'Magic mushrooms': How widespread is the use of psychedelics in Gallatin County?

BOZEMAN — A man was arrested in Bozeman on Saturday, Aug. 24, on charges of drug possession, possession with intent to distribute, fleeing from a peace officer, criminal endangerment, and possession of property subject to forfeiture.

According to court documents, a patrolling officer observed a white GMC driving under the speed limit and swerving. After activating emergency sirens, the driver allegedly sped up to 80 miles an hour in a 30 mph zone, and proceeded to run two red lights and a stop sign.

Allegedly, the driver finally stopped and was identified as Jacob Estep. Estep allegedly exited his vehicle on 17th Ave in Bozeman, where police conducted a security sweep. Court documents state that police found a nearly full gallon-size bag of psilocybin mushrooms, more commonly known as “magic mushrooms."

According to court documents, Estep was also suspected to be under the influence of drugs and was taken into custody.

According to court documents, police later got a search warrant for Estep’s car, where they found a total of 221.5 grams of psilocybin mushrooms, 68 capsules that tested positive for LSD, and 40 ml of other liquid drugs. Police allegedly also found an abundance of ammunition in the car, 2 cell phones, as well as several 1881 silver dollar coins.

Jacob Estep was seen in court Monday morning. His bail was set at $75,000.

This case made me wonder how often people are driving under the influence of psychedelic drugs. So, I did some research.

According to a study from the National Institutes of Health , in the U.S., almost 2.5% of the population, or 8 million people, use hallucinogens.

Around 9% of these users reportedly drive under the influence of hallucinogens. Which is a problem, considering the National Institutes of Health states the short-term effects of hallucinogen use include seeing, hearing, and feeling seemingly real things that don’t actually exist.

And I was curious as to how much of this we’re seeing locally. So, I met up with Nathan Kamerman, the Commander for the Missouri River Drug Task Force.

“Psychedelics tend to be a party drug. So, as college gets into swing here, we will see an uptick,” says Kamerman.

And when I asked how often they see people driving under the influence of hallucinogens here in Gallatin County, Kamerman told me, “It’s hard saying because often times, people will take multiple drugs at a time as well as combine with alcohol. As far as to how often that is, I mean, unfortunately, it's not uncommon”.

For more information on Jacob Estep’s case involving the psilocybin mushroom bust, click here .

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