Magic mushrooms have exploded in popularity recently, largely because of their tremendous potential to treat a variety of health conditions.
Psilocybin in magic mushrooms gets converted to psilocin in your body, and the latter is what causes you to feel the psychedelic effects of magic mushrooms.
Various factors determine how long mushrooms take to kick in and how long a trip will last, including the potency of the mushrooms, dosage, and your own body’s metabolism and chemistry. Learn about how long shrooms stay in your body and drug tests to detect them below.
How long do shrooms take to kick in?
Typically, shrooms take about 30-60 minutes to kick it, and peak 1-2 hours after consumption.
Magic mushrooms are usually eaten, either whole or in the form of a gummy or chocolate, or drunk in a tea. Consuming mushrooms in these ways means they need to be processed in the stomach and liver in order for the body to absorb them. As with cannabis edibles, it will take your body a little bit of time to absorb the mushrooms and feel effects.
For some, shrooms may take longer than an hour to kick in, so you may have to wait more than an hour. If you don’t feel any effects and want to take more mushrooms, we recommend the “start low, go slow” approach—take a little more shrooms and wait 30-60 minutes for them to kick in before taking more.
Adding citrus to shrooms—also known as “lemon tekking”—is thought to reduce the amount of time it takes for shrooms to kick in.
How long does a shroom trip last?
A magic mushroom trip will usually last for 4-6 hours. After that, consumers will come down and usually feel some lingering effects for a few more hours.
Taking a microdose, or around 1 gram of mushrooms, will usually lead to a shorter trip than taking a large amount of mushrooms, such as 3.5 grams. It’s hard to gauge exactly how long a trip will last as the potency of the mushrooms, the amount you take, and your own body’s metabolism and chemistry will affect exactly how long a mushroom trip will last.
Taking a large amount of mushrooms, or over 5 grams (known as a “heroic dose”), can result in an even longer trip.
The dosage, or amount of mushrooms you take will also affect the intensity of a trip. A microdose might not cause you to have hallucinations as a large dose might, but can still offer medical benefits such as reducing anxiety and depression.
Learn more in our guide to dosing magic mushrooms and on overdosing on shrooms.
Drug tests: Detecting how long shrooms stay in your system
Routine drug tests usually don’t look for magic mushrooms, but some specialized tests do exist. Common urine drugs tests usually look for:
- Cannabis
- Cocaine
- Amphetamines
- Opiates
- PCP
However, if you are being tested for substances, there is no guarantee which substances exactly a test will look for.
Urine tests for magic mushrooms
Some specific tests are designed to detect the amount of psilocin in urine, and can do so 1-3 days after magic mushrooms are consumed. Psilocin often isn’t detectable after three days, but it may still linger in the body for longer. A person’s age, weight, metabolism level, and overall health will determine how quickly their body will process and get rid of psilocin.
It is unclear if psilocin or other compounds in magic mushrooms can be detected in blood or hair follicle tests.
How to get shrooms out of your system faster
As psilocybin and magic mushrooms are still illegal at the federal level in the US, not much research has been done on them. It’s unclear if there are ways to get psilocin out of your system faster after consuming magic mushrooms. Many magic mushroom urine tests claim to only be able to detect psilocin up to three days after consumption, but it could vary depending on a person’s body chemistry and health history.
The best method to get shrooms and psilocin out of your system quickly is to stop consuming them as soon as possible.
