Unpredictable Behavior Under the Influence of “Magic Mushrooms”: A Case Report and Review of the Literature
Abstract
Fatalities implicating psychedelic mushrooms are not a common clinical situation in everyday forensic medicine. Despite classification as an illegal drug in many countries, psilocybin mushrooms have the reputation of being safe. We report the case of a young man who jumped from a second story balcony under the influence of psilocybin mushrooms. The psilocin assay was performed by gas chromatography coupled to an electron-impact ionization time-of-flight detector (GC-EI-TOF) after solid-phase extraction. Total psilocin was quantified in peripheral and cardiac blood as 60 and 67 ng/mL, respectively, and in urine (2230 ng/mL), bile (3102 ng/mL), and vitreous humor (57 ng/mL). This case report and review of literature highlights the danger of psilocybin mushrooms. Isolated use of psilocybin mushrooms by a regular consumer without psychiatric history, even under "safe" circumstances, can lead to a fatal outcome.
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These symptoms usually subside within a few hours and typically do not need hospitalization.
“These symptoms usually subside within a few hours and typically do not need hospitalization. 44”
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- Authors
- Honyiglo, E., Franchi, A., Cartiser, N., Bottinelli, C., Advenier, A., Bévalot, F., & Fanton, L.
- Affiliations
- Forensic Medicine Department University Hospital of Lyon 5 place d'Arsonval Lyon France
- Lyon 1 Université (FR)
- Hospices Civils de Lyon (FR)
- LAT LUMTOX Laboratory 108 Boulevard Pinel Lyon France
- Venue
- Journal of Forensic Sciences
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 2018-12-12
- Volume
- 64
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 1266-1270
- ISSN
- 0022-1198 (ISSN-L)
- 1556-4029
- OpenAlex
- W2903619067
- Cited by
- 35
- References
- 20
- Citations by year
- 2026: 5 · 2025: 4 · 2024: 9 · 2023: 3 · 2022: 9 · 2021: 2 · 2020: 3
- FWCI
- 1.04
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Journal of Forensic Sciences (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- HAL (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Pharmacology, Toxicology and Pharmaceutics › Toxicology › Forensic Toxicology and Drug Analysis
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Psychedelics and Drug Studies
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Pulmonary and Respiratory Medicine › Silymarin and Mushroom Poisoning
- Keywords
- psilocybin mushrooms, psilocin, suicide, jumping from height, fatal poisoning, psychedelics, drug safety
- MeSH terms
- Adolescent, Agaricales, Bile, Chromatography, Gas, Hallucinogens, Humans, Male, Psilocybin, Suicide, Vitreous Body, Substance-Related Disorders
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