There's a Fungus Among Us

The Legend:  If you smoke psilocybin mushrooms, the spores will get into your lungs and grow there.

Status:  False

Analysis:

Recently there has been discussion in chat rooms about smoking psilocybin mushrooms rather than eating them. It is said this may produce faster but milder effects. However, it is not clear whether psilocybin or psilocin mushrooms can produce psychoactive effects at all when smoked. User reports vary widely, and there is the constant worry about planting mushroom spores in your lungs.

A spore is the seed of the fungi. Spores are designed to survive for extended periods in unfavorable conditions to ensure perpetuation of the species. Knowing that, it would be easy to jump to the conclusion that mushroom spores are quite hardy and can certainly survive inhalation from their dark and moist breeding ground to the new dark and moist environment inside your lungs.

It turns out that there really is a definite danger from inhalation of mushroom spores. Medical literature has coined the term "mushroom worker's lung" to describe the symptom pattern seen in people who are over-exposed to mushroom spores through the cultivation, picking and packing of the mushroom crop, (Moore et. al. 2005).

But the mushroom spoor has a weakness, something that can hurt it like Kryptonite hurts Superman. A close reading of the directions that come with the apparatus for growing magic mushrooms warns that when growing fungi like mushrooms it is important to keep the spores away from anything hot. Heat is an efficient killer of spores and bacteria. Single celled organisms like spores and bacteria can be killed by boiling, pasteurization or even the small rise in temperature from a fever. What this means is spores from a mushroom will not survive the heat needed to light and burn them for smoking.

A review of the National Library of Medicine and the National Institute of Health medical research databases show no articles published on the effects, either acute or long-term, from smoking psilocybin mushrooms.

Nothing to Snicker About

The Legend:  Powdered psychedelic mushrooms have been found in chocolate candy.

Status:  True

Analysis:

The DEA began reporting powdered or grated psychedelic mushrooms in chocolates in 2003. Psilocybin mushrooms can be dried and powdered without losing their psychedelic properties. The powder can then be put into capsules, which is far easier and neater to transport.

Powdered mushrooms are nothing new. In The Teachings of Don Juan: The Yaqui Way of Knowledge, Carlos Castaneda describes experiences using hallucinogenic drugs including the mention of powdered mushrooms.

The mushroom-containing chocolates that were confiscated by the DEA were described as being "homemade." It appears that the sellers of psilocybin mushrooms were covering them in chocolate in an attempt to disguise them from DEA agents. The chocolate also doubled as a cover for the foul taste for those who purchased them in this sugary form.

There are recipes online for how to make mushroom-laced chocolates. It's not rocket science and simply requires melting chocolate and stirring in the mushrooms, whole, dried, grated, powdered, any form will work. It's best to do this in a double boiler so you don't burn your chocolate.

Chocolate covered psychedelic mushrooms are made by dealers and purchased by users who know exactly what it is they are buying. This rumor is not about magic mushrooms showing up in your Snicker's bar or box of Godiva truffles. That has never happened.

Wee Willie Winkie

The Legend:  Magic mushrooms will stunt penis growth.

Status:  False

Analysis:

There are a number of rumors connecting the use of various products, both legal and illegal, to penis shrinkage or impotence. In the case of magic mushrooms, no evidence exists to support this rumor.

There are drugs, both medical and recreational, that count impotence as a side effect. The most well known being diuretics, beta-blockers, alcohol, and amphetamines. 

If you are tripping on psilocybin mushrooms it's a given that your perception will be changed, and you may look down at yourself and perceive that your penis is small, is getting smaller or has even disappeared. Those are hallucinations and are the reason you ate the mushrooms in the first place. If you are prone to insecurities, don't look at your penis while you're tripping, watch TV instead. That's why they make the Cartoon Network.

Cheesing in South Park

The Legend: "Cheesing" is the act of deliberately inhaling cat urine to get high.

Status:  False

Analysis:

South Park, an award-winning animated TV show created by Trey Parker and Matt Stone, is the source of this legend. The show's success lies in awesome graphics and writing, and the unparalleled satirical presentation of current events.

In 2007, Newsweek reported on a new drug phenomenon in Dallas, Texas called Cheese Heroin. Cheese is a small amount of heroin mixed with a larger amount of crushed acetaminophen (Tylenol) and diphenhydramine (Benadryl). Generally, cheese heroin, so named for it's shared appearance with parmesan cheese, is only 2-8% heroin, compared to 30% found in the more common black tar heroin. It was called "starter heroin" because it was being used by adolescents as young as 9-years-old. Cheese heroin is serious stuff. 40 users under the age of 18 have died.

Critics were all over the Newsweek article saying that there were no scientists used as sources for what was being described as an emerging drug epidemic. Others complained that the media was reporting unsubstantiated numbers, sensationalizing this new drug, and giving too much detail on how to make it. There was fear that media irresponsibility would cause a spread of this drug which for two  years had only been found in a very localized area of Texas.

Given the funny name and the media mishandling of the news, it became prime fodder for Parker and Stone, and the practice of "cheesing" in South Park, Colorado was born, (Episode 170, "Major Boobage" Aired 3-26-08). "Cheeesing" involved attaching a male cat to a specialized apparatus and stimulating him to spray his urine into the user's face. Inhaling the male cat urine created an intense high.

