CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS, February 15, 2002: Citing recently published challenges to R. Gordon Wasson’s identification of Vedic soma as the psychoactive mushroom Amanita muscaria (fly-agaric), this article reviews unpublished letters by Wasson in which he considered and rejected other psychoactive plants as candidates, including the mint Lagochilus inebrians, Convolvulaceae (morning glory) seeds, the fungal parasite Claviceps purpurea (ergot), and especially the psilocybin mushroom Stropharia cubensis, known also as Psilocybe cubensis. On www.askme.com Hinduism Board, a controversial question was asked about Hinduism and drugs, mentioning the poisonous and deadly mushroom Amanita Muscaria which is now identified as the Soma as mentioned in the Rig Veda. It has come to light that some people are using this mushroom as a hallucinogenic drug, and are relating it to Hinduism. To gain more insight on this subject, click “source” above or http://www.entheogen.com/amanita.html.
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