Do Reishi Mushrooms Make You High? What to Know

If you have seen reishi sitting on a shelf next to products with psychedelic-looking packaging, it is fair to wonder: do reishi mushrooms make you high? No, they do not. Reishi (Ganoderma lucidum) contains none of the compounds that cause a mushroom high, including psilocybin, psilocin, and muscimol. It cannot produce a high, a trip, or hallucinations at any serving size, and it is sold in the United States as a dietary supplement rather than a controlled substance.

That answer is simple. The reason people keep asking is that it is not. We make reishi gummies, so this question lands in our inbox constantly. Below, we cover what is inside reishi, why the confusion exists, and how to tell a non-psychoactive mushroom product from a psychoactive one by reading the label.

📖 Table of Contents

1. Key Takeaways
2. Key Takeaways
3. Reishi vs. Psychedelic Mushrooms: The Quick Comparison
4. What Reishi Mushroom Actually Is
5. Why Reishi Cannot Make You High
6. What Psychedelic Mushrooms Contain
7. What Reishi Contains Instead
8. Do Reishi Mushrooms Make You Trip or Hallucinate?
9. Where the "Reishi Gets You High" Myth Came From
10. So What Does Reishi Actually Feel Like?
11. Is Reishi Legal, and Will It Show Up on a Drug Test?
12. Side Effects and Who Should Talk to a Doctor First
13. How to Tell a Non-Psychoactive Mushroom Product From a Psychoactive One
14. Reishi Gummies From Purely Mushroom
15. Frequently Asked Questions
16. Can You Get High From Reishi Mushroom Tea?
17. Is Reishi the Same as a Magic Mushroom?
18. Can You Take Too Much Reishi?
19. How Long Does Reishi Take To Do Anything?
20. Is Reishi Safe To Take Every Day?
21. Does Every Mushroom Gummy Get You High?
22. The Bottom Line

Key Takeaways

• Reishi contains no psilocybin, psilocin, or muscimol, which are the compounds behind mushroom highs.
  
  
• Its main studied compounds are triterpenes and beta-glucans. These do not act on serotonin receptors the way psychedelics do.
  
  
• Reishi is not a federally controlled substance in the US, and standard drug panels do not screen for it.
  
  
• Most of the confusion traces back to psychoactive Amanita muscaria products sold in the same gummy format, plus headlines that call reishi a "magic mushroom."
  
  
• Reishi can cause mild side effects and may interact with certain medications, so talk to your doctor before you start.
  
  

Reishi vs. Psychedelic Mushrooms: The Quick Comparison

Three very different types of mushrooms get lumped together online. Here is how they actually differ.

Notice the middle row. Reishi is the only one of the three with no psychoactive compound at all. That is not a marketing position. It is a difference in chemistry.

What Reishi Mushroom Actually Is

Reishi is a hard, woody, shelf-like mushroom that grows on hardwood trees and stumps, especially oak and maple. You will recognize it by its glossy, reddish-brown cap, which looks almost varnished. In China, it is known as lingzhi.

It has been used in East Asian traditional practices for a very long time, and valued for reasons that had nothing to do with altering the mind. It was usually brewed into tea or simmered into soup. Because it is tough and extremely bitter, it was rarely eaten whole.

Today, you will mostly find it as an extract in capsules, powders, or gummies. Researchers continue to study the potential of reishi mushrooms, and that work is ongoing rather than settled. MedlinePlus, from the US National Library of Medicine, states there is not enough reliable evidence to rate reishi for most of the uses people are interested in. Anyone claiming the science is settled is getting ahead of it.

For a deeper background, our complete guide to functional mushrooms covers how reishi fits alongside lion's mane, cordyceps, and turkey tail.

Why Reishi Cannot Make You High

The answer comes down to which molecules are present. This is the part most articles skip, and it is the part that actually settles the question.

What Psychedelic Mushrooms Contain

So-called magic mushrooms are Psilocybe species. They contain psilocybin, which your body converts into psilocin. Psilocin binds to serotonin receptors in the brain, particularly the 5-HT2A receptor. That binding is what produces altered perception, visual distortion, and the shift in sense of time and self that people describe as a trip.

Amanita muscaria works differently but is still psychoactive. It contains muscimol and ibotenic acid, which act on GABA receptors. The effects are sedative and dissociative rather than classically psychedelic, but they are real, and they can be intense.

What Reishi Contains Instead

Reishi's most studied compounds are triterpenes (sometimes called ganoderic acids) and polysaccharides, including beta-glucans. Neither group binds to serotonin receptors. Neither one is converted into a psychoactive metabolite in your body.

