Revised January 26, 2005 and August 29, 2007
Copyright 1998-2007 by John W. Allen



VISIONARY MUSHROOM ARTICLES

PSYCHOACTIVE MUSHROOMS IN THAILAND:
SOME ASPECTS OF THEIR RELATIONSHIPS TO HUMAN USE, LAW AND ART
BY
John W. Allen and Mark D. Merlin


UPDATE:
[This is a reprinting and an update of an original article by John W. Allen and Mark D. Merlin which first appeared in 1992 in Volume 2-3:98-108 of Integrations: The Journal of Mind Moving Plants and Culture.]



INTRODUCTION
Recent ethnomycological investigations on the islands of Koh Samui and Koh Pha-ngan in the Gulf of Siam, Thailand (Allen & Merlin 1992) revealed that many restaurants were offering food items containing psychoactive mushrooms known as hed keequai. In English this refers to a "mushroom which appears after water buffalo defecates." The hed keequai mushrooms discussed in this paper are two macroscopically indistinguishable species of fungi, Psilocybe cubensis (Earle) Singer (fig. 1) and Psilocybe subcubensis Guzmán (fig. 2). The latter species was previously only known from Mexico, Central and South America, and Australia (Guzmán 1983; Allen, Merlin, and Jansen 1991).

Fig. 1-----------------------Fig. 2

Another species used recreationally is Copelandia cyanescens and some variations (Fig. 2a); And the newly discovered species Psilocybe samuiensis Guzmán, Bandala and Allen (Fig. 2b).

Fig. 2a


Fig. 2b

These mushrooms appear in the manure of the Asian water buffalo Bubalis Bubalis, of which 1 in 10 are pink (Fig. 2c) and these mushrooms are common in rice paddies (Fig. 2d) throughout Southeast Asia

Fig. 2c -------------------Fig. 2d

The recreational use of psychoactive fungi at several resort areas in Thailand most likely had its origins in Bali in the late 1960's. Schultes & Hofmann (1973) first reported that psychoactive mushrooms were being gathered by local natives in Bali in the early 1970's. These mushrooms were then marketed directly to tourists or to resort restaurants to be prepared in commercial food items. Foods containing the psychoactive fungi became popular with many foreign tourists in Kuta and other areas of Bali. Schultes and Hofmann (1973) also noted that Copelandia species were consumed by local natives and offered to tourists during festivals and ceremonies on that island. Although the mushrooms are currently illegal in Bali, as they are in Thailand, they are still prepared and offered to the tourist when requested (Mood 1987). In August 1991, JWA attended a festival on the island of Koh Pha-ngan known as the "Festival of the Mushrooms". This festival, celebrated each month during the full moon, is attended by hundreds of tourists who ingest hed keequai (Fig2e).

Fig. 2e

The use of these psychoactive fungi among tourists and German immigrants in Thailand has provided many local native farmers (male and female) and their children with a means of earning extra, albeit illegal, income through the gathering and sale of the mind-altering fungi (Fig. 3).

Fig.3---------------------------------------------------Fig.4

Below is an average rice paddie which zigzags in and out the island from one location to the next. This is where the mushrooms grow profusely.


Fig. 4a
This especially applies to those who live in and around the rice paddies where the manure of the water buffalo (Bubalus bubalis) and some cattle (Bos indicus, Bos sundaicus, etc.) provide an abundant supply of these fungi after sufficient rain.

Fig. 4b

Below is an image of the cattle which produce the manure that make the mushrooms grow so well in this hot climate(Fig. 4d).

Fig. 4d
Collection of the fungi occurs during the rainy (monsoon) season (July-October, see below Fig. 4e and Fig. 4f).

Fig. 4e---------------------------Fig.4f
They are then sold to resort restaurants and tourists. The most common food items listed on restaurant menus containing hallucinogenic mushrooms include omelettes, pizzas and fruit drinks ("smoothies"). See Fig 4g and Fig. 4h below which show a deluxe omelette from Munchies Resort at Chaweng Beach on Koh Samui Island and a burnt omelette from Koh Pha-ngan Island in Thailand.

Fig. 4g-----------------------------Fig. 4h



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