💧 The Feds crack down on Amanita. Here’s what it means

Welcome back to The Drop In, DoubleBlind’s newsletter serving up news, culture, and independent journalism about the psychedelic underground straight to your inbox.

Today, we’re switching things up! The featured stories below are originally reported takes on two newsworthy issues impacting the psychedelics space. And guess what? You’ll only be able to find them here in our newsletter. The first is about the FDA’s recent letter cracking down on Amanita muscaria. The second story is about President Biden granting clemency to a prisoner who served the majority of a 30-year sentence for the manufacturing and distribution of LSD. You can find them below!

If you keep scrolling, you’ll find stories on the science behind physical sensations, a neuroscientist’s take on visual hallucinations, the world of smokable plants aside from cannabis and tobacco, and so much more.

Wishing you a prosperous New Year,

Mary Carreón
Senior Editor

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FDA Officially Declares Amanita Muscaria Is Unsafe for Consumption

The FDA has officially declared Amanita muscaria noncompliant with the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, effectively rendering it illegal in the US.

On December 18, 2024, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a letter officially clarifying its stance on Amanita muscaria, the red and white-capped mushroom made famous by the Mario Bros. franchise and the beloved 🍄 emoji. The agency declared the fungi’s compounds — muscimol, ibotenic acid, and muscarine — “adulterants” and “unapproved food additives.”

In recent years, Amanita products have cropped up everywhere: smoke shops, bodegas, unregulated dispensaries, CBD and delta-8 shops, social media, and even gas stations. Operating in the unregulated “grey market,” manufacturers of these products often prioritize profit over consumer safety, prompting the FDA’s action.

This crackdown follows  118 reported illnesses and three potential deaths tied to infused chocolates, cones, and gummies sold by the Santa Ana-based brand Diamond Shruumz, also known as Prophet Premium Blends, LLC. Last summer, the FDA issued a recall of the brand’s products. Lab tests conducted by the FDA and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) revealed they contained a cocktail of substances, including 4-AcO-DMT, psilocin, Pregabalin (a prescription drug), kavalactones (a compound in kava), and Amanita muscaria compounds.

Given the range of compounds identified, the FDA’s focus on Amanita muscaria seems heavy-handed. The larger issue, argues Jodi Green, managing partner at Antithesis Law, is mislabeling products as “mushrooms.”

“The cottage industry of product sellers claiming to sell mushroom products that actually contain synthetic compounds of unclear amounts is undermining the integrity of the psychedelic ecosystem,” Green tells DoubleBlind. “This is, of course, brought on by the criminalization of Schedule I psychedelics and efforts to find a loophole or workaround similar to what’s happened with delta-8 and other hemp-derived intoxicating cannabinoid products as a result of the Farm Bill.”

Christian Rasmussen, owner of Minnesota Nice Botanicals, which sells whole Amanita muscaria mushrooms and other plant medicine, says the FDA’s warning hasn’t changed much… at least not yet.  “We’ve seen similar FDA action with CBD, delta-8, and kratom, but none of these are [federally] banned yet,” he says. “The bigger concern is if they move to make Amanita a scheduled substance.”

Green says she doesn’t believe muscaria will be added to the list of scheduled drugs in the Controlled Substances Act (CSA). “The FDA and DEA are separate administrative bodies, and it is not unusual for FDA to issue warnings like this one without triggering any new DEA scheduling activity.”

The prevailing sentiment within the community is that a few bad actors have spoiled it for everyone else. Rasmussen says it’s a waiting game to see what the FDA does next. “Amanita is an incredibly powerful mushroom. We hear stories every day of people gaining their lives back from it. What we need is for it to remain legal and to fund real research.”

Green advises that manufacturers and sellers of Amanita muscaria products conduct an honest risk assessment. “Anyone producing or selling Amanita products is now taking a legal risk. With the FDA’s warning, these products are non-compliant with the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act and are illegal to sell in the U.S.”

We’ll report back with updates.

Our Latest

President Biden Commutes Sentence for Man Tied to Massive LSD Lab Bust

Clyde Apperson, convicted in a high-profile LSD lab bust at a Kansas missile silo, is one of 1,499 federal inmates freed from prison in the largest single-day act of clemency in U.S. history.

One of the men convicted in what the U.S. government has described as the largest LSD lab bust in the country’s history has been granted clemency. Clyde Apperson was released on December 22, 2024, after President Biden commuted his sentence, along with 1,499 federal inmates, shattering records for the largest act of clemency in U.S. history to date.

You might be familiar with Apperson’s case. It dates back to November 2000, when he and co-defendant William Leonard Pickard were arrested after law enforcement discovered an LSD lab hidden in a decommissioned Atlas nuclear missile silo near Wamego, Kansas. Eric Melgren, who was then the chief U.S. district judge for Kansas, called it “the single largest seizure of an operable LSD lab in the history of the Drug Enforcement Administration” in a Nov. 2003 news release. 

On November 25, 2003, Apperson was sentenced to 30 years in prison, and Pickard was given two life sentences without possibility of parole. The convictions followed an 11-week jury trial in which both men were found guilty of “conspiracy to manufacture and distribute LSD.” According to court records, federal prosecutors said Apperson and Pickard’s operation was responsible for manufacturing upwards of 95% of the LSD available in the United States at the time.

“Due to the federal sentencing guidelines, they will be sentenced to significant time in prison,” said then-U.S. Attorney Eric Melgren in a 2003 statement, the Topeka Capital-Journal reported. “The message from this case is clear: drug dealers and manufacturers may not consider Kansas a place where they may get away with their illegal activities.”

In 2020, however, Pickard was granted compassionate release due to the Covid-19 pandemic. But, Apperson’s motions for a reduced sentence were repeatedly denied — until December 2024, when President Biden granted him clemency, overriding the most recent motion denials at the beginning of 2024. 

“From the viewpoint of the longest trial in Kansas history of 56 days, which Clyde and I sat through, it was quite remarkable and wonderful to see my dear friend be so courageous and hold to his vision,” Pickard tells DoubleBlind in a phone interview. “He was offered freedom in exchange for his testimony, but declined to do so and went in and faced 30 years. I was offered five years but declined to do so, and went in and was serving double life. So it's quite a miracle that we are now free men.”

& More Must-Reads

• The connection between your mind and body is a two-way street. Your mind doesn’t just affect your body. Your physical sensations have a profound effect on your thoughts and feelings. The science is just discovering how deep it really goes. Read the full article here.

• Ever had a trip where you sat back and watched an epic saga play like a film on the backs of your eyelids? A neuroscientist at Maastricht University has a new theory about how psychedelic visuals work. Get the full story here.

• How can we study the effects of MDMA on trauma? A working animal model would greatly clarify the hazy science behind emotional healing. A Colorado neuroscientist has a compelling answer: abused dogs. Read the full story here.

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