Safety, preparation and storage

Psilocybin has low physical toxicity and is not addictive, but a truffle trip still carries real risks: panic, accidents while intoxicated, and in a small group of people a lasting psychological crisis. Almost all of these risks can be reduced with three things: knowing whether truffles are right for you, preparing the session, and having a sober person with you.

Who should not take truffles

Skip truffles if any of these applies to you:

• You or a close family member have had psychosis, schizophrenia or bipolar disorder. Psilocybin can trigger an episode.
• You are going through a crisis, a recent loss or a period of severe stress.
• You have a heart condition or uncontrolled high blood pressure. Psilocybin raises both heart rate and blood pressure for several hours.
• You are pregnant or breastfeeding.
• You are under 18.

Dangerous combinations

Lithium. In an analysis of online experience reports, 47% of 62 reports of a psychedelic combined with lithium described a seizure (Nayak et al., 2021). Do not combine them.

MAO inhibitors. These include some antidepressants and the harmala alkaloids in Syrian rue and ayahuasca brews. They can make psilocybin much stronger and longer and are not a safe experiment at home.

SSRIs and SNRIs. These mostly weaken the effect rather than create danger (Gukasyan et al., 2023). Never stop prescribed medication to take truffles; talk to your doctor.

Alcohol and cannabis. Alcohol adds nausea and clumsiness. Cannabis can turn a calm trip into an overwhelming one within minutes, also on the way down.

Preparing a session

• Choose a day with nothing planned afterwards, including the next morning.
• Pick a place you know: a quiet home, or nature away from traffic and crowds. Water, toilet and a place to lie down within reach.
• Arrange a sitter who does not take anything and knows what you took and how much.
• Eat lightly three to four hours before. Have water, fruit and something sweet ready.
• Put car keys away. Driving after truffles is illegal in the Netherlands and dangerous everywhere.
• Weigh your dose and decide beforehand that you will not take more that day.

When it gets difficult

Most difficult moments pass within 20 to 60 minutes, and they pass faster when nobody fights them.

• Remind yourself, or the person you are with, that this is the truffles and that it will wear off.
• Change the setting: another room, dimmer light, different music, fresh air.
• Sit or lie down, breathe slowly and out longer than in.
• Eating something sweet or drinking juice helps some people feel more grounded. It does not end the trip.
• A sitter talks calmly and little, and stays.

Call 112 if someone has trouble breathing, has a seizure, loses consciousness, is injured, or is a danger to themselves or others. Ambulance staff in the Netherlands have a duty of confidentiality, so tell them what was taken. For questions without an emergency, the Drugs Infolijn of the Trimbos Institute answers on 0900-1995.

Storage

Fresh truffles are a perishable product. Keep them in the closed vacuum pack in the fridge, away from light, and use them before the date on the package. Shops give slightly different advice, ranging from 2 to 8 °C. Once opened, use them within a day or two. Truffles that are slimy, smell sour or show mould go in the bin.

Do not dry them to make them last. Fresh truffles are outside the Opium Act, but the status of dried truffles has not been settled in law, and the Jellinek classes them as a List I drug, the same category as hard drugs (Jellinek).

Travel and the law

Fresh truffles are legal to buy and possess in the Netherlands. Almost everywhere else they are not. In Germany and the United Kingdom, for example, psilocybin and the fungi that contain it are controlled substances. Bringing truffles across a border, also within the EU, can lead to prosecution. Use them where you bought them.

Read more about what to expect or how much to take.