Magic mushroom sweets linked to two deaths as dozens fall ill in US

It comes amid a growing trade in legal ‘microdosing confectionary’ and concerns over the lack of regulation on their sale

Nearly 160 people in the United States have become ill after consuming sweets purporting to contain traces of chemicals from magic mushrooms.
More than a third of those required hospital treatment and US health officials are investigating two deaths that may be related to confectionery, the New York Times reported.
The case has highlighted a growing trade in legal “microdosing” sweets and the lack of regulation on their sale.
Symptoms suffered by those taken ill have included vomiting, loss of consciousness, seizures and hallucinations.
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said in July that at least 48 people in 24 states said they “got sick” after eating Diamond Shruumz-brand products, including chocolate bars, cones and gummies.
Prophet Premium Blends, the company that produces Diamond Shruumz products, issued a recall in June, saying it had received reports of consumers becoming ill after consuming “the entire chocolate bar and some product containing higher levels of muscimol than normal”.
It urged customers not to ingest the product and retailers to stop selling it while the FDA investigated.
But the sweets have remained on sale in more than 2,000 shops, according to the FDA.
Muscimol is a psychoactive compound found in some mushrooms. It is not illegal.
But the FDA also said it had found a form of psilocin, a restricted hallucinogen, in four of 22 Diamond Shruumz chocolate bars that it tested.
It found Pregabalin, a prescription drug the NHS uses to treat epilepsy and anxiety, in three of them.
Microdosing sweets, chocolates and other products are often sold legally in vape shops or over the internet around the world, and are often not subject to little or no regulation.
They typically contain substances like Delta-8-THC, a psychoactive chemical naturally found only in trace amounts in Cannabis, but often refined to higher concentrations, or extracts of kratom, a tropical evergreen from southeast Asia with opioid-like effects.
Although usually marketed as “natural” ingredients, health experts have raised concerns that the refinement process may produce harmful effects.
In June, Food Standards Australia New Zealand issued a recall of two flavours of Uncle Frog’s Mushroom Gummies, an American-made sweet, after several people were hospitalised with a myriad of symptoms including seizures, hallucinations, dizziness and involuntary twitching.
The Queensland based company that distributed the gummies said it was “really sorry”.