Interviews in Lesotho and South Africa described uses connected with healing, initiation, recreation and spiritual practice.
What they studied
Researchers interviewed Basotho traditional healers and non-healers in Lesotho and South Africa about knowledge and use of psychoactive mushrooms. They also examined whether participants could identify Psilocybe maluti, a recently described mushroom species from southern Africa.
What the research found
Researchers interviewed 26 Basotho traditional healers and eight non-healers; one healer was later excluded from the analysis.
Fifteen of the remaining 25 healers and six of the eight non-healers independently identified Psilocybe maluti.
Participants described uses connected with initiation, healing, recreation and forms of spiritual or magical protection.
The reported practices differed from better-known accounts of psychedelic use from other regions.
What this helps us understand
The study expands a psychedelic evidence base that contains relatively little documented research from southern Africa. It provides a locally specific account of mushroom knowledge and practice among Basotho participants rather than treating traditional psychedelic use as one global category. For researchers and organizations working across cultures, that distinction is useful when framing, comparing or communicating the evidence.
This is a preprint and has not yet completed peer review. The study documents reported practices; it does not measure how widespread they are or test therapeutic effects.
