What is psychedelic testing?
With the explosion of the mushroom industry over the past few years, both psychedelic and functional, one thing has become clear. Psychedelics are a therapeutic force that are here to stay. The legalization in some states of psilocybin, DMT, mescaline, and other natural psychedelic components is blazing the way for a new industry that caters to enthusiasts and medical patients alike. As with any novel advancement in the consumables industry, human safety should always be a top priority.
Our goal at Altitude Consulting is to provide you with the most accurate testing resources to ensure that your customers remain safe and loyal. Just as we have been a staple asset to the hemp industry since the introduction of the Farm Bill, we now provide the same analytical data and quality consultation to the psychedelic industry.
To do this, we have developed testing panels that accurately quantify the most desired compounds within psychedelic mushrooms, plants, and cacti, as well as common solvents used to extract compounds for further processing.
What are these compounds?
Psilocin is a tryptamine alkaloid that modulates the production and reuptake of serotonin in humans.
N,N-DMT or DMT is a substituted tryptamine that naturally occurs in small amounts in some plant species.
Psilocybin is a prodrug to psilocin, the psychoactive component of the mushroom. Upon ingestion and digestion by your liver, psilocybin is dephosphorylated into psilocin, which produces the hallucinogenic effect typically associated with magic mushrooms
Baeocystin is an analog of psilocybin. It remains unclear whether or not baeocystin is psychoactive in humans.
How did we get here?
In 2020, Oregon made history by being the first state to legalize magic mushrooms for personal use. This movement was riding the coattails of monumental academic research from Johns Hopkins, among other universities. In addition to personal use, Oregon opened the doors for therapeutic centers, places where individuals can go to be treated with psychedelics under the supervision of trained personnel. Applications for licenses for these therapeutic centers are opening up in early 2023.
In November of 2022, Colorado continued with Oregon’s momentum as voters passed Proposition 122, better known as the Natural Medicine Health Act of 2022. This bill would legalize many different psychedelics for personal use as well as begin the process to open therapeutic centers similar to those that will be opening soon in Oregon. Colorado’s early-stage process involves forming a 15-member committee that will help discern the direction of the therapeutic centers as well as psychedelic use across the state as a whole.
From 2021 to 2022, 15 other states introduced pieces of legislation targeted at opening up psychedelic use to the public, both recreationally and therapeutically. At Altitude Consulting, we wanted to cater to both of these burgeoning industries by being a resource for both current safety protocols as well as future research endeavors.
How do we test psychedelics?
Upon review of various methods, both in-house and those being used in the research around the country, we have decided to use High-Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) for our potency analysis. This instrument allows us to accurately distinguish and quantify all of the necessary compounds pertaining to psychedelic mushrooms, plants, and cacti.
Questions?
Still have questions regarding mushroom testing?
