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Magic mushroom use rises despite concerns about little known paralysis syndrome (www.abc.net.au)
submitted 10 months ago by to c/australia@aussie.zone
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"Psychedelic drug use appears to be increasing in Australia.

The latest National Drug Strategy Household Survey from 2022–23 saw the percentage of Australians who used a psychedelic drug rise from 1.6 per cent in 2019 to 2.4 per cent three years later taking the number of people who use these drugs annually up to about 500,000 people."

I wonder if this is because alcohol is harder to afford for many now ?

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[–] 34 points 10 months ago (13 children)

Such stupid sensationalism. It's called Wood Lovers Paralysis and is common with azuracens and somewhat with psilocybes. It's literally just the weak feeling that sometimes adds to the body load during come up. It goes away before the drugs even fully kick in.

Better make people scared of the safest drug out there, they might think for themselves otherwise.

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  • [–] [S] 5 points 10 months ago (12 children)

    Who to believe?

    "Wood-lover’s Paralysis (WLP) is an extremely rare, but potentially fatal, toxidrome causing unpredictable muscle weakness.

    Dr Simon Beck, an MD in his final year of psychiatry training, and Mr Caine Barlow MSc, a mycologist and education officer for Ethnogenesis Australis, along with Dr Monica Barratt and Dr Liam Engel, have been the first to describe Wood-lover’s Paralysis in a study published in Toxicon.

    According to the Victorian Coroner’s report, released this month, WLP was potentially associated with the death of Rachael Lee Dixon, who ingested magic mushrooms at a wellness retreat last year."

    https://insightplus.mja.com.au/2025/37/australian-experts-first-to-describe-potentially-fatal-magic-mushroom-toxidrome/

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  • [–] 14 points 10 months ago* (3 children)

    Well unpredictable muscle weakness is your indicator right there .

    You could die from muscle paralysis in shrooms, same way you could die from being hit in the chest with a puck playing hockey at just the right millisecond in your cardiac beat.

    Possible and potential don't mean likely.

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  • [–] 2 points 10 months ago (2 children)

    Plenty of people die from diaphragm weakness.. probably worthy of investigating it to see actual occurrences ?

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  • [–] 4 points 10 months ago (5 children)

    Yea that's the scare tactic bullshit I read too. Wildly unscientific.

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  • [–] 3 points 10 months ago (4 children)

    It looks like it was a qualitative study in an identified literature gap. Which parts of it are wildly unscientific?

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  • [–] 0 points 10 months ago (3 children)

    Do you eat psychedelic mushrooms very frequently?

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  • [–] 0 points 10 months ago (2 children)

    Nope, hence why I didn't participate in the study.

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  • [–] 0 points 10 months ago (1 child)

    The sarcasm isn't necessary. Anybody that uses them with any regularity is aware of wlp if they know it's name or not

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  • [–] 0 points 10 months ago

    Im a bit lost at your point? You said it's a scare tactic, I said it's a qualitative study in an identified literature gap. You said anyone who uses them knows about WLP.. I'm not quite sure about what side you're on?

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    • [–] 14 points 10 months ago* (1 child)

    Worked security at bush doofs for years and never saw this. Would've kept an eye on thousands of trippers, probably in the tens of thousands. One suicide and one fatal asthma attack were the stand out events.

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