Is it real? No. You cannot get high on cat urine. Ammonia inhalation can cause irritation to the eyes, nose and respiratory tract. In some cases cat urine can contain bacteria, such as Coxiella burnetii, which when inhaled through airborne exposure can result in Q fever, pneumonia, and even endocarditis and death, (Bartelink et. al. 2000).

Inhaling cat urine can make you a little sick or a lot sick, but not high. Cheesing is a parody, made to show drug use as ridiculous.  I mean, to do it you need a special harness for your cat. 'Nuff said.

The Red Worm

The Legend:  The worm in the Tequila bottle is hallucinogenic.

Status:  False

Variations:

• The worm indicates the alcohol content.

• The worm is an aphrodisiac.
  

Analysis:

Mayahuel was the Aztec Goddess of fertility. After a complicated marriage that involved being turned into a tree and eaten by the stars, her remains were buried. The first agave plant grew on her grave. Angry gods struck it down with lightening, creating the fermented sap. The Aztecs named the plant "Metl" in her honor, which is where we get the word "Mezcal."

The story of Mayahuel is an interesting piece of history, the worm is not. Despite what you've been told, the worm is not an ancient Indian tradition, but one started in 1950. The legendary worm is specific to Mezcal. Mezcal is made from distilled sap from the Espadin variety of the agave plant. The agave worm is actually the caterpillar of the Hypopta Agavis moth. It bores into the center of the agave plant. It is virtually impossible to make Mezcal without killing a few worms.

And it turns out you wouldn't want to filter out the worms since they add a distinctive flavor to the liquor. Rather than try to remove them, a whole worm was added to each bottle as a marketing gimmick. The worms are now farm-raised for this specific and peculiar use. They can be red to white in color. The purists prefer the red worm.

Let It Bleed

The Legend:  Using  hallucinogenic mushrooms will cause your brain to bleed.

Status: False

Examples:

[Gathered from the Internet message boards]

• Did you know that 'shrooms make your brain bleed? When you see the walls breath it's really the blood running behind your eyes.

• I heard that LSD can cause blood to drip down from the base of your skull so if you do LSD a lot, you will get this blood drip in the back of your head.

• Some people around here think 'shrooms make your stomach bleed and then the blood from your stomach bleeding is sent to your brain and that's how it makes you trip.

• Psylocylobin [sic] (mushrooms) is a poison that clots the blood in the back of your brain and blocks the serotonin in your brain from transferring at the correct speed, which is why some people get depressed afterwards.

• Somebody I know who has very strange ideas about drugs believes that mushrooms actually cause your brain to bleed and then you get high from that.

• LSD makes your brain bleed and clogs your veins so certain organs don't get blood circulation.

• LSD causes your brain to bleed, and then it scabs over, then when the scab falls off you have a flashback.

• I thought acid made my brain bleed down my spine and like others say burns your spine and leaves scarring.

• Ecstasy can make your brain bleed.
  

Analysis:

When your brain bleeds it is called a stroke, intra-cranial hemorrhage, brain aneurysm or a cerebral-vascular accident (CVA). This urban legend is suggesting that using LSD will cause one of these things to happen to your brain. 

This is not a new idea. Intra-cranial hemorrhage has been linked to illicit drug use for decades. You can still find "stroke" or "brain hemorrhage" listed as a possible side effect of illicit drug use in some drug prevention materials. Not all illicit drugs contribute to these brain-based bleeds, but that is never made clear in the older, scare-based drug education materials.

If your brain bleeds, chances are very good that you'll know it is happening and will seek emergency medical treatment. The Drug Abuse Warning Network (DAWN) is a system for emergency room (ER) data collection. In 2005, the most recent year for which we have data, there were 1,864 ER mentions of LSD, (National Estimates of Drug-Related Emergency Department Visits, 2005). The next question is, were all these LSD users in the emergency room because their brains were bleeding?

20% of young people, age 49 or younger, who suffered stroke had abused drugs. The dominant drugs of abuse were cocaine and amphetamines. LSD isn't mentioned. The real risk factors for stroke are cigarette smoking, high blood pressure, low body-mass index, cocaine use and family history.

In fact, it is possible that just the opposite of a brain hemorrhage will happen when a person uses LSD. Ergotomine, a chemical similar to LSD, has been used in the treatment of migraine headache, as has LSD, because it really does effect the blood flow in the brain. Not by causing a hemorrhage, but by actually constricting the blood flow (Saper & Silberstein, 2006).

Research on stroke, aneurysm or other types of brain bleeds suggest that the only illicit drugs that are connected to brain hemorrhage are cocaine and amphetamines. LSD use is not a risk factor for brain-bleeding events, (Broderick et. al. 2003).

Gimme Some Skin

The Legend: Smoking peanut skins will make you hallucinate.

Status:  False

Analysis:

The Anarchists Cookbook (Powell, 1971) is full of handy, dandy, notoriously unreliable recipes like this one. The instructions say to remove the skins from unsalted raw peanuts, crush them, pack them into a bowl and smoke. Preparing and smoking them in this way will allegedly cause hallucinations.

Many people have tried this. After all, it's cheap, legal and available. If only it worked, right?

It doesn't. There is nothing psychoactive in peanut skins whether they are dry, raw, cooked or burned. However, smoking anything can make a person lightheaded, so don't rule out the placebo effect.