Use of Magic Mushrooms Historically

There are early and extensive accounts in pre-Columbian history of Mesoamerican cultures like the Mayans and Aztecs using psilocybin. The Spanish forbade the use of psychedelic mushrooms in the 15th and 16th centuries. They considered it to be savage and uncivilized. The religious shamans ignored the Spanish law and continued using the mushrooms in secret. For over 400 years, they preserved their cultural heritage and continued including psilocybin mushrooms as an integral part of it.

In 1799 an account of psilocybin mushroom “intoxication” surfaced when four children were accidentally fed Psilocybe semilanceata. Then in 1971, psilocybin was made illegal by the UN as a schedule 1 drug. Today the UN allows countries who have signed its treaty to regulate psilocybin mushrooms as they see fit.

The History of Magic Mushrooms, BC (British Columbia)
In Canada, the community of Haida Gwaii holds the Canadian history of magic Mushrooms. This community and other first nations used the mushrooms for spiritual and medicinal purposes.

Magic mushrooms remain abundant and popular. The use of psilocybin is no longer a social and legal problem. Although hunting for local Liberty Cap mushrooms is still a pastime, the shrooms sold for recreational use are largely relegated to tropical and subtropical species, like Psilocybe cubensis.