'Magic mushrooms' (MMs) are psychoactive fungi containing the hallucinogenic compounds, psilocin (1) and psilocybin (2). Since June 6, 2002, these fungi have been regulated by the Narcotics and Psychotropics Control Law in Japan. Because there are many kinds of MMs and they are sold even as dry powders in local markets, it is very difficult to identify the original species of the MMs by...
It is believed by people in mountainous areas that toxins in A. muscaria are reduced by drying, storing or cooking. The main physiologically active substances, ibotenic acid (IBO) and muscimol (MUS), in A. muscaria were therefore investigated. IBO is readily transformed to into MUS through decarboxylation, and MUS is a hallucinogen. Drying A. muscaria in the sun or with a heater caused an...