Illegal hallucinogens found in mushroom gummies sold at gas stations, smoke shops

Key takeaways:

• Five people, including a child, were sickened after ingesting mushroom gummies sold in Virginia.
• Investigators detected unlabeled substances, including psilocybin and psilocin, in three gummy brands.

Mushroom-containing nootropic gummies sold at gas stations and smoke shops in Virginia contained unlabeled psilocybin and psilocin, according to results of an investigation published in Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.

Avery Michienzi, DO, assistant medical director of University of Virgina’s Blue Ridge Poison Center, and colleagues launched the investigation after five people, including a child, in Virginia were sickened by gummies that were advertised as containing Amanita muscaria, a currently legal substance in the state. According to the researchers, the gummies are taken to enhance cognitive function.

Four cases were in adults who intentionally consumed the gummies. They presented to an ED from Sept. 1, 2023, to Nov. 20, 2023, with tachycardia, confusion, nausea and anxiety or somnolence. One patient also presented with chest pain.

Two of these patients received benzodiazepines and three received antiemetics, according to Michienzi and colleagues. All four patients also received IV fluids. They were discharged within 12 hours.

Months later, in June 2024, a 3-year-old child was hospitalized with somnolence and vomiting after accidentally ingesting two mushroom gummies containing A. muscaria. The child was discharged the next day without requiring interventions.

Although A. muscaria is legal, Michienzi warned that mushroom gummies are not regulated.

“People tend to equate ‘legal’ with ‘safe,’ which is not necessarily the case. These products are not regulated and can contain any number of unlabeled substances which, when consumed, can cause undesired symptoms,” Michienzi said in a related press release. “Some packages will have QR codes showing that the products were tested in a lab and contain only what they are labeled to contain. These have been found to be inaccurate.”

Following the cluster of illnesses, Michienzi and colleagues purchased and tested five different brands of mushroom gummies at gas stations and smoke shops near the Blue Ridge Poison Center. The researchers said they were unable to obtain the specific gummy brands that the patients ingested, so they purchased three brands that had the same ingredients and two brands with “unspecified mushroom nootropics.”

Using liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry, Michienzi and colleagues found that three of the five brands contained psilocybin and psilocin, which are Drug Enforcement Administration schedule I substances. They also detected caffeine, ephedrine and kratom, all of which were unlabeled.

The presence of these unlabeled substances “represents a potential risk to the public,” Michienzi and colleagues wrote.

“Persons who purchase products advertised as psychedelic or nootropic mushroom gummies should be aware that package labels might not accurately represent the contents and that these products could contain substances that might produce unexpected and potentially toxic effects,” they wrote. “Health care providers should counsel patients and caregivers that mushroom-containing edible products marketed with claims of health benefits might contain undisclosed ingredients and have been linked to illness requiring hospital care.”

Reference:

• ‘Brain health’ mushroom gummies found to contain illegal hallucinogens after 5 sickened. https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1051739. Published July 18, 2024. Accessed July 18, 2024.