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Moms who microdose mushrooms say it's led to improved mental health

As Colorado works on rules for decriminalized psilocybin, those who use magic mushrooms for mental health tell their stories. One doctor shared what you should know.

Jeremy Jojola

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Published: 10:16 PM MST February 22, 2023
Updated: 10:16 PM MST February 22, 2023

Every morning in Colorado people wake up, take a small dose of psychedelic mushrooms, head out the door, drive to work and come back home to raise their children. 

These are the microdosing users who attest that small portions of psilocybin vastly improve their mental well-being in conjunction with therapy.

“The point of microdosing is that it's supposed to be completely sub-perceptual. That you are not high,” said Tracy Tee, the founder of Moms on Mushrooms

In her Denver kitchen, Tee poured a tiny portion of grounded psychedelic mushrooms into a cup of hot chocolate, said a prayer, and then shared with 9NEWS how psilocybin has changed her mindset.

“So you’re not feeling high, but you may feel more calm. You may feel more creative. More clear, more present. More open-hearted,” Tee said. 

Tee and other women invited 9NEWS into their private spaces to show how they microdose psilocybin nearly every day for improved mental health. 

Credit: KUSA
Tracy Tee said psilocybin helped her avoid dependency on daily pharmaceuticals by turning to microdosing in conjunction with therapy.

They said mushrooms have helped them with anxiety, depression and post-traumatic stress disorder. 

“Oh yeah, I was scared of it. I was just as indoctrinated as a lot of people,” Veronica Lightning Horse Perez, a mother of five and counselor said after ingesting a small piece of a mushroom.

Sometimes a microdose comes in the form of a capsule that contains a powder form of magic mushrooms or it’s just a small piece of the mushroom, like a cap or a bit of the stem. 

“My anxiety and depression are manageable. So psilocybin has given me my life back,” Ashley Ryan, a former teacher turned psychedelic coach, said. 

Ryan ate a small cap from a psilocybin mushroom after weighing it out on a tiny scale to make sure her dose was considered a “microdose.”

Credit: KUSA
Ashley Ryan said microdosing helps her manage her anxiety and depression – she said psilocybin "gave me my life back."

The women said microdosing psilocybin has a very subtle effect on their consciousness, which allows them to be more reflective throughout the day when the challenges of anxiety and stress begin to surface. 

“You might feel a bit more relaxed. A bit happier. A bit more focused on your body. But you don’t notice any psychedelic effects,” Ryan said. 

All of the women said they’ve been able to avoid the dependency on daily pharmaceuticals by turning to microdosing in conjunction with therapy.

“It’s not a panacea and it's not going to fix you. You fix you. The medicine helps,” said Lighting Horse Perez, who began microdosing after guidance from a contact in the Native American Church. 

The practice of microdosing has largely been underground and through word of mouth for many years before Colorado voters recently passed Proposition 122, which decriminalized magic mushrooms on the state level. 

Like marijuana, psychedelic mushrooms remain illegal under federal law as the state begins to formulate rules that will eventually regulate “healing centers.” 

Healing centers, where people are able to buy and use magic mushrooms with a licensed facilitator, are expected to be licensed in late 2024 once rules and applications are approved. 

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