Philosopher
Rising Star
I hear a LOT of people say when you take mushrooms you poison yourself and that's why you trip. IMO that is completely untrue, but what do you experts think?
noun
1.
a substance that, when introduced into or absorbed by a living organism, causes death or injury, esp. one that kills by rapid action even in a small quantity.
synonyms: toxin, toxicant, venom; More
CHEMISTRY
a substance that reduces the activity of a catalyst.
A poison is something that actively destroys living cells in your body, usually because the poison has more affinity to the receptor so the natural molecule can't be transported regularly. It is true that psilocin is taken up by seretonin receptors but it isn't proven to block normal seretonin transfer. In the case of CO poisoning CO bonds to hemoglobin before O2 can and the cells need O2, so they die.
I think people believe it is a poison because of the way it affects the homeostasis of your body. Mushroom fibers are hard to digest and give people cramping and Stomach aches. This may be associated with food poisoning but it isn't valid to say you trip because your poisoned. These are two different mechanisms at work, you trip because of a molecule, which can be isolated, therefor psilocybin itself isn't poison, and with this it's just a regular mushroom if you've got the right kind.
In conclusion, I think poison has different meanings to different people, in my mind some indigestion is not an indication of poisonous molecules trying to kill you, but tough plant fibers trying to be broken down. Before I researched mushrooms I thought the same thing, you eat a mushroom that makes you so ill that you begin to hallucinate, like a horrible flu or some kind of illness that causes delirium. But because there is a certain molecule that causes the effects by mimicking a natural molecule I can see this is just a plant which happens to produce said chemical. Nothing poison about it, just a little tricky molecule sneakin in, some studies show the opposite of brain poison, neurogenesis.
noun
1.
a substance that, when introduced into or absorbed by a living organism, causes death or injury, esp. one that kills by rapid action even in a small quantity.
synonyms: toxin, toxicant, venom; More
CHEMISTRY
a substance that reduces the activity of a catalyst.
A poison is something that actively destroys living cells in your body, usually because the poison has more affinity to the receptor so the natural molecule can't be transported regularly. It is true that psilocin is taken up by seretonin receptors but it isn't proven to block normal seretonin transfer. In the case of CO poisoning CO bonds to hemoglobin before O2 can and the cells need O2, so they die.
I think people believe it is a poison because of the way it affects the homeostasis of your body. Mushroom fibers are hard to digest and give people cramping and Stomach aches. This may be associated with food poisoning but it isn't valid to say you trip because your poisoned. These are two different mechanisms at work, you trip because of a molecule, which can be isolated, therefor psilocybin itself isn't poison, and with this it's just a regular mushroom if you've got the right kind.
In conclusion, I think poison has different meanings to different people, in my mind some indigestion is not an indication of poisonous molecules trying to kill you, but tough plant fibers trying to be broken down. Before I researched mushrooms I thought the same thing, you eat a mushroom that makes you so ill that you begin to hallucinate, like a horrible flu or some kind of illness that causes delirium. But because there is a certain molecule that causes the effects by mimicking a natural molecule I can see this is just a plant which happens to produce said chemical. Nothing poison about it, just a little tricky molecule sneakin in, some studies show the opposite of brain poison, neurogenesis.