There is no chemical pathway in reishi that leads to intoxication. It is not a matter of the dose being too low in supplements. The compound simply is not there. Reishi is about as likely to get you high as a shiitake on your pizza.

Our breakdown of functional mushrooms versus psychedelic mushrooms goes further into how these two categories separate.

Do Reishi Mushrooms Make You Trip or Hallucinate?

No. Reishi does not cause hallucinations, visual distortion, euphoria, or any altered state.

People sometimes assume a large enough amount would push it over some threshold. It does not work that way. With psilocybin, effects scale with dose because the active compound is there. With reishi, there is nothing to scale. Taking more will not produce a trip. It will mostly produce stomach upset.

Where the "Reishi Gets You High" Myth Came From

There is no such thing as a reishi mushroom high, so why does the question come up so often? Five reasons, and they are all understandable.

1. Psychoactive gummies share the shelf: This is the big one. Amanita muscaria products are sold in the exact same format as ours: fruit-flavored gummies, colorful pouches, wellness-style branding. A shopper scrolling through a marketplace sees the words "mushroom gummy" twice and has no way of knowing one category is psychoactive, and the other is not. Our guide to Amanita muscaria gummies explains what those products actually are.
   
   
2. Headlines call reishi a "magic mushroom": Major retail and lifestyle publishers use that exact phrase, usually as a figure of speech. Readers do not always take it that way. One widely shared 2016 magazine essay went further and framed reishi as a "legal high," even though the researcher quoted in that same piece said it is essentially impossible to pin psychoactivity on any single compound in a fungus.
   
   
3. The vocabulary is a mess: "Psychoactive," "adaptogen," and "nootropic" get used loosely and sometimes interchangeably in supplement marketing. They are not the same. An adaptogen is a traditional herbal category. A nootropic is a product positioned around cognition. Neither word means intoxicating. We untangle these in adaptogens and nootropics: what's the difference.
   
   
4. Feeling relaxed gets relabeled as a "high": Some people describe feeling calmer after taking reishi regularly. In casual conversation, "it gave me a nice buzz" and "it made me feel relaxed" blur together, and the first version travels faster.
   
   
5. Everything gets called "shrooms." The word covers culinary mushrooms, supplements, and psilocybin, depending on who is speaking. Reishi's varnished appearance and its wild look-alikes add to the muddle. See shrooms vs. mushrooms and how to identify reishi look-alikes.

Worth noting: people searching for the health benefits of reishi mushrooms are almost always looking for daily wellness routines, not an altered state. The two searches sit side by side, which is part of why the categories keep getting crossed.

So What Does Reishi Actually Feel Like?

Honestly? For most people, not dramatic. There is no onset, no peak, and no comedown. Nothing switches on twenty minutes after your gummy. Most people describe it as subtle and gradual, noticed over weeks of consistent use rather than in one sitting. Plenty of people notice nothing obvious at all, and we would rather say so than oversell it.

If you are specifically wondering about drowsiness, that is a common and separate question. We answer it properly in does reishi make you sleepy. For when to take it, see our guide to the best time to take reishi.

Is Reishi Legal, and Will It Show Up on a Drug Test?

Reishi is legal to buy and sell across the United States. It is regulated as a dietary supplement ingredient, not as a controlled substance, and there is no federal scheduling for it. Psilocybin, by contrast, is a Schedule I substance federally. Amanita muscaria sits in a strange middle ground, not federally scheduled but restricted in some states, which is another reason the two product categories should not be confused.

As for drug testing, standard workplace panels look for things like THC, opioids, amphetamines, cocaine, and benzodiazepines. Reishi is not on any of those panels, and there is no reason it would be. It has no psychoactive metabolite to detect. A reishi gummy will not trigger a positive result.

For the full picture across every mushroom supplement format, read whether mushroom supplements show up on a drug test, and our overview of which mushroom products are legal.

Side Effects and Who Should Talk to a Doctor First

Not psychoactive means nothing to consider. Most people tolerate consuming reishi mushrooms without trouble, but there are documented effects and cautions worth knowing.

Reported side effects are generally mild and include dizziness, dry mouth, dryness in the throat or nose, itching, nausea, upset stomach, and rash.

Talk to your doctor before starting reishi if you:

• Take a blood thinner or an antiplatelet medication. Reishi may increase bleeding risk, and high doses may raise that risk further for people with a very low platelet count.
  
  
• Have a scheduled surgery. Guidance is to stop at least two weeks beforehand because of that same bleeding consideration.
  
