Though some people view psilocybin mushrooms,or “shrooms,” as a safe, natural way to get high, shrooms, like other illicit drugs, can be dangerous.

Wilson, whose name has been changed, is a UNC Wilmington sophomore.  He decided to try the drug with his friend after watching an episode of “Workaholics“ that featured the drug. 

Wilson and his friend ate the mushrooms on peanut butter sandwiches. 

“That’s the general recommendation,” he said.

“After eating the sandwiches, we went for a long walk,” Wilson said. “We went through the forest and observed nature.  Everything was beautiful.  Everything was gorgeous.”

He described the high as a type of euphoria. “Colors get more vibrant,” he said. “I’ve been told it’s better to do them during the day so you can see more colors.”

Wilson also described a time when he and his roommate were high, and decided to sit and stare at a parking lot light for several minutes. 

“You focus on different things when you’re on shrooms,” he said.

Wilson never drives or goes to class while high because he forsee’s a certain element of distractions.

Wilson said his experiences with hallucinogenic mushrooms have been positive. 

“I learned a lot about myself while I was high,” he said.  “I don’t regret doing them at all.”

Jason, whose name has also been changed, is a UNCW sophomore who has tried psilocybin mushrooms five times.  Like Wilson, he heard about the drug on television, during a documentary about illicit drugs.

“They’re more of an occasional thing,” Jason said.  “They’re kind of hard to come across.  It’s not like weed-people don’t always have them.  And your tolerance builds up really quickly.  If you do them two days in a row, it won’t hit you as hard the second time.”

Jason went to the beach the first time he was high.  “The clouds were awesome.  I laid in the sand looking straight up for probably an hour.”

Jason compared being high on mushrooms to dreaming. 

“You see things differently,” Jason said.  “Really subtle changes happen at first.  You feel happy with everything, like you have no problems.  Your mind is all over the place.”

However, not all of Jason’s experiences with hallucinogenic mushrooms have been positive.

“Sometimes you get really self-conscious around people who aren’t tripping because you know they aren’t seeing what you’re seeing,” he said. “You start to lose grip on reality and time-your mood and thoughts change so quickly.”

Mushrooms have physical affects, as well. “The nausea does set in sometimes,” Jason said, as he recalled a negative experience with the drug.  “Everything was shaking.  It made me sick to my stomach.”  He also described feelings of extreme nervousness and paranoia. 

According to Mark Galizio, a psychology professor who specializes in substance abuse, psychotic reactions are the biggest problem with hallucinogenic drugs.  “The issues are not about addiction,” Galizio said. “They’re about reactions to the drug.  People think mushrooms are safe because they’re natural.” 

Though severe psychotic reactions to psilocybin mushrooms are uncommon, Galizio says mushrooms can be dangerous because of the physical and psychological affects they have on some people. 

“As dose gets higher, the person is hallucinating pretty wildly, and that gets scary,” he said. 

Galizio said a bad trip can make people hysterical, frightened, and withdrawn. 

“I’ve seen people become completely hysterical; you couldn’t talk to them,” he said.  Sometimes, if the psychological effects are severe enough and the person is difficult to manage, he or she could end up in the emergency room.”

Many college students experiment with illicit drugs. But, they must decide if getting high is worth risking their psychological health and safety.