In May, Denver became the first US city to decriminalize psilocybin mushrooms. Now, just a few months later, a coffee company in the Mile High City is already working on infusing psilocybin into its caffeinated beverages. What a way to start the day, eh?
Sträva Craft Coffee currently offers your typical fancy coffee selections, with ethically sourced beans and single-origin options. They even make CBD-infused coffees, so pushing forward on psilocybin-infused brews is a natural progression.
“Just as cannabis has been misunderstood and controversial for decades, psilocybin from mushrooms has been equally polarizing, yet proponents of both suggest they each can contribute meaningfully to the human experience,” said Sträva’s CEO, Andrew Aamot, in a press release. “As research is proving, with measured consumption, cannabis and psilocybin can both promote physiological, mental, and spiritual health."
Sträva’s psilocybin-infused coffee and tea lines don’t exist yet. They’re still under development. And Sträva isn’t trying to get latte sippers to trip balls so hard that they’re caught in the throes of a mindblowing, divine experience. Instead, the company plans to microdose psilocybin into their coffees and teas.
What is microdosing, exactly? Scientists don’t entirely agree, but a microdose generally lands somewhere between 5 to 10 percent of a given drug’s recreational dose. In theory, a psilocybin microdose should be just enough to grant some of the fungi’s benefits without triggering a full-on psychedelic experience. Assuming, of course, that you stop at just one serving.
But is infusing psilocybin into beverages even legal? According to Denver’s mushroom decriminalization campaign, no, it’s not. At least, not right now.
Cindy Sovine and Kayvan Khalatbari, who both worked on the reform campaign, told MERRY JANE in May that Denver’s psilocybin bill, I-301, only defunded local authorities from investigating and prosecuting small-time mushroom offenders — in other words, people growing, using, or trading mushrooms for personal use, not for profit. Denver lawmakers and the Decriminalize Denver campaign coordinated the bill’s language so it did not create a licensing system for mushrooms sales, either.
“It’s not legal” to sell psilocybin, Sträva’s Aamot said during a phone call with MERRY JANE. “We are only doing research and development at the moment.”
The company’s research goals not only include looking into the cognitive and health benefits of psilocybin, but also any potential risks associated with consuming psilocybin, too.
Aamot anticipates that psilocybin decriminalization will eventually pave the road to commercial legalization — just as Denver did with marijuana — but he doesn’t see psilocybin getting the licensing treatment until sometime after 2020.
“Some people feel that it’s reckless, that commercializing drugs is irresponsible,” Aamot continued. “At the same time, sugar, caffeine, and these other equivalencies of drugs permeate our society. We just want to shed some light on things that are commonly misunderstood, and to incorporate them into our thinking and studies.”
Original source : Merryjane.com
