Toxicologist says magic mushroom deaths rare but identification ‘very, very challenging’

Deaths from magic mushrooms are “extraordinarily rare” but foragers can easily confuse them with lethal fungi such as death caps, a leading Melbourne toxicologist has warned.

Deaths from psilocybin are “extraordinarily rare” with more than 90 per cent of fatal mushroom poisonings caused by the notorious death cap instead, according to a leading Melbourne toxicologist.

St Vincent’s Hospital Melbourne emergency department director Dr Jonathan Karro said most magic mushroom deaths were actually the result of dangerous delusions or a fungi mix-up.

“I’m not aware of any deaths related to just the ingestion of magic mushrooms from toxicity from the psilocybin,” he said.

“They’re from the activities the substance causes people to do, like think they can fly, jump off a building, go driving while affected and have a car accident.”

Dr Karro stressed he was speaking about the dangers of mushrooms and not the specifics of the death of a woman in Clunes near Ballarat.

Rachael Dixon, 53, from Ringwood North, is believed to have consumed crushed up magic mushrooms in a drink before her death at an alternative health retreat.

The Victorian Poison Information Centre answers about 300 to 400 calls every year about mushrooms, but typically less than 40 require medical attention, an Austin Health spokeswoman said.

“The vast majority of cases have either no symptoms or mild symptoms, and less than 10 per cent of cases are instructed to seek medical attention,” she said.

Rachael Dixon is believed to have consumed crushed up magic mushrooms in a drink before her death.

The death happened at the alternative health Soul Barn in Clunes near Ballarat. Picture: Ian Wilson

Dr Karro said it only took one death cap to kill an adult and warned against foraging.

“People get into trouble when they think they are ingesting magic mushrooms — and they may be — but different mushrooms can grow in the same area,” he said.

“You can’t be sure that every mushroom is the same … even very experienced emergency medical personnel and others need to seek advice from real specialists because identifying mushrooms is very, very challenging.”

Dr Jonathan Karro warned mushroom identification is “very, very challenging”. Picture: Eugene Hyland

It was unlikely for people to have wildly different responses to the same “batch” of mushrooms and the effect was more likely to be influenced by the amount consumed, Dr Karro said.

“There is a rare scenario where it is an allergic reaction and that can be an individual thing where someone is allergic to something in that mushroom, and then other people could ingest it and have no response,” he said.

“Anyone who’s got heart disease, lung disease, kidney disease, liver disease will be at more risk from whatever happens to them, but in general … it’s the amount you ingest.”

He said magic mushrooms were “very rarely” linked to cardiac arrest but the increased heart rate, blood pressure and respiratory rate could be a risk.

“Yes it could, but it’s not like it causes a direct problem with the heart, people would have to have a pre-existing problem,” he said.

Dr Karro said the hospital sees patients who have taken psychedelics, which includes magic mushrooms, weekly but they are typically not suffering life-threatening side effects.

“(They) are having a bad trip or having a bad time, have become quite anxious and paranoid and they come to the ED and we can keep them safe,” he said.

“The experience might be scary, frightening, anxiety-provoking, but deaths from just ingesting psychedelics are extraordinarily rare.”