How Long Do Shrooms Stay in Your System?

Medically Verified: 2/1/24

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All of the information on this page has been reviewed and verified by a certified addiction professional.

Shrooms or magic mushrooms are slang terms for a hallucinogenic drug known as psilocybin mushrooms. These fungi are naturally occurring and many people abuse them to experience changes in perception, thought, and feeling. While most individuals take shrooms for recreational purposes, some ingest them for spiritual reasons.

About 7.4 million people reported abusing hallucinogenic drugs like shrooms in 2021.[1]

The length of time shrooms stay in your system depend on a variety of factors, including your dosage, the strength of the mushroom, and your body. The effects of magic mushrooms can last for hours, especially when taken in large doses. Similar factors may play a role in how long psilocybin is detectable on a drug test.

How Long Does a Magic Mushroom High Last?

Magic mushrooms can stay active in your body for a long time. While other drugs like cocaine only last for an hour or so, hallucinogenic drugs can last much longer. With that being said, the high or “trip” you experience from taking psilocybin mushrooms can last up to 6 hours after you consume them.

The exact length of a shroom trip will depend on a variety of factors, so how long a magic mushroom lasts varies from person to person.

Factors to consider include:

• Weight and body composition
• Metabolism rate
• Age
• Dosage and potency of the shrooms
• The type of shroom
• Method of use (drinking tea or eating the mushroom)
• Tolerance level
• Your state of mind when taking them
• Whether you have preexisting mental health conditions
• If you are taking any medications or other illicit substances

Even further, you could be more sensitive to psilocybin than other people. If so, the trip you experience would last longer than someone else taking the same type of shroom and dosage. Additionally, it is important to consider that people with mental health conditions like bipolar disorder or schizophrenia may experience severe and scary effects, causing a bad trip and increased symptoms of their disorder.[2]

How are Psilocybin Mushrooms Metabolized?

When you consume magic mushrooms, they will begin to take effect within 20 to 40 minutes. Once they have taken effect, your body has broken the psilocybin down into a psychoactive substance known as psilocin. Psilocin acts on serotonin receptors in your brain to create hallucinogenic effects.[3]

The effects of shrooms begin to peak between 90 minutes and 2 hours after consumption. Most of the effects will occur within 6 hours of taking it. During these 6 hours, the metabolite psilocin will enter your bloodstream and be eliminated through your kidneys.

The average half-life of psilocybin mushrooms is 50 minutes. Typically, it takes about 5 to 6 half-lives for the substance to be completely removed from your body, so it could take up to 12 days for psilocybin to be eliminated from your system.

How Long Do Shrooms Stay in Your System?

Exactly how long shrooms stay in your system depends on a variety of factors. For example, the dosage you take, how fast your metabolism is, and how often you use the substance will play a role in how long a drug test can detect shrooms in your system.

Additional factors that play a role in how long psilocybin stays in your system include:

• Your age
• Weight and body composition
• The dosage and potency
• The frequency at which you abuse the substance
• Other medications or substances you consume
• Your kidney and liver health
• Whether you have pre-existing mental health conditions

With that being said, there is a general timeline that can give you an idea of how long shrooms stay in your system. How long the substance is detectable by a drug test also depends on the type of test being used.

Urine

Urine drug tests are the most commonly used, as they are the least invasive and cheaper than other options. Shrooms stay in your urine for 15 hours after you last used the substance. However, standard urine drug tests do not include testing for psilocybin, which means a specialized test must be ordered.

Blood

Blood tests are not commonly used to determine whether someone has been abusing shrooms but the metabolites of psilocybin remain in your blood for up to 15 hours.

Saliva

While saliva drug tests are used to detect a wide variety of substances, psilocybin does not remain in your saliva. Saliva tests will not detect shrooms in your system.

Hair

When someone is specifically testing for psilocybin, hair tests are the best option because while blood, urine, and saliva tests do not typically include screening for psilocybin, hair tests do. Hair tests can detect magic mushrooms in your system for up to 90 days.

Finding Help for Magic Mushroom Abuse

While psilocybin mushrooms are not thought to be addictive, it is possible to become psychologically dependent on them. In other words, you could begin to abuse shrooms routinely to experience desired effects. Over time, long-term abuse of magic mushrooms can lead to an array of adverse psychological effects.

If you or a loved one struggles with psilocybin abuse, drug rehab can help you regain control over your life. To learn about our drug rehab programs or to find help for yourself or a loved one, please contact South Carolina Addiction Treatment today.

References:

1. https://nida.nih.gov/publications/research-reports/hallucinogens-dissociative-drugs/how-widespread-is-hallucinogen-abuse
2. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36515370/
3. https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/cns-spectrums/article/psilocybin-in-neuropsychiatry-a-review-of-its-pharmacology-safety-and-efficacy/AA1FB4F49C14BA3F398238D6E5A3947A