RESEARCH analyst for the National Council on Drug Abuse (NCDA) Uki Atkinson says the entity has observed an increase in the use of magic mushroom, more popularly known as “shrooms” among youth in Jamaica.

Atkinson, while pointing out that there is no national data to support this claim, said, however, the NCDAs observation is anecdotal.

“We have heard of mushroom parties and the proliferation of certain products that have psilocybin [mushrooms] as their base. There is the product by the capsules that recently received quite a bit of attention based on social media push,” Atkinson said.

Further, psilocybin, a naturally occurring psychedelic prodrug compound produced by more than 200 species of fungi is a form of hallucinogen that can lead to bad episodes and trigger negative emotions leading to feelings of depression, confusion, paranoia, and delusion.

“There is a whole set of new products and new psychoactive substances beyond the psilocybin market that our youth today appears to be more amenable to experimenting with. The concern is not only for psilocybin mushroom products but also these newer drugs,” she said.

Atkinson noted that substances like magic mushrooms are being marketed by many as wellness-based products that could be used to help with issues such as anxiety and depression.

But she is concerned that laws used to control these substances are not very concrete, which opens up opportunities for people to market them as products that have been approved by the Ministry of Health’s Standards and Regulations Division.

“There are so many lines that these products are supposed to go through, so many levels of investigation, and levels of approval and nothing like that have been done, especially for these psilocybin products,” she explained.

Several states in America have noted an increase in the use of magic mushroom over the years among young adults, with many describing it as a “psychedelic revolution”.

According to research done by the University of Michigan, approximately eight per cent of young adults between the ages of 19 and 30 used a form of hallucinogen in 2021 in the United States. This is the highest share recorded since the 1980s and has doubled over the last decade from 3.4 per cent in 2011.

This increase continues to raise concerns for psychologists.

Clinical psychologist Marlon Simpson, however, said there are benefits to using psilocybin, but people are now mixing psilocybin with other mushrooms that are poisonous and it is causing a problem.

He said the benefits of the prodrug compound occurs when used in microdosing to treat anxiety and depression, but if abused, Simpson said the impact can be negative.

“Microdosing is good. It helps to relieve the symptoms of anxiety and depression. It’s non-addictive, but at the same time, if you abuse it, you can suffer from withdrawal, severe flashbacks to negative events, and certain amounts of anxiety,” the clinical psychologist said.

Simpson further explained that abuse of the drug occurs when one is not being managed by a doctor or professional in the field and when one is taking more than is recommended at a time.

“We recommend small doses. People that take a lot of it one time is definitely abuse,” he said.

Simpson added: “Management is by a medical doctor or someone who has experience working in the field of psilocybin. They provide the amount. It’s microdosing, which is a small amount given at intervals [and] the person is monitored — their behaviour, their experiences are monitored carefully and then the dose is either increased or decreased depending on the persons reaction to it. From a medical perspective, we control how much you take at a time.”

Meanwhile, one individual who recently took a gummy bear infused with mushroom extract told the Jamaica Observer his experience, stating that it heightened all his senses and made him more aware of his surroundings.

“It hits you slow and soft and is not aggressive. It goes after your senses first, then your behavioural traits get hit. I have traits of ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder), so the twitching increases and I am jittery trying to find things to do with my hands,” he said, while noting that the effects lasted for approximately four hours.

Said he: “It heavily increased my brain activity and my conscience. It was boosting what I was thinking and feeling in the moment, so if I wasn’t in a comfortable environment I don’t think I would have had that good of an experience.”