Psilocin is the active form behind magic mushrooms’ effects. Health Canada names psilocybin and psilocin as their active ingredients (Health Canada), and a 2017 review explains that the body converts psilocybin to psilocin, which acts on 5-HT2A receptors (Dinis-Oliveira, 2017). Chemically it is DMT with a hydroxyl at ring position 4, C12H16N2O (PubChem, psilocin).
It does not linger. In a 2017 study of 12 healthy adults, its mean blood half-life was 3 hours (Brown et al., 2017). It is broken down mainly by the enzymes CYP2D6 and CYP3A4, with a smaller role for MAO-A (Meshkat et al., 2025), and leaves the body largely as psilocin-O-glucuronide (Dinis-Oliveira, 2017).
The same hydroxyl makes it reactive: in a damaged mushroom, psilocin is oxidized into the blue products of bruising (Lenz et al., 2020). In Canada it is listed in Schedule III of the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act as its own item, separate from psilocybin (CDSA). This is not legal advice.
Sources
- Dinis-Oliveira, 2017, Drug Metabolism Reviews
- Brown et al., 2017, Clinical Pharmacokinetics
- Health Canada: psilocybin and psilocin (magic mushrooms)
- Controlled Drugs and Substances Act, Schedule III (Justice Laws)
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