficulty. Until the fall of 1975, I did not succeed in 
buying genuine psilocybin mushrooms here. The only real ones 
that I came across were those I collected myself in the field or 
obtained from other collectors. 
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