Following the legalization and decriminalization of cannabis in Canada, shrooms (magic mushrooms) are gaining popularity. So, What are the Differences Between Weed and Shrooms? Can you take weed and magic mushrooms together?
Both products are becoming increasingly accessible for recreational purposes. Here is an outline of the differences between mushrooms and weed regarding their interactions, benefits, and dangers of each drug abuse.
What is Weed?
Weed, also known as cannabis or marijuana, is a natural psychoactive drug obtained from the buds of cannabis indica and cannabis Sativa plant species.
Marijuana has many compounds known as cannabinoids, including tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), which causes a high effect making it a popular recreational drug.
How Is Weed Consumed?
You can introduce weed (THC) into your body in different ways.
The main ones are:
- Inhaling: Either by smoking the cannabis dried flowers or vaping its concentrates
- Direct ingestion: Concentrates through the digestive system as drops, pills, mixed in beverages and broths, or infusion in candies and gummies.
- Absorption through the skin in the form of gels, topicals, and creams
Effects Of Weed (THC)
Ingesting THC causes various effects, some of which are sought after because of their medical benefits, such as:
- Nausea relief
- Relaxation
- Mood elevation
- Pain relief
- Increased energy levels and creative mind
- Appetite
- Changes in sleep
- Reduced spasticity
- THC is famous for its relaxing, mind-altering, and time-slowing psychedelic effects.
Short-term side effects of THC:
- Dry mouth
- Dizziness
- Impaired coordination and cognitive function
- Paranoia
- Fatigue
- Red eyes
- Short-term memory lapses
There are ways of mitigating these short-term side effects, but long-term use of cannabis heavily can lead to serious side effects requiring more time to treat.
They are;
- addiction
- Cannabinoid Hyperemesis Syndrome
- Psychosis
What are Shrooms?
Many hallucinogenic mushrooms are of the variety of Psilocybe cubes, containing a psilocybin component that is psychedelic. Shrooms are also popular as magic mushrooms because of their hallucinogenic effects. Depending on different factors, the sensitivity of these substances may result in a good trip experience or a bad trip.
How Are Mushrooms Consumed?
After harvesting, magic mushrooms are dried and ground into powder for consumption.
You can consume shroom in these ways;
- Eating dried shrooms
- Brewed as tea
- In shroom edibles ranging from baked goods and chocolate
- As pills inform of shroom capsules
Effects Of Shrooms (Psilocybin )
Shrooms, like other psychedelics (ayahuasca, LSD edible products, and peyote), can seriously affect your inner and outer world experience. The changes you can have after consuming magic mushrooms include hallucinations, heightened emotions, impaired cognition, and intense imagination.
Psilocybin can produce mystical experiences with positive emotions that create feelings of sacredness and transcendence of time and space.
The psychedelic effects of shrooms of interest in medical science include:
- Change in the sense of time and space
- Audiovisual synesthesia
- Depersonalization
- Increased introspection
- Derealization
- Changes in normal cognition
- Hallucinations
- Mental imagery
- Intensified emotions, access, and feelings
- Mystical experience
- Relaxation
Side effects of shrooms
- Diarrhoea
- Auditory hallucinations
- Dilated pupils
- Depression
- Increased heart rate
- Poor coordination
- Nausea
- Restlessness
- Vomiting
- Visual distortion
The effects of Psilocybin and its side effects vary among individuals. The severity of the impact also may differ due to dosage, type of shroom, and the setting when consuming the drug.
What are the Differences Between Weed and Shrooms?
Although weed and shrooms share common cultural factors, they are different, as depicted in music, art, and movies. Using either drug doesn’t have the same effects or
Shrooms and weed share similar effects, like psychosis and hallucinations, but drugs have different impacts on the brain because of their varying chemical properties.
The main difference between weed and mushrooms is the extensive research pointing to the benefit of cannabis in the medical environment.
The severity of symptoms between marijuana and shrooms differs and may vary in cannabis depending on the strain and dosage.
Magic mushrooms have unpredictable side effects compared to weed.
What Are The Similarities of Weed And Shrooms?
The simple answer is that both are plant matter that changes body and mind status when consumed. In addition, each plant contains multiple compounds. When working together, these compounds in each specific plant have therapeutic effects for medicine.
They both have a long history of use in culture, religious and spiritual practices.
Shrooms and weed are among the widely used recreational drugs, leading to addiction and abuse.
THC vs. Psilocybin?
The main difference between THC and Psilocybin is that THC (tetrahydrocannabinol) is the primary psychoactive ingredient in weed, while Psilocybin is the main psychoactive ingredient in magic mushrooms.
Both are known Entheogens (found naturally in nature) and induce different states. Entheogens are compounds found in plants capable of changing body and mental status, a practice rooted in religion and culture.
THC and Psilocybin are both used for medical and recreational purposes. A combination of both, depending on the dosage, can be effective. The two drugs have a history in religions for producing mind and body states in religious and spiritual ceremonies.
Both currently have increased accessibility thanks to the legalization and decriminalization of cannabis.
THC and Psilocybin both interact with serotonin receptors, but in different ways individually.
Taking Cannabis and Magic Mushrooms Together
Cannabis and magic mushrooms can be used on their own. However, as both drugs are becoming increasingly accessible, many recreational users often combine the two either to accelerate the effects or to achieve higher levels of being high.
Currently, there is not enough research on combining cannabis and shrooms. Most of the data available are based on user reviews and shared experiences.
Users claim cannabis eases the effects of shrooms, like nausea, when taken together and can help to heighten the effects. However, the results may vary depending on which drug is consumed first.
However, caution should be taken when combining weed and shrooms, or you may have a bad trip. In therapeutic use, a controlled setting is necessary to monitor the patient and avoid devastating outcomes.
The main risk involved in combining cannabis and magic mushrooms relates to mental health issues, and their combination should be avoided by people who have such a family history.
Excessive use of either or both drugs can be dangerous and increases accident risks. In addition, drug abuse causes long-term physical and mental impacts.
Drug addiction is a zone you should avoid at all costs.
References
Lighthouse Recovery Institute. (2022, August 6).Shrooms Vs. Weed: Two Dangerously Popular Drugs. LIGHTHOUSE. Available at: https://lighthouserecoveryinstitute.com/blog/shrooms-vs-weed-two-dangerously-popular-drugs/
Prisms LSD. (2022, January 7). Buy LSD Edibles Online in Canada. Available at: https://prismslsd.co/product/lsd-mints-100%ce%bcg/
BC Weed Delivery. (2022, January 7). Buy weed online in Coquitlam, BC and online dispensaries in Canada. Available at: https://bcweeddelivery.org/store_cat/coquitlam/
Emily E. (2022, April 20)Shrooms vs. weed: the difference between magic mushrooms and cannabis. The Cannigma. Available at: https://cannigma.com/plant/difference-between-magic-mushrooms-and-cannabis/
Weed Delivery Vancouver. (2022, January 7). Same-Day weed delivery in Burnaby. Available at: https://weeddeliveryvancouver.io/product-category/service-areas/weed-delivery-burnaby/
