and drink the milk. Some boil the mushroom. Some steep it in 
warm water acidulated with lemon juice. Some saute the mush- 
room in oil. No doubt, these different methods result in prepa- 
rations of different compositions and strengths. We know that 
the greatest concentration of active compounds occurs in and 
just under the colored peel. I have smoked the dried peel of A. 
muscaria and found it mildly psychoactive, akin to Cannabis. 
Infusions of the mushroom produce more powerful effects. 
Expectation plays a major role in shaping responses to all 
psychoactive drugs. Differences in response to the panther 
Amanita illustrate this principle well. Persons who eat this 
fungus accidentally while collecting food mushrooms often 
become violently ill and sometimes require hospitalization. 
Typically, they recover in 24 hours. Quite frequently, these 
victims receive incorrect medical treatment, because most 
emergency medical manuals and poison information centers 
continue to recommend injections of atropine as the antidote 
for poisoning by A. muscaria and A. pantherina in the errone- 
ous belief that the toxin is muscarine. (Atropine and muscarine 
are classical pharmacologic antagonists.) In fact, atropine may 
potentiate the effects of ibotenic acid and muscimol and is 
contraindicated in these cases. Correct treatment includes gas- 
tric lavage, if there is a possibility of removing any ingested 
material, observation, reassurance, and general supportive 
measures, with mild sedation if necessary. After recovery, 
victims of accidental panther fungus poisoning cannot imagine 
why anyone would deliberately eat the mushroom. 
By contrast, persons who eat Amanita pantherina for the 
purpose of changing their consciousness usually do not experi- 
ence sickness and often have positive experiences, which they 
like to repeat. In a recent survey in the Olympia, Washington 
area, nine victims of accidental poisoning were interviewed 
along with nine deliberate users. The accident cases typically 
had no experience with psychoactive drugs other than alcohol, 
tobacco, and coffee and interpreted the symptoms as the onset 
of poisoning and, possibly, imminent death; some of them lost 
consciousness. The deliberate users all had extensive drug 
experience and welcomed the physical symptoms as the onset 
of a high. They did not lose consciousness, even though they 
ingested larger doses than the victims of accidental intoxica- 
tion. The deliberate users had eaten Amanita an average of 30 
times each (32). 
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