Citation

Honyiglo E, Franchi A, Cartiser N, Bottinelli C, Advenier AS, Bevalot F, Fanton L. J. Forensic Sci. 2019; 64(4): 1266-1270.

Affiliation

Faculty of Medicine, University of Lyon, UCBL1, 8 avenue Rockefeller, Lyon, France.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2019, American Society for Testing and Materials, Publisher John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1111/1556-4029.13982

PMID

30548541

Abstract

Fatalities implicating psychedelic mushrooms are not a common clinical situation in everyday forensic medicine. Despite classification as an illegal drug in many countries, psilocybin mushrooms have the reputation of being safe. We report the case of a young man who jumped from a second story balcony under the influence of psilocybin mushrooms. The psilocin assay was performed by gas chromatography coupled to an electron-impact ionization time-of-flight detector (GC-EI-TOF) after solid-phase extraction. Total psilocin was quantified in peripheral and cardiac blood as 60 and 67 ng/mL, respectively, and in urine (2230 ng/mL), bile (3102 ng/mL), and vitreous humor (57 ng/mL). This case report and review of literature highlights the danger of psilocybin mushrooms. Isolated use of psilocybin mushrooms by a regular consumer without psychiatric history, even under "safe" circumstances, can lead to a fatal outcome.

© 2018 American Academy of Forensic Sciences.

Language: en

Keywords

bad trip; forensic science; forensic toxicology; magic mushrooms; psilocin; psilocybin