Posted by pinksharkmark (196.3.74.234) on October 03, 2000 at 11:28:21:
In Reply to: Identification AND A VERY LONG RANT (where do we go from here?) posted by Flash on October 03, 2000 at 04:23:20:
...by the general lack of interest in this therapy, especially from those living in countries other than the United States.
I can understand that some American clusterheads who live outside of Florida might be nervous of possible legal consequences. I believe that these apprehensions are misplaced, but it is a potential obstacle to get around in most of America. Not so in Europe.
I can also understand that some people have a fear of collecting wild mushrooms, due to the possibility of misidentification. I believe that these fears are exaggerated, as well. The most common psilocybin mushrooms are quite distinctive and difficult to confuse with other species. There is one foolproof test to separate the good guys from the bad guys, as well... a psilocybin mushroom will stain a dark bluish, or indigo-purple color, if its flesh is cut. This is a chemical reaction caused by the oxidation of the psilocybin. There are NO poisonous mushrooms in existence anywhere in the world that exhibit this reaction. None. None in Europe, none in Asia, none in Africa, none in the Americas, none in Australia... NONE! If the mushroom you are trying to identify doesn't stain blue, don't eat it. Pretty simple.
Of course, as Q, Flash and I have pointed out before, growing your own eliminates any possible misidentification issues. Cultivating your own crop is dirt cheap, dead simple, and quick... as little as a month from start to finish... only two weeks if you just eat the mycelium rather than waiting for mushrooms to develop. A very interesting note... my research into various websites has indicated that if you halt the cultivation at that mycelial stage and never allow the actual mushrooms to develop, you are perfectly legal in every state except California. (where it is illegal to even possess ungerminated spores)
I also understand that some people have a fear of the possibility of getting "high" from taking mushrooms. These fears are also exaggerated. The doses required to do the trick are SUB-HALLUCINOGENIC. Many of the standard meds will give you a MUCH "trippier" feeling than will a small dose of mushrooms. Does anyone remember their first Imitrex dose? Or fiorinal or fioricet? Or prednisone? Or *shuddering in horror* Sansert?
I find it fascinating yet puzzling that so many on this message board are gamely sticking with inefficient or ineffective herbal cures such as feverfew, hot peppers, noni juice, etc. yet dismiss out of hand an effective herbal cure.
As many of you know already, I live in the Caribbean, in the Dominican Republic. Once I started reading the success stories posted here about psilocybin mushrooms, I got the idea to ask the local "curanderos" (medicine men) about "hongos de brujos" (sorcerer's mushrooms). It turns out that they have been using a tea made of these mushrooms for as long as anyone can remember to treat "migrana" (migraines). What I found even more interesting is that they insist this tea is ONLY effective for "migrana"... that it will do nothing at all for tension headaches, fever headaches, hangover headaches, or headaches resulting from a blow to the head.
I returned to this site in late May of this year. I jokingly asked if anyone had found "the magic bullet" in the ten months or so that I had been away. Guess what? Someone had. Thanks a million, Flash.
The only reason I came to this board was to try to find something that would STOP THESE HEADACHES. I was NOT looking for sympathy, or jokes, or inspirational messages. I was NOT looking for a place to vent my frustrations at incompetent doctors, or to tell others how this hideous disease has hurt me financially, physically and emotionally, or what it has done to my relationships. I'm not good at that touchy-feely stuff, I never have been. There are many others who post here who are much better at that kind of thing than I ever will be, and I know that their posts are valuable to hundreds or even thousands of readers. So, what can pinksharkmark do to give back something of value?
I figure the best thanks I can give to DJ and his site is to spread the word about the magic bullet. I have left behind me a trail of posts addressing the legal issues, a likely theory of how it works, tips on identification, dosage, storage and cultivation, links to sites that provide spores, links to sites that detail the chemical similarities between psilocybin and serotonin, links to posts regarding a clinical research project in the planning stages, and even a post or two on my own cultivating experiences over twenty years ago.
I think that I have done enough. I think that Flash has done enough. I thank Q and Graham and Stavi for sticking around and giving us progress reports. As Flash pointed out, many others didn't. They took their mushrooms, their headaches stopped, and they vanished from the board. Do I blame them? Not at all. They came here looking for relief, they found it, they reported their success, and then got on with their lives. It's time for me to do the same.
pinky