Truffle Talk #1: The Mystery of Aeruginascin

Truffle Talk #1

The mystery of aeruginascin.

In this edition, we’re going to explore aeruginascin, an often overlooked compound found in psychedelic truffles.

• What is aeruginascin?

• Why should I care?

• Is it legal?

What is it?

Aeruginascin is a compound found in very small concentrations in truffles. It’s found in higher concentrations in a rare psilocybin mushroom called Inocybe aeruginascens.

Aeruginascin has historically been overlooked as it doesn’t cross the blood-brain barrier, which means it’s unlikely to be psychoactive.

This all changed in 2020, when research by Chadeayne et al. showed that aeruginascin is broken down in the body into another compound, 4-HO-TMT, which may be psychoactive.

Why should I care?

Ok, here’s the interesting part.

The only known study on the effects of aeruginascin was published by a German chemist, Jochen Gartz, in 1989. Gartz studied the reports of 23 people who had accidentally consumed Inocybe aeruginascens while foraging.

Every single one of these people had a ‘euphoric experience’ (i.e. a ‘good trip’), despite having a terrible set and setting - they had just consumed an unknown, potentially lethal mushroom!

The elevated concentration of aeruginascin in I. aeruginascens is the most likely explanation for this phenomenon. This implies that aeruginascin may be a potential solution to the age-old problem of the ‘bad trip.’

Without the risk of a ‘bad trip’, psychedelic therapy patients might be able to have their trip at home, without the need for clinical supervision.

This would be significantly more accessible than the current model of psychedelic therapy, which involves 30+ hours of in-person therapy and costs $25,000+.

Is it legal?

In short, yes. It’s not a scheduled substance in any country as far as I am aware, and it doesn’t feature in any of the UN Conventions on Drug Control.

That said, the only way to consume it in any meaningful quantity is to either source some Inocybe aeruginascens (which I do not recommend for both legal and safety reasons - it looks very similar to several toxic mushroom species), or to extract it from a very large quantity of truffles.

That’s it for the first edition of Truffle Talk. If you have any feedback or questions, reply and let me know.

In the next 2 editions:

We’ll go into the 2 ways in which psychedelics are being legalised in the USA:

• Next edition - the clinical route

• Edition after - the political route

As a spoiler, I think the political approach is more promising. More on that in the next edition.

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