With growing public interest in psilocybin and availability on the unregulated market, it’s important to know how the brands you are using are produced. Is the product you are using made with ground cubensis mushrooms or psilocybin extract? Does the product meet PsiloSafe standards?
It is an important question to ask as many manufacturers of psilocybin-based products simply grind the mushrooms into a fine powder and put them into the product mix with no understanding of its potency or how much active psilocybin is in the mix.
Ground cubensis is NOT psilocybin but does contain an unknown amount of the active ingredient. Understanding how much actual psilocybin (and other synergistic tryptamines) is in your product is critical Using ground material can be problematic and misleading as the potency of the product is unknown and effects can differ widely between doses.
A mixed drink can serve as an analogy for this concept. Imagine you are ordering a “cocktail” that includes alcohol but you can’t anticipate its potency because multiple types of spirits are used. While this might be less of an concern when using alcohol recreationally, dosing consistency is critical to positive experiences and effects of using psilocybin medicinally. Optimal and consistent effects can be achieved from products that must meet PsiloSafe’s standards.
From a practical perspective, imagine you take a daily microdose in the morning to increase your focus and energy at work. Unregulated products using ground cubenis products with unknown (and unlisted) potency information could produce a “sub-perceptual” effect one day and a “hot” [higher potency dose) that is too much to complete the tasks at hand.
Using our Standardized Psilocybin Extract (10%) Active, the milligram strength listed on the packaging accurately represents the exact strength of psilocybin in each and every dose. While our product uses ground cubensis mushrooms, our manufacturing approach takes the process to the next level by extracting the active psilocybin compound and other tryptamines (psilocin, baeocystin, aeruginascin) from the material and testing the potency at critical points to standardize the material that goes into our products, accurately and confidently list the dosing information, and certify the product as PsiloSafe.
Benefits of Standardized Psilocybin Extract (10%) Active
- Manufactured for dosing accuracy.
- Provides a consistent and replicable experience with every dose with standardized psilocybin potency.
- Removing fats, fiber, and carbohydrates delivers a purified full-spectrum extract and enables rapid absorption in the gut for an authentic, true-to-strain psilocybin effect.
- Fracturing the chitin-reinforced cell wall of the fruiting body releases the full tryptamine spectrum.
- Contains the full spectrum of natural tryptamines.
Comparing Cubensis Powder to Psilocybin Extract in Product Manufacturing
With the expansion of new psilocybin products on the market, it is important for the consumer to understand how the product was made and the actual potency they can expect.
The easiest and cheapest way for the common manufacturer to create psilocybin products such as microdose pills, chocolates, and gummies is to grind dried cubensis mushrooms into a fine powder and use it as the active ingredient for the product. There are a multitude of products entering the market with a wide variety of potency claims (.05gram microdoses to 6gram chocolate bars).
However, as these products are currently unregulated, the consumer does not know how legit the mushrooms are or if the dose on the label will actually match the dose that’s in the product. Another concern is stability and shelf life as products made with ground cubensis can quickly decline in potency and, in some cases, grow mold or deteriorate before the consumer has had a chance to use them.
As more sophisticated manufacturers enter the market, a majority of the product categories are moving away from ground cubensis and toward using pure extract as the key ingredient. Producing extract is a difficult process that only the most veteran manufacturers will be able to attain. However, it is the preferred way to safely and accurately dose psilocybin products.
In comparison with ground cannabis, which is smoked or vaped, ground psilocybin is ingested and absorbed and does not require combustion. Could you imagine eating ground cannabis in a gummy or drinking it in a beverage? Not only would it taste bad, but also its potency would be very difficult to quantify. This is why manufacturers of cannabis products moved to using THC extract [distillate oil, THC-A, Live Resin Sauce) to produce them.
Finally and most importantly is product potency. Given that many people use psilocybin products to support both therapeutic and productivity purposes, it is essential that the potency listed on the packaging is accurate and consistent. For instance, those microdosing in the mornings prior to work or other productive situations, want to insure that the product is not going to surprise them by delivering a potency that they didn’t expect.
This is why using a standardized psilocybin extract for product manufacturing is so important. By using an extract that is standardized, the manufacturer can dose each piece with confidence and consistency and the customer can have faith that what they are taking is clean, reliable and effective.
