Many poisonous mushrooms look very similar to ‘magic mushrooms’ and it’s easy for pickers to mistake them. People have fallen severely ill or even died from eating a poisonous mushroom.
Magic mushrooms are often sold raw or dried. In the UK, the most common types are liberty caps (Psilocybe semilanceata) and fly agaric (Amanita muscaria).

Liberty caps look like small tan-coloured mushrooms
Fly agarics look like red and white spotted toadstools
It’s important to know that some types of magic mushroom are stronger than others. For example, the fly agaric mushroom is usually more potent than the liberty cap mushroom.
Liquid psilocybin is another way of taking magic mushrooms. It’s made by extracting psilocybin, the naturally occurring psychedelic drug found in mushrooms like liberty caps, and is a clearish pale brown colour. It comes in vials (small bottles).

psilocybe cubensis mushroom spores

Mescaline comes from button-shaped seeds found in the peyote cactus and also from some other members of the Cactaceae plant family and from the Fabaceae bean family.
These ‘peyote buttons’ are dried or mixed with water to make a hallucinogenic drink.
What does it taste/smell like?
Mescaline has a bitter taste so some people grind peyote buttons into an off-white powder that is put into capsules.
Mescaline has been used for thousands of years and is best known as a drug used by some Native Americans in Mexico as part of their religious ceremonies.
Peyote buttons are most often chewed, but they can also be mixed with water and swallowed. Sometimes mescaline is made into a powder and put into capsules and swallowed.

WHAT DOES IT LOOK LIKE?
MDMA Ecstasy
Ecstasy comes in pill or powder form. When it’s a powder it’s called by its chemical name, MDMA, but it’s the same drug as ecstasy.
Ecstasy pills can be white, coloured, round, square or pressed into any shape. Some pills have designs stamped into them, like well known company logos that the pills are then named after.
Ecstasy powder looks like white/grey crystals and is called MDMA, mandy or MD.
What does it taste/smell like?
Ecstasy pills are usually swallowed and MDMA is usually rubbed (dabbed) into the user’s gums. They both taste bitter and unpleasant.
How does it make people behave?
Lots of people feel very chatty and uninhibited on ecstasy, which makes them open up and talk about things they might not do normally.