Magic mushroom edibles made with Amanita muscaria are on the rise thanks to a legal gray area. Meet the entrepreneurs bringing hallucinogenic treats to a smoke shop—or mailbox—near you.
By Will Yakowicz, Forbes Staff
In an apartment in Oakland, California, sometime in 2020, Asanka Wickramarachchi and his two brothers were playing around with a recipe for psychoactive mushroom-infused edibles. While psilocybin, the active ingredient in “magic mushrooms,” is federally illegal, the brothers were experimenting with muscimol, a compound extracted from Amanita muscaria—the toadstool with a red cap and white polka dots made famous by a certain mustachioed plumber named Mario.
There are two reasons the Wickramarachchis chose Amanita muscaria: First, it is psychoactive, and, most important, it is not banned by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration like other psychedelic drugs. (Only Louisiana has banned Amanita muscaria.)
By 2023, the brothers along with a few other friends launched a brand that produces Amanita muscaria products, aptly named PolkaDot. The Wickramarachchis’ nootropics company, which is headquartered in Hollywood, sells muscimol-infused chocolates and gummies across the United States through their online store and wholesale distributors. PolkaDot’s psychedelic products can be found in more than 5,000 gas stations and smoke shops throughout the U.S., and it also ships its treats to countries such as Mexico and Thailand.
“This is completely legal—more legal than weed,” says the 37-year-old Wickramarachchi, who is the company’s CEO and also runs two cannabis dispensaries in California. “There’s a smoke shop on every corner in the U.S., and people can walk in and have a mushroom experience.”
The Tripping Point: “There’s a smoke shop on every corner,," says PolkaDot's Wickramarachchi, "and people can walk in and have a mushroom experience.”
PolkadotPolkaDot, which sells several million dollars’ worth of products a month, is one of many companies selling Amanita edibles. Thanks in part to the Cali Sober movement—which advocates abstaining from hard drugs and alcohol, but weed and hallucinogens are allowed—this cottage industry has bloomed into a robust gray market of mind-bending “legal high” products. The companies have trippy, hippie names like Galaxy Treats, Fun Guy, and Exhale. But just because the DEA has not banned Amanita muscaria doesn’t mean these products are 100% legal—or 100% safe.
Josh Kappel, a founding partner of law firm Vicente LLP who specializes in cannabis and psychedelics, says the thriving Amanita muscaria gray market benefits from existing in a legal no man’s land. “There is this whole category of substances that are not illegal from a criminal possession standpoint but are not legal to provide for human consumption by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, which includes Amanita muscaria,” says Kappel. “They are neither legal nor illegal.”
The FDA puts a finer point on it. “Amanita muscaria and its chemical constituents—muscimol, ibotenic acid, and muscarine—are not FDA-approved food additives,” a spokesperson tells Forbes. “We have safety concerns about these substances being used as a food ingredient as there are documented toxicity concerns, and serious side effects including delirium with sleepiness and coma, among other psychotropic effects.”
And it’s not just lawyers and government employees wagging their fingers. Paul Stamets, the world-famous mycologist and advocate for the responsible, medicinal use of psychedelic fungi, preaches caution when ingesting this mushroom. Stamets says he doesn’t see anything wrong with low doses of Amanita muscaria, but it’s not a fungus that should be eaten in the kinds of amounts typically found in packages of gummies.
“Larger doses cause a unique form of delirium, intense intoxication, and a peculiar repetitive motion syndrome,” says Stamets, explaining that Amanita poisoning can include uncontrollable convulsions and impulsive behavior. “For those who decide to 'party' with these species, the experience could be devastating to not only the people imbibing, but to the people nearby concerned about their behavior. I think it is dangerous to sell these to the unsuspecting public without deeply educating them about the potentially dangerous side effects of high doses.”
Ironically, psilocybin, which has stronger psychedelic effects than muscimol and is banned at the federal level, is not toxic like Amanita muscaria and has a greater safety profile.
Despite the concern around people selling products that have unknown safety profiles to the masses, Wickramarachchi who has dual degrees in business and engineering from the University of California Irvine, has no worries about PolkaDot products. “The risk is zero,” he insists. “We are comfortable with our legal position because we follow federal laws and regulations related to dietary supplements.”
Another big issue for PolkaDot is counterfeiting. Wickramarachchi says fake PolkaDot products containing psilocybin and a related chemical have been found in New York City bodegas, shops in California and have even reportedly poisoned children in Florida. (Another company using the PolkaDot name alleges in in a trademark dispute that Wickramarachchi’s company is selling psilocybin, which he denies and blames counterfeiters using his brand.)
“There is a lot of counterfeiting, that’s our biggest problem,” he says “Counterfeit PolkaDot packaging is available on Alibaba, Amazon, and in stores in Downtown Los Angeles. It’s hard to control.”
In Suwanee, Georgia, a state where cannabis is illegal except for low-THC products, husband and wife duo Shiloh and Nelson Bigles opened a CBD shop in 2018 but recently launched a line of muscimol-infused gummies and chocolates under the brand name Bliss.
Nelson says one gummy will elevate your mood, while two might get you high. And things get really interesting at four gummies. “It’s the baby brother of psilocybin,” says Nelson.
The Bigleses understand that the FDA has not approved muscimol for human consumption, but the same can be said for the CBD products and other hemp-derived cannabinoid edibles they sell. “It’s the Wild Wild West, like hemp,” says Shiloh. “It’s unregulated, it’s not on any schedule, so for now we are doing what we can.”
Given the legal gray areas, it is entirely possible that the DEA could ban Amanita muscaria and its derivatives—the agency is constantly adding more drugs to its list of illegal compounds—especially if there are enough adverse reactions.
But Wickramarachchi does not see a future that involves criminalization, and at least for now, enjoying the mushroom “craze.”
“We're really here to heal people,” says Wickramarachchi. “We're looking to heal people long term and apply these organic medicinal solutions.”
