One person may have died after eating Diamond Shrooms microdosing candy, which was recalled last week amid a series of serious illnesses including seizures, intubation and hospitalization in intensive care units.
according to This week’s update from the Food and Drug AdministrationBut clusters of infections continue to rise across the country. To date, 48 people in 24 states have fallen ill after eating candy, including chocolate bars, gummies, and candy corn, sold online and at retailers such as tobacco and vape shops. Of the 48, 46 were seriously ill enough to require medical treatment and 27 were hospitalized.
At this time, the deaths mentioned in the FDA’s latest report are only “potentially related” to the candy and are currently under investigation. No other information is yet available.
But in an interview with Ars, medical toxicologist Michael Moss said he wasn’t surprised the candy could have been deadly. Moss, who is medical director of the Utah Poison Control Center, treated one of the first people reported to have fallen ill in the outbreak.
Early examples
The individual fell ill in Nevada and was rushed to a hospital in Utah, where Moss was part of his care team. After the individual was released from intensive care, Moss sat down with him and tried to figure out what had happened. According to Moss, the individual had purchased a birthday cake flavored chocolate bar at a local store. The chocolate bar was marketed as a “microdosing” candy, implying it contained hallucinogens, but without listing the exact ingredients and dosage.
The individual told Moss that he had experience with hallucinogens, but only with real mushrooms. This was his first time eating such a bar, and the packaging for the bars only gave vague instructions on how many to eat at one time to get certain effects — for example, eating more than nine bars would trigger a picture of a rainbow of eyes.
“What does that dosage mean? How many milligrams? Nobody knows,” Moss said. “And then he thought, ‘It’s a chocolate bar,’ so why not eat a chocolate bar? That’s a pretty rational thing to do.”
However, within minutes of eating the bar, the person felt nauseous, dizzy and fatigued. He lay down, but doesn’t remember much after that. Fortunately, a family member returned home soon after and found the person. They noticed that the person was vomiting and may have been aspirating or choking. By the time paramedics arrived, the person had had a seizure. He had another seizure in the emergency room. Doctors gave the person anti-seizure medication and a breathing tube, placed him on a ventilator, and transported him to a hospital in Utah.