Psilocybin or "shrooms" started thousands of years ago. They have been considered in Mexico and Central Amercia. In the 1500's the Spainish invaded Mexico; when they did they discovered a Mexican cult that used mushrooms for religious purposes. They called the shrooms teonanacatl which means "God's flesh." The vivid hallucinations produced by the mushrooms were considered portents of the future, aids to decision making and important for the doctors healing the sick. The Spainish took control of the cult and the use of the mushrooms started fading away. In 1952, George Wasson, a retired banker, ate 12 of the mushrooms as part of an Indian ceremony in Mexico. He later published his experiences in Life magazine. In 1958, Albert Hofmann, the man who discovered LSD, isolated two substances from the Psilocybin mushroom. He called these psilocybin and psilocin. There are many species of the Amanita muscaria mushroom, some are ediable but others are highly toxic. There is evidence that this kinda of mushroom was used for religious ceremonies in parts north of India as early as 3500 B.C. In the ancient Hindu tect, there is reference to a drug called soma and 120 hymns praising the drug. For 2000 years, no one knew excactly what soma was but it is now thought to have been the Amanita muscaria mushroom. It is also known to have been used in Russia and Siberia too. The Siberians would eat the mushroom raw, dry them over a fire, or even drink them in water or reindeer milk. An interesting fact is that the active ingredient in the Amanita is not metabolised, but came out unchanged in the urine. This too was known by the Siberians, and led to the practice of drinking the urine of those who had taken the drug where the mushrooms were scarce of expensive. In modern days, shrooms have been used by primarily by the hippie subculture. "Magic mushrooms" are also reported to
