‘Nootropic’ Gummies Sold in Gas Stations Contain Illegal Hallucinogens, Tests Find

Talk about a bad trip. Several brands of gummies that are touted as being good for brain health were found to contain illegal hallucinogenic substances after people who ate them were hospitalized. 

Five people, including a 3-year-old, got sick when they ate the gummies and ended up at the University of Virginia Health Medical Center’s emergency room between September 2023 and June 2024. Though all five people were eventually released from hospital, the child did require an overnight stay. Alarmed, poison experts tested five different brands sold in gas stations and smoke shops and found that three of them contained either psilocybin or psilocin, both of which are active compounds in psychedelic mushrooms.

Both chemicals are also classified as Schedule I drugs by the FDA, meaning they are considered to have no accepted medical use and carry a high risk of abuse. None of the brands advertised themselves as containing the illegal substances, saying instead that they contained Amanita muscaria, a legal species of mushroom found in the wild. Although legal, some doctors have called for a public health response to the unregulated sale of mushroom species. In an article for the American Journal of Preventive Medicine published in June, several researchers noted the mushroom contains toxic compounds and can have hallucinogenic properties, although the mushroom does not contain psilocybin or any other “classical psychedelic.” 

“Many Amanita muscaria and muscimol products are sold and marketed masquerading as food products or dietary supplements,” they wrote. “However, there are no FDA-notarized GRAS (Generally Recognized as Safe) or NDI (New Dietary Ingredient) notifications publicly available for these ingredients.”

The UVA researchers released their findings in a CDC Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. In it, they said the gummies, which were advertised as “nootropics,” or a substance that can improve cognition, also contained other undisclosed compounds including caffeine, ephedrine, and kratom, a stimulant with opioid-like effects that is illegal in six states (a list that does not include West Virginia). 

The scientists called the unregulated sale of the gummies a “potential risk to the public” and warned doctors to be on the lookout for patients displaying symptoms such as hallucinations, altered mental status, abnormally high heart rates, and gastrointestinal upsets. 

“People tend to equate ‘legal’ with ‘safe,’ which is not necessarily the case,” said researcher Avery Michienzi, who wrote the report, in a press release. “These products are not regulated and can contain any number of unlabeled substances which, when consumed, can cause undesired symptoms.”