HALLUCINOGENIC MUSHROOMS AND THEIR LEGAL STATUS IN TURKEY

Abstract

Fungi are rich and diverse groups of organisms and it includes more than 100,000 species but the global biodiversity of the fungi has been estimated at about 1.5 million species. Mushrooms are those fungi that form large sporocarps visible without using a magnifying apparatus. Most terrestrial mushrooms are saprobes or mycorrhizal symbionts, but some are pathogens of plants. The hallucinogens are a chemically diverse class of drugs that cause hallucinations. Their effects more unpredictable than those of other drugs and vary greatly from person to person. Natural hallucinogens can be found in some plants, mushrooms or animals and they have been used for thousands of years in different part of the world, mostly for religious rituals. Hallucinogenic mushrooms are psychoactive fungi, containing hallucinogenic compounds, most commonly psilocybin and psilocin. Approximately, 200 mushroom species are considered as hallucinogenic mushrooms that contain these compounds and they are also called as magic mushrooms. Turkey is very rich in terms of mushrooms diversity because the habitats, vegetation and climate are very suitable for magic mushroomsgrowth.

In the current study, general features of common hallucinogenic mushrooms, their diversity and legal status in Turkey were provided and discussed briefly.

Keywords

• HALLUCINOGENIC MUSHROOMS AND THEIR LEGAL STATUS IN TURKEY

Kaynakça

1. Ilgaz AKATA
2. Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, Ankara University, Turkey