The Smoking Caterpillar

The Smoking Caterpillar

    On dosing with magic mushrooms

    SmokingCaterpillar  April 1 2025 02:58:24 PM
    So, there's a bit of a problem with magic mushrooms. They're a bit difficult to measure when it comes to dosing. Here I lay out my personal thoughts on how to do this safely and effectively.

    First, by researching reputable sources, I've come up with the dosing levels in terms of mg of psilocybin. These dosing levels are for an average human being. If there is such a thing.

    Here's a nice table for you:
    Level mg psilocybin
    Low 5-10mg
    Intermediate 20mg
    High 30-40
    Heroic >50


    So, the question now is, what is the concentration of psilocybin in the magic mushrooms? Well we have no practical way to measure it. But by using a rule of thumb, we can probably get our dosing to a decent level of accuracy. Research tells us (and yes, I know there are many opinions on this topic) that there is anything between 0.8 and 1.8% of psilocybin in dried mushrooms. Let's use 1.2% as an estimate.

    We can now extend the table above to this:

    Level mg psilocybin grams dried mushroom (approx)
    Low 5-10mg < 1
    Intermediate 20mg >1 & < 3
    High 30-40 >=3 & < 5
    Heroic >50 >5



    Using that relationship, we can say that 1g of dried mushrooms get us around 12mg psilocybin. Meaning that a dose of 5g of dried mushrooms will give us about 60mg psilocybin. Seems reasonable to me.

    But because of the variation in potency, it's worth taking a look at the toxicity of the active ingredient, psilocybin. The LD50 of psilocybin is in the order of 280mg/kg of body weight. Taking me as an example at 75kg, this means that I would have to take 280 x 280mg, which is 21,000 mg. or 21 grams of pure psilocybin. This is equivalent to 1750g of dried mushrooms. I cannot imagine anyone eating that amount of dried mushrooms. Even if they were made into some sort of smoothie.

    There is, however an additional risk. And that is when psilocybin is taken with other drugs. Many of us use medical drugs for acute and chronic conditions, and they way in which psilocybin reacts to these drugs is important. Now, I can't list all the possible combinations, but here are a few to watch out for. This list is by no means complete - or even necessarily that accurate. But you get the idea, I hope.
    Group Examples
    Antidepressants SSRIs: Fluoxetine (Prozac), sertraline (Zoloft), paroxetine (Paxil), citalopram (Celexa), escitalopram (Lexapro).

    SNRIs: Venlafaxine (Effexor), duloxetine (Cymbalta), desvenlafaxine (Pristiq).

    Tricyclic Antidepressants: Amitriptyline, nortriptyline, desipramine.
    Opiod Analgesics Fentanyl, tramadol, meperidine, methadone.
    Other recreational drugs Amphetamine, methylphenidate (Ritalin).
    Other: MDMA (Ecstasy), LSD, buspirone.
    Other common non-recreational drugs (condition in square brackets) which do not interact significantly with psilocybin Amlodipine [hypertension], Atorvastatin [high cholesterol], Tadalafil [erectile dysfunction]

    Generally speaking, if you're taking any other drug, especially those that are connected to depression, check them out for the way in which they interact with psilocybin. I personally have only used drugs that do not apparently interact with psilocybin (the bottom row in the above table\)

    So. There you have it. But bear in mind, there are lots of variables here and precision is not going to be great. But using this as a guideline for doing is probably going to work out OK,##

    But what you should do if you don't get the dose right?

    Too much?
    You are not likely to suffer any long term effects. Ensure that you are in a safe pace (I recommend a bed) and the psilocybin will be processed by your body and you will recover. there's little or no comedown with psilocybin.

    Too little?
    It seems that there's little point in trying to correct an underdose with more psilocybin. It's unlikely that a second dose will get you there - the mechanism of psilocybin's effect tends to dampen that. If I need to get higher, THC seems to do the trick - it seems not to interfere with psilocybin and if you're using a vape you can sort of fine tune your trip.

    Well that's about it for this episode. If you have any comments to make, feel free.