Fly Agaric must be the most familiar and recognisable fungus with its white-spotted scarlet cap. But what about its unusual name? It has been used for hundreds of years crumbled into milk which then attracts and kills flies. It is closely related to some deadly mushrooms like Death Cap and Destroying Angel, but Fly Agaric is far less poisonous. It contains Ibotenic acid which converts to the powerful hallucinogen Muscimol as it dries. But it is not all "beer and skittles" as other effects of eating Fly Agaric include nausea, vomiting and anxiety. Muscimol passes through the body relatively unchanged which means that the urine of someone (or some reindeer?) that has eaten these mushrooms, can also be hallucinogenic. But the drugs that induce nausea and vomiting will be filtered out by the kidneys leaving the urine as a purer hallucinogen. So if anyone were to drink urine from a person (or reindeer) that had eaten Fly Agaric they would be away with the fairies. This is probably where the phrase getting pissed originated.
The repeated mention of Reindeer is because this practice was known from Lapland where getting pissed made those long autumn evenings simply fly by. And I'm wondering if the hallucinogen works on slugs as it is near impossible to find one that hasn't been eaten by slugs.
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