Homebrewed psilocybin: can new routes for pharmaceutical psilocybin production enable recreational use?

Abstract

Psilocybin, a drug most commonly recognized as a recreational psychedelic, is quickly gaining attention as a promising therapy for an expanding range of neurological conditions, including depression, anxiety, and addiction. This growing interest has led to many recent advancements in psilocybin synthesis strategies, including multiple in vivo fermentation-based approaches catalyzed by recombinant microorganisms. In this work, we show that psilocybin can be produced in biologically relevant quantities using a recombinant E. coli strain in a homebrew style environment. In less than 2 days, we successfully produced approximately 300 mg/L of psilocybin under simple conditions with easily sourced equipment and supplies. This finding raises the question of how this new technology should be regulated as to not facilitate clandestine biosynthesis efforts, while still enabling advancements in psilocybin synthesis technology for pharmaceutical applications. Here, we present our homebrew results, and suggestions on how to address the regulatory concerns accompanying this new technology.

Keywords: Psilocybin; homebrewed drugs; recombinant DNA technology; regulation.

Figure 1.

Visual representation of the homebrew experimental setup. Two 500 mL bottles, containing inoculated cultures, magnetic stir bars, and air stones, were placed into a plastic tub filled with water. The air stones were attached to small aquarium air pumps via plastic tubing. The tops of the bottles were covered with aluminum foil. The tub was placed onto two magnetic stir plates, set to 510 RPM. A sous vide, set to 37 °C, was attached to the plastic tub and inserted into the water bath

Figure 2.

Psilocybin titers under each set of culture conditions. * denotes significant difference, p < 0.01; n.s. denotes no significant difference, p > 0.1

Figure 3.

Flow chart illustrating possible regulatory points