  
• Take blood pressure medication, or are being treated to raise low blood pressure.
  
  
• Take diabetes medication.
  
  
• Have an immune system condition or take medication that affects immune function.
  
  
• Are you pregnant or breastfeeding? There is not enough reliable safety research, so the standard advice is to avoid it.
  
  
• Have a known mushroom allergy.

This is the same conversation worth having about any supplement you add to your routine.

How to Tell a Non-Psychoactive Mushroom Product From a Psychoactive One

This is the practical skill worth taking away, because the packaging will not always make it obvious. Five checks:

1. Find the Latin name: A reputable functional mushroom product names its species. Look for Ganoderma lucidum, Hericium erinaceus (lion's mane), Trametes versicolor (turkey tail), or Cordyceps militaris. If you see Amanita muscaria, that is a psychoactive product.
   
   
2. Read the Supplement Facts panel, not the front of the pouch: You want a named species, an extract ratio, and a milligram amount. "Mushroom blend 1,500 mg" with no species listed tells you nothing. Our extract vs. powder guide explains what those ratios mean.
   
   
3. Watch the verbs: Words like euphoric, trippy, journey, blissful, or microdose are positioning a psychoactive experience. Functional mushroom brands do not need that vocabulary.
   
   
4. Check for age gates and shipping restrictions: If a mushroom gummy requires you to confirm you are 21, or cannot ship to certain states, that is a strong signal about what is in it. Our products carry no such restrictions.
   
   
5. Ask what the third-party testing actually covers: "Lab tested" is not a specification. Ask which lab and which panels. A certificate that confirms marker compounds is useful, but it is not the same as a full heavy metals, microbial, and pesticide screen. Any brand worth buying from will tell you plainly which one you are getting.
   
   

Reishi Gummies From Purely Mushroom

If you want to explore reishi mushrooms in a format you will actually stick with, we make two that include it.

Unwind Gummies are our reishi-forward option. Each two-gummy serving contains 250 mg of 10:1 reishi extract and 250 mg of 10:1 turkey tail extract, alongside ashwagandha, L-theanine, and magnesium glycinate.

Thrive Gummies combine four functional mushrooms in one gummy, including reishi and turkey tail, for people who would rather take one thing than four.

If reishi is not what you are after, Clarity Gummies are built around lion's mane and cordyceps and contain no reishi at all. We say that deliberately. A brand that tells you which product does not contain an ingredient is easier to trust than one that does.

All of our gummies are vegan and pectin-based, with no gelatin. You can browse our full range of Reishi Mushroom Products or the complete Mushroom Gummies collection.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can You Get High From Reishi Mushroom Tea?

No, brewing reishi does not create psychoactive compounds. Tea, powder, capsule, or gummy, the chemistry is the same. Reishi tea tastes noticeably bitter, which is often the only thing people report noticing.

Is Reishi the Same as a Magic Mushroom?

No. Magic mushrooms are Psilocybe species containing psilocybin. Reishi is Ganoderma lucidum and contains no psilocybin. They are unrelated fungi with different chemistry and different legal status.

Can You Take Too Much Reishi?

You cannot overdose on a high, but more is not better. Exceeding the serving size on your product typically leads to digestive discomfort. Stick to the label, and see our reishi dosage guide for specifics.

How Long Does Reishi Take To Do Anything?

Most people give it several weeks of daily use before assessing it. There is no immediate effect to wait for. We cover the timeline of how long it takes for the reishi mushroom to work.

Is Reishi Safe To Take Every Day?

Many people take it daily. Reishi extract has been studied in use for up to a year, and powdered whole reishi for up to about sixteen weeks. Check with your doctor first if you take any medication.

Does Every Mushroom Gummy Get You High?

It depends entirely on the mushroom inside it. A functional mushroom gummy made with reishi, lion's mane, cordyceps, or turkey tail does not. Gummies made with Amanita muscaria are a different product category and are psychoactive. Read the species on the label.

The Bottom Line

So, do reishi mushrooms make you high? No. Reishi has no psilocybin, no psilocin, and no muscimol, which means there is no mechanism for it to alter your perception. It will not cause a trip; it is not a controlled substance, and it will not show up on a drug test.

The confusion is understandable because psychoactive mushroom products really are sold in the same aisle and the same gummy format. The fix is not to avoid mushroom supplements. It is to read the species name on the label. Once you know what to look for, the two categories are easy to tell apart.

These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. Individual results vary. Always speak with a qualified healthcare provider before starting a new supplement, especially if you take medication or have a medical condition.