The great debate: acid or mushrooms? While both fall into the category of psychedelic substances, each of them offer a unique set of experiences, benefits and effects. Additionally, they have played very different roles throughout human history.
In this article, I am going to be breaking down the two and comparing them for those who are curious about the main differences between acid and mushrooms. Let’s get started with the basics.
What is acid?
Acid has many street names. While it is most commonly called acid, LSD, Lucy and L, it is formally known as Lysergic acid diethylamide. Why it is called acid? Because it is made from Lysergic acid, hence its chemical name!
But what is acid made of? Where does it come from?
Lysergic acid is made with alkaline hydrolysis of Lysergamides, such as ergotamine. This is a substance that is usually derived from the ergot fungus on agar plate. A great reminder that all chemicals come from nature-even chemicals that are used during synthesis.
Due to the base used to synthesise LSD, it falls into a category called Lyergamides, which is a completely different class of psychedelics than magic mushrooms.
What are magic mushrooms?
Magic mushrooms, also known as psilocybin mushrooms, are naturally occurring (you guessed it) mushrooms! However, these mushrooms are unique to your typical medicinal mushroom due to a very magical compound they host; psilocybin.
This compound is what allows us to experience the mind-bending effects that the magic mushroom has to offer us. Or, more specifically, they naturally contain psilocybin, which converts to psilocin upon ingestion, resulting in the psychedelic experience.
Psilocybin mushrooms are a blanket term for a polyphyletic informal group of psychoactive fungi that contain psilocybin. Biological genera containing psilocybin mushrooms include Inocybe, Pluteus, Phoiotina, Copelandia, Gymnopilus, Pluteus and Psilocybe.
While LSD falls into the Lyergamides category (see above), psilocybin mushrooms fall into the Tryptamine category.
How LSD and mushrooms affect the brain
Lysergamids like LSD interact with proteins on the surface of brain cells that we call serotonin receptors. Essentially, serotonin acts as a chemical messenger, helping brain cells communicate.
Research has shown us that LSD appears to act through a particular receptor; 5-HT2AR. But that is not the limit of our knowledge revolving around LSD’s effects on the brain.
We have brain scans of how the human brain physically reacts to LSD, thanks to the dedicated team of researchers at Beckley Foundation. Taking LSD makes the brain light up and become hyperactive.
Credit: Imperial College London
Not only does it become more active than usual but it also results in something truly remarkable. To simplify, taking LSD allows certain sections of the brain to communicate with regions that wouldn’t normally be able to communicate.
Perhaps this effect is what hippies in the 60s were talking about when they said LSD ‘expands the mind’! They were definitely onto something there.
When it comes to magic mushrooms, a similar effect can be observed. The studies we have thus far have suggested that psilocybin allows the brain to strengthen its connections between brain networks.
This has been observed with connections that were once very weak or simply unlikely to connect! Some researchers also believe that magic mushrooms could potentially create entirely new connections!
While most of our research on psilocybin/psilocin has been conducted on mice, we do have some research on humans, as well. In people, psilocybin has demonstrated its ability to increase strength in the neural connections that are responsible for how an individual senses the world around them.
Simultaneously, it can also decrease the connections responsible for how we understand signals from our environment. The lack of signals we are capable of receiving from our environment may be what allows us to feel an unmatched sense of ‘one-ness’ with our surroundings during a magic mushroom trip.
If we are unable to comprehend the difference between ourselves and our surroundings, it can make us feel extremely connected to our environment.
History
LSD has a rather ‘short’ history. Magic mushrooms, on the other hand, have played a long role in human history. Let’s take a look at LSD first!
A brief history of LSD
Many years ago, on November 16th, 1938, a legendary Swiss chemist named Albert Hofmann invented LSD, not realising the impact it would have on society. It was only in 1943 that he realised its power when he unintentionally ingested an unknown amount through skin absorption.
The time of said events occurred during World War II. Because of the war, there was a ban on specific transportation, meaning he had to ride his bicycle to and from work each day.
That being said, Mr Hofmann accidentally experienced the world’s first-ever LSD trip and had to ride home on his bicycle. Every year, the psychedelic community celebrates what is known as ‘bicycle day’, which falls on April 19th.
Not long after, LSD was in the hands of the masses, kick-starting the famous ‘acid wave’ which started in the 60s. As you can imagine, the government was not happy about this new movement and soon put a halt to it by declaring that LSD had ‘serious potential for abuse’ and was prohibited by law.
Beforehand, psychedelic research was at its peak but was stopped when the ‘War on drugs’ was declared in 1971. Only in extremely recent dates is psychedelic research starting back up again.
Thanks to the large gap in time where there were no studies completed, we have a lot to catch up on!
A brief history of magic mushrooms
We have known for a long time that magic mushrooms were a part of our history, however, we are only really beginning to understand the deep impact they had on human history. In fact, the use of magic mushrooms goes back as far as some of the earliest civilizations in human history!
Specific species of hallucinogenic mushrooms, such as Psilocybe Genus, have a history of use among the native peoples of Mesoamerica with the intent of divination, healing and communion.
Mushroom stones, statues, paintings and other artifacts have been found in Guatemala. One statue in particular dating from ca. 200 CE!
Going back even further in time, we can observe the cave painting on the stone walls of Tassili n’Ajjer, Algeria. In these paintings, we see tales told of shamans using magic mushrooms during spiritual rituals.
These recordings are dated 4700 BCE! In one particular painting, we see a shaman with the head of a bee, holding mushrooms in his hands while smaller mushrooms sprout out of the rest of his body.
However, this is not the only mushroom painting found in this dessert from that time period. A handful of other findings included recordings of mushroom usage. Due to the nature of these findings, it is safe to assume that they were documenting their applications of magic mushrooms, in particular.
Final thought
While magic mushrooms and LSD are both hallucinogenic, they are extremely different in many aspects. When it comes to the effects of these substances, the list of effects is similar while the experience of said effects differ. For example, LSD is known to ‘speed up your brain’ and make it work in overdrive, while magic mushrooms are more known for slowing things down.
However, at the end of the day, both substances have displayed positive effects on mental health when studied clinically. While the research is ongoing, the few studies we have thus far have strongly suggested that both magic mushrooms and LSD may be an effective treatment for conditions such as depression, anxiety and (in some cases) even posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD)!
Our ancestors have been using psychedelic fungi and plants for centuries to promote healing and spiritual enhancements. It is only now that these possibilities are truly making their way to the Western world… It only took us thousands of years! Better late than never, right?
As always, do your research, speak to people in the community and approach all conversations about psychedelics with an open mind!
