Regulations intended to prevent harm and addiction from substances like cannabis, MDMA, LSD, and psilocybin also create major barriers for scientists trying to study these drugs. The authors argue that modifying current drug scheduling to reclassify illicit substances would allow extensive testing in research settings, potentially advancing life-saving research.
This chapter reviews psychoactive illicit substances of fungal origin, focusing on psilocybin, the hallucinogenic compound in 'magic mushrooms' from genera such as Conocybe, Gymnopilus, Panaeolus, Pluteus, and Psilocybe. It describes neurological and related adverse events that can result from pharmacokinetic interactions between these fungal substances and clinical drugs in humans. The chapter also outlines directions for future research to better understand the underlying mechanisms of these adverse events.