Jochen Gartz - Magic Mushrooms Around the ... - preterhuman.net

CHAPTER 7.7
USAGE IN SOUTH EAST ASIA AND THE SOUTH PACIFIC ISLANDS
Since the late 1960s, the custom of using
psilocybin-containing mushrooms has been
evolving in various countries across Asia and the
Pacific Islands. However, there is no conclusive
evidence indicating that mushroom usage was
endemic among native cultures prior to the
discovery of the Mexican species. Most likely,
global tourism has been the most significant factor
behind increasing knowledge about relevant
mushroom species among the populations of these
countries, especially after searches for strongly
bluing gilled mushrooms were successful. These
mushrooms, most notably those found growing on
pasture land, strongly resembled similar species
from other continents.
Neo-Mycoflora
Western amateur mycologists helped
disseminate information about these species and
published articles on the mushrooms in various
publications of their home countries. However,
little or no efforts were made to identify and
describe specific mushrooms species found
growing in Asia and the South Pacific Islands.
There have also been no research efforts to
investigate the overall mycoflora in this part of the
world. Thus, during the 1970s, a group of
teenagers in Samoa discovered the psychoactive
effects of Panaeolus cyanescens. At first, the
police took measures to suppress the practice. But
persecution by law enforcement agencies was
halted when it became apparent that ingestion of
the mushrooms did not pose a significant health
risk. According to Cox, the teenagers' parents
considered their children's mushroom experience
"a foolish, but totally harmless episode and a part
of normal teenage development". In light of such a
reasonable frame of reference, the historic label
"fool's mushrooms" (Chapter 2) immediately
comes to mind.
By contrast, customs of psychoactive
mushroom usage in New Zealand evolved around
the same species found in Australia, with criminal
penalties also modeled after Australian measures
of law enforcement. However, in contrast to
Psilocybe semilanceata and Panaeolus
cyanescens, Psilocybe cubensis is not a species
native to New Zealand, and all psychoactive
species are generally referred to as "magic
mushrooms".
To date, we do not know about all those
geographic regions where the discovery of bluing
mushroom species was an event that did not
attract much attention, yet contributed to the
mushrooms's growing popularity and an everincreasing
number of "silent" users. Scientificmycological
investigations of a small number of
samples provided clues to the identification of
psychoactive species relevant in this context: the
two dung-inhabiting species Psilocybe cubensis
and Panaeolus cyanescens, as well as Panaeolus
tropicales, a close relative of the latter species. In
most cases, the differentiation of the two
Panaeolus species is an extremely difficult task.
Panaeolus cyanescens Omelettes
During the seventies and eighties, the
mushroom restaurants of Bali became quite
famous, since interested tourists could order
mushroom omelettes made with Panaeolus
cyanescens - house specialties, and all completely
legal to boot. At first, local children collected the
mushrooms needed to prepare the dishes. In
response to increasing demand for this culinary
specialty, however, commercial cultivation of the
Panaeolus species began, using the method of
transferring dung with naturally-grown mycelia
onto fresh buffalo manure.
Apparently, no major complications
ensued, and this type of mushroom usage
remained unchallenged for a long time. In Bali,
ingestion of mushrooms has been limited, for the
most part, to visiting tourists. In 1992, a German
tourist reported that, if anything, the number of
restaurants had increased compared to the 1980s.
The number of restaurant patrons, however,