I’m a mum and I take magic mushrooms before the school run – it’s better than sinking wine at midday & yes I can drive
WITH just an hour and a half until the school run, Tracey Tee fixes herself a special brew to relax ahead of pick up.
She flicks on the kettle, grabs a vitamin style capsule, empties the powder into her mug, drops in a teabag before pouring in the hot water.
Tracey is just like millions of mums except for one thing.
Her school run cuppa contains more than just PG Tips. It’s a brew laced with a microdose of magic mushrooms.
“It makes me a better parent,” argues Tracey.
“I don’t get angry in traffic, mess no longer stresses me, I’m calmer and more aware of not only what I need but what my family need.
“I’m not ashamed, my kids deserve a mum who is coping, not just pretending to be. I am now a mum who is ‘present.’”
Tracey says that while she knows many will be quick to make assumptions about the Class A drug, she is perfectly lucid after taking it.
“My miniature dose doesn’t make me high, I don’t trip,” she claims.
“It helps me feel more calm, aware and in touch with my feelings.
“But it’s not a quick fix and you should carve an hour out of your day to just be.
“You need to eat healthy and exercise to get the real benefits.
“My family is totally aware of my practice and they are supportive through and through.”
Actress Tracey Tee, 49, lives in Denver, Colorado with her Scottish husband Jonathan, 50, management consultant and their 14 year old daughter.
Tracey began taking mushrooms in 2020 after struggling to cope with the mounting pressures of everyday life and later lockdown.
A self-confessed overachiever, Tracey juggled motherhood while touring the USA with her hit comedy show.
She admits before microdosing she was a type A mum, pushing her daughter to excel while juggling camps, clubs and her own career.
But when her comedy show was cancelled in March 2020 she says her world came crumbling down.
“Within days I lost all control,” she says.
“I’d sacrificed to be an amazing mum and wife while building a company.”
She tried to refocus on homeschooling but the loss of career saw her spiralled into a pit of depression.
“I couldn’t remember the last time I slept without my mind racing,” she says.
“I was prescribed an anti-depressant for a transition from a hysterectomy but offered no way of coming off the medication.
“I didn’t know who I was without the tablets.
“It just felt like I was numbing myself and I needed to stop the cycle.”
In July 2020, during a lift in lockdown, a friend invited Tracey on a lakeside camping trip outside Boulder, Colorado with six other mums where she had her first introduction to magic mushrooms.
“I’d never done drugs as giving up control scared me,” she says.
“But I’d read mushrooms could help with depression and thought, as it was just us mums, it was the time to try.
“We pitched tents, sat by the lake, shared food and each ate a handful of specialist dried mushrooms containing psilocybin.
DANGERS OF TAKING PSYCHEDELICS
PSYCHEDELICS are powerful and that comes with risks.
Dr Paul Keedwell, fellow of the Royal College of Psychiatrists, says: “The most common risk of taking psychedelics recreationally is experiencing a ‘bad trip’ which can result in overwhelming fear, paranoia and hallucinations.
“Such experiences can lead to panic attacks, accidents and lasting trauma.
“Psilocybin can trigger acute psychosis in those with a history of psychotic episodes or family history of schizophrenia.”
Doctors in Austria reported a case last month of a man who had amputated his penis with an axe after taking magic mushrooms.
Fortunately for the man surgeons were able to perform a successful reconstruction operation.
Dr Keedwell said someone would need “a great many mushrooms to get into trouble”.
Common side effects also include dizziness, nausea, confusion, paranoia and anxiety.
It was concerns about psychological distress and potential harm of psychedelics, including LSD, that led to their Class A classification in 1971.
Dr Keedwell says: “In reality, some drugs like LSD are much more potent and hazardous than others.
“Relatively, psilocybin is less powerful.”
“The taste was earthy and bitter but soon I felt totally connected to the earth and sky. I laughed, relaxed and was completely high.
“I woke the next morning and knew I’d found the medication I’d been searching for.”
Within a month Tracey was taking tiny amounts of psilocybin every few days in ground capsule form, mixed with tea or cacao drink..
A macrodose is 3g of psilocybin. A microdose, also called a nibble or a sprinkle, is a fraction of that – 50mg to 200mg, small enough to fit in a capsule.
A macrodose will have hallucinatory effects while microdose is known as sub-hallucinogenic, which means you do not become altered in any obvious way.
“It’s like coffee with a bit of caffeine – you can still drive, work and function. You barely perceive its effect on you,” Tracey claims.
