A Canadian company has been working to establish itself as the number-one supplier of extracts and other products derived from a familiar psychoactive mushroom with a long mystical history.
Toronto-based Psyched Wellness Ltd. (CSE: PSYC) (OTCQB: PSYCF) announced last week that its Calm Amanita muscaria extract is now offered in a 100 per cent bigger 60-millilitre vial. The product can help with sleep and improve levels of serotonin in the brain while relaxing muscles and relieving stress.
The extract is the first of its kind being offered by a public company in North America.
Amanita muscaria (Fly Agaric) is a red mushroom with white spots that grows in forests throughout the world. The primary psychoactive ingredient in the fungi is called muscimol which is a potent agonist for GABA receptors that has sedative and hypnotic effects.
Psyched Wellness received a purchase order last November for 60,000 units of the Calm extract from a company called Choice Wholesale and Distribution in New York. Psyched will be delivering the units in tranches over a 12-month period.
In addition to its extract product, the company is currently in the process of developing teas and capsules derived from the mushroom.
‘Calm’ Amanita muscaria mushroom extract. Photo via Psyched Wellness
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Psyched Wellness is a member of Psychedelics Canada (PsyCan), the only national level trade association for clinical psychedelics in the world.
Influential figures on the company’s board of directors include Prof. David Nutt, Director of the Neuropsychopharmacology Unit in the Division of Brain Sciences at Imperial College London; and Nick Kadysh, CEO of PharmAla Biotech Holdings Inc. (CSE: MDMA) and board member of PsyCan.
The company’s capital structure consists of approximately 135,500,000 shares and it believes there is an uncapped retailer landscape for Amanita muscaria products. Psyched thinks it has first mover advantage as the only public company studying the fungi variety.
‘No fungi, no forest’ reads an informative government sign near Whistler, B.C. Photo by Rowan Dunne
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It is known that Amanita muscaria mushrooms live in a harmonious symbiotic relationship with certain coniferous and deciduous trees. You will typically see them at the base of those trees in the rainy fall months of the year where they provide extra water and nutrients to the tree in exchange for sugar.
“Fly Agarics grow from the ground near both conifers and broadleaved trees and may be common and widespread in the late summer and autumn,” says the Vancouver Mycological Society.
Psyched also announced yesterday that it would be sponsoring the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies’ (MAPS) Psychedelic Science 2023 conference in Colorado.
Psyched Wellness shares stayed flat today and are currently trading for $0.07 on the Canadian Securities Exchange.
We're excited to announce that we are a sponsor of the MAPS Psychedelic Science 2023 conference in Colorado!
Learn more about this event at the link below & purchase passes using the code PWE10 for 10% off⬇️https://t.co/3PDQNekMjw $PSYC.C $PSYCF pic.twitter.com/hlOOwyvZav— Psyched Wellness (@PsychedWellness) February 8, 2023
Indigenous shamanic cultures have been using Amanita muscaria to induce an altered state of consciousness for hundreds of years as well. The shamans of Eastern Siberia specifically used the mushroom for its psychoactive properties, according to the National Institutes of Health.
“In the ‘old world’, the psychoactive fly agaric mushroom has been closely associated with northern European and Asiatic shamans and their rituals. Researchers have documented its use or presumed use by numerous cultures throughout Europe and Asia,” says the United States Forest Service.
“In central Asia, shamans wore special garments to collect the fly agaric mushrooms. Their coats and pants were red with the collar and cuffs trimmed with white fur and topped off with black boots. The shaman collected the fly agaric mushrooms in a special sack.”
The mushroom has intrigued people for generations and is known to be associated with everything from Alice in Wonderland to Santa Claus. Some believe that the iconic giver of presents is actually an allegory for the magic mushroom, which explains his red and white attire and how he is able to make it around the entire world delivering gifts every year.
Alice in Wonderland (2010), Amanita muscaria mushrooms (right). Photo via IMDb
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Reindeer are also said to love eating the toadstool and it is rumoured that people of antiquity would drink the urine of the animals after they had chowed down to experience the mushroom’s euphoric psychoactive effects after the reindeer’s body and liver had filtered out the unwanted toxins present in the fungi.
Fly Agarics are not illegal to possess in Canada or the United States but are illegal in other countries such as The Netherlands and Australia where muscimol is a schedule 9 drug.
rowan@mugglehead.com
