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The Food and Drug Administration is taking aim at a popular category of psychoactive edibles containing a mushroom. As NPR's Will Stone reports, it comes after a rash of illnesses earlier this year.
WILL STONE, BYLINE: There's considerable folklore surrounding this red-capped, white-spotted mushroom called Amanita muscaria. It permeates popular culture everywhere from the Mario video game franchise to our emojis. Increasingly, it's being advertised as an ingredient in microdosing edibles. These are sold in trippy-looking packaging at convenience stores, smoke shops and online. But this month, the FDA told food manufacturers no more, saying the mushroom and its compounds do not meet safety standards.
ERIC LEAS: I feel it's the right call.
STONE: That's Eric Leas, an epidemiologist at the University of California, San Diego, who's documented the boom in these mushroom edibles.
LEAS: It could potentially have very large implications to this market.
STONE: Amanita muscaria is not a controlled substance. The FDA warning comes after more than 100 illnesses, many of them involving hospitalizations, and even a few suspected deaths were linked to a brand of mushroom edibles called Diamond Shruumz. The products were eventually recalled. NPR was unable to reach the company behind the Diamond Shruumz brand for comment. The FDA investigation showed some of them contained one of the psychoactive compounds in Amanita muscaria, but the FDA said this alone could not explain the illnesses. In fact, many other undisclosed substances were found, including the prescription drug pregabalin, a form of synthetic psilocybin, and the supplement kava.
Dr. Mason Marks studies psychedelic policy at Harvard and Florida State University. He says inaccurately labeling these products is against federal regulations, regardless of whether or not they contain this mushroom.
MASON MARKS: The problem is that, with these products, we just don't know what's in them.
STONE: Marks says it's hard to predict exactly how this will get enforced, but you can look to the market for hemp-derived products as a parallel.
MARKS: The FDA issues a lot of these warning letters and it has issued them to manufacturers of CBD products and delta-8 THC products.
STONE: The agency could be aggressive, seize these kinds of mushroom edibles, maybe get an injunction or...
MARKS: Well, there's a possibility that nothing will happen.
STONE: Amanita is psychoactive, but it doesn't have the same effect as psilocybin-containing magic mushrooms. Kevin Feeney at Central Washington University has studied Amanita extensively. He's also an adviser to a company that sells products made with the mushroom.
KEVIN FEENEY: People that are interested in having heavy psychedelic experiences - this really isn't the mushroom to go to for that.
STONE: There's not much research on its therapeutic properties in humans - documented deaths are rare. But the FDA said its review underscores the potential for serious harm. Feeney says the crackdown makes sense given the recent illnesses.
FEENEY: They're clearly addressing this mushroom, but to what degree are they addressing the other additives that are in these products?
STONE: Since these edibles can also contain other psychoactive substances? Shawn Hauser is a partner at the law firm Vicente, which focuses on psychedelic policy. She sees this as a cautionary tale of the hands-off approach that FDA has taken with some natural substances.
SHAWN HAUSER: When these products are unregulated and when there's not consumer education, that's where we have, you know, real public safety issues. That's where I think the FDA is really falling down on its job.
STONE: And, she added, consumer demand for psychedelics is moving faster than the law.
Will Stone, NPR News.
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