Initially Tracey was microdosing Monday to Friday and taking weekends off but now she just takes mushrooms as and when she feels the need, with the need becoming greater during lockdown.
“During lockdown I would have my special tea then tackle homeschooling, housework and cooking,” she says.
“My depression lifted, my anxiety fell away and I felt present as a mum and partner.”
While it may seem shocking, Tracey isn’t the only mum to find calm from mushrooms.
ONS figures show use has rocketed 160% in five years – from 100,000 Brits in 2020 to 260,000 last year.
And women are leading the way.
I even microdose before kids’ parties or meetings – it helps me cope and enjoy them
Tracey Tee
A Scientific Reports study found 55–60% of women microdose for wellbeing, compared with 45% of men who mainly do it for kicks.
A Frontiers in Psychiatry survey revealed seven in ten exclusive microdosers are female.
Research has exploded too. Three quarters of all psilocybin trials have launched in the past five years, with more than 100 since 2018.
Imperial and King’s College London are running trials for depression, anxiety and PTSD.
Britain’s Compass Pathways is already in Phase 3 trials with synthetic psilocybin for treatment resistant depression.
The boom comes as Britain faces a mental health crisis hitting women hardest – 37% now report high anxiety, nearly double pre pandemic levels.
“Antidepressants simply don’t cut it and many women are feeling left behind by doctors,” says Tracey.
Nearly one in ten patients wait over 90 days just to start treatment.
Private therapy is no easier. Costs have jumped 34% since 2022 while three in ten psychologists no longer take new clients and Sessions now average £129, up from £96.
“Microdosing has slipped into the wellness world alongside yoga and Reiki,” Tracey says.
“It’s not about getting high but easing anxiety, sharpening focus and surviving daily life and we need to break free of the taboo around it.”
The magic Tracey describes is psilocybin, the psychedelic compound in over 200 mushrooms.
When ingested it converts into psilocin, which binds to serotonin receptors and changes mood and perception.
“In macrodose form you can have mystical experiences and hallucinations,” says Tracey.
“Microdosing simply eases stress and anxiety.”
Psilocybin lasts up to eight hours but Tracey doesn’t dose daily.
“When I microdose it’s every other day. Breaks, or integration days, let my body absorb the changes,” she says.
COULD MUSHROOMS TRANSFORM MEDICINE?
An emerging area of science is focusing on the idea that a “magic mushroom” trip can be beneficial for people with severe mental health issues.
Psilocybin is the active ingredient in “shrooms”, which when taken recreationally, gives people the giggles, hallucinations and a sense of awe at their surroundings.
But evidence suggests it can help us confront our deepest fears and traumas, and get the brain firing in novel ways.
Psilocybin is an illegal Class A drug, which makes it difficult and expensive for the small number of research centres in the UK to study it.
And one of the biggest barriers to the drug being taken seriously is its reputation.
Sam Lawes of the Centre for Evidence Based Drug Policy, told Sun Health: “It’s seen as a recreational drug and a party drug for festivals, but in terms of research we should treat it like a medicine.
“If it’s not an effective medicine, studies will show that.
“But so far, studies are showing great promise.”
“I even microdose before kids’ parties or meetings – it helps me cope and enjoy them.
“I no longer pretend life’s perfect. If I’m struggling, I say so. But I don’t stress the small stuff anymore.”
Tracey decided to go public about her mushroom use in 2022 when she launched the Moms On Mushrooms website so other mums could hear the benefits.
“Having struggled myself I decided to help other mums who like me felt their needs were not being met,” she explains.
The Moms on Mushrooms Instagram page now has 38,000 followers, and the site has thousands of subscribers in eight countries.
In Britain magic mushrooms remain Class A under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971. Despite medical trials, they are still officially considered to have no therapeutic use.
Campaigners want that changed. Psilocybin Access Rights (PAR) is calling on the government to reschedule from Schedule 1 to 2 under the Misuse of Drugs
Regulations, which would recognise its medical potential and allow wider research. Psychedelic Industry UK and the Beckley Foundation also back reform.
Tracey is now a global microdosing advocate.
She adds: “I speak from experience. Microdosing isn’t a phase. It’s critical to the future of mums and families.”
“We’ve replaced the old trippy hippy image with stressed out women quietly looking for relief.
“I won’t give up microdosing. It’s made me a better mum and wife. Most importantly, it’s given me back my joy and sanity.
“If that’s not magic, I don’t know what is and it’s all natural.”
