As I am sure most of you are aware, generally psilocybin does not cause lethal overdose. The risks involved with psilocybin are generally psychological, and from a physical perspective psilocybin is actually an incredibly safe substance.
Knowing this, I felt obligated to review the known cases where psilocybin toxicity has been claimed to be the sole cause of death in a human, and in both cases I found some minor issues with these reports which raise major questions.
Quote:https://erowid.org/plant...ms/mushrooms_death.shtmlIncident: Anonymous Female, 2012 #
In 2012, a 24-year-old female died following a cardiac arrest 2-3 hours after consuming magic mushrooms. She had received a heart transplant 10 years prior.
Lim TH, Wasywich CA, Roygrok PN. "Letter to the Editor: A fatal case of 'magic mushroom' ingestion in a heart transplant recipient". Internal Medicine Journal. Nov 19, 2012 (online).1268-9.
Autopsy confirmed a healthy cardiac allograft (no allograft vasculopathy). Plasma toxicology revealed a psilocin level of 30 mg/L (consistent with magic mushroom toxicity) and a tetrahydrocannabinol level of 4 mg/L. No alcohol or other common drugs of abuse were detected. [...] Only two deaths have been previously reported directly attributable to magic mushroom ingestion ... We postulate that in this case excessive sympathetic stimulation of the transplanted heart as a result of Psilocybe mushroom toxicity led to fatal ventricular arrythmias."
Okay, in the case above this individual was a heart transplant patient, also, It was noted that tetrahydrocannabinol was present in this individual's system. The report states "Plasma toxicology revealed a psilocin level of 30 mg/L (consistent with magic mushroom toxicity) and a tetrahydrocannabinol level of 4 mg/L."
4mg/L equals 4000ng/ml THC peak plasma concentration.
30mg/L equals 30000ng/L psilocybin peak plasma concentration
( Are those numbers from the report for sure accurate? Seems off, but oh well. )
So, in the above report the individual had a plasma psilocin level of 30 mg/L, which is high, as 8.2 ng/ml between 1 and 2 h after administration would be average. see the excerpt below:
However, this was not what concerned me. What automatically jumped out at me was the known complications that cannabinoids have been known to induce in individuals with heart health issues: see excerpt below:
Quote:https://www.health.harva...th-what-you-need-to-knowOne of the few things scientists know for sure about marijuana and cardiovascular health is that people with established heart disease who are under stress develop chest pain more quickly if they have been smoking marijuana than they would have otherwise. This is because of complex effects cannabinoids have on the cardiovascular system, including raising resting heart rate, dilating blood vessels, and making the heart pump harder. Research suggests that the risk of heart attack is several times higher in the hour after smoking marijuana than it would be normally. While this does not pose a significant threat to people who have minimal cardiovascular risk, it should be a red flag for anyone with a history of heart disease. Although the evidence is weaker, there are also links to a higher risk of atrial fibrillation or ischemic stroke immediately following marijuana use.
So, given the fact that this was a heart transplant patient, and knowing that the "complex effects cannabinoids have on the cardiovascular system, including raising resting heart rate, dilating blood vessels, and making the heart pump harder", and given that in the report they "postulate that in this case excessive sympathetic stimulation of the transplanted heart led to fatal ventricular arrythmias" it seems odd to me that psilocybin was named as the culprit, rather than the more obvious possibility that it was THC...
In this case, I would still have trouble calling this a genuine fatality resulting from psilocybin toxicity. There are too many other variables, namely the heart transplant and the THC.
It seems to me that the combination of a heart transplant with cannabis was far more responsible than the psilocin present.
In any case, mushrooms and mushrooms alone did not seem to be the sole cause of death.
Moving on.
Quote:Incident: Anonymous Female, 1996 #
One death (commented on by Lim, Wasywich, and Roygrok) was reportedly the result of "neurological sequelae (somnolence and convulsions) 6-8 h after ingestion of an unknown quantity of magic-mushrooms". Post-mortem toxicology revealed very high plasma psilocin concentration (4000 mg/L).
https://erowid.org/plant...ms/mushrooms_death.shtml Thats an astronomical peak plasma concentration for psilocin. ...that can't be accurate.
A 10 to 20 mg dose of psilocybin, which is a fairly average dose range, gives an average peak plasma psilocin concentration of 8.2 ng/ml between 1 and 2 h after administration. See excerpt below:
Now, in the report it states that:
Quote:Post-mortem toxicology revealed very high plasma psilocin concentration (4000 mg/L).
Can those numbers truly be accurate? I mean 4000mg/L is 4000000ng/ml, that's insane!
I'm still searching for some further information on these cases.