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 motaman
old hand
Registered: 12/18/02
Posts: 6,044
Last seen: 7 hours, 6 minutes
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 Mushrooming problem 
#1656235 - 06/23/03 03:41 PM (19 years, 11 months ago) |
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http://www.news-journalonline.com/NewsJournalOnline/News/Flagler/03FlaglerFLAG01061303.htm
Mushrooming problem
Flagler fungi attract people to pastures
By JAMES MILLER
Staff Writer
Last update: 13 June 2003
PALM COAST -- As the three deputies headed down the path toward the cow pasture, they heard voices and spotted the unsteady beam of a flashlight in the early morning darkness.
Seven young men emerged. When the deputies ordered them to stop, they dropped two plastic bags on the ground and ran. Inside were potentially hallucinogenic mushrooms, according to a Sheriff's Office report of the June 6 incident.
Two days later, deputies arrested three young men at the same location. That makes a total of 14 since April 26, though Sheriff's Office officials downplayed the total. Thirteen face charges of possessing or attempting to possess a controlled substance, and all are charged with trespassing.
"There's not an epidemic running wild in western Flagler County where people are picking mushrooms," said Capt. David O'Brien, who heads the Sheriff's Office Criminal Investigations Division. "It's status quo. We have our typical cases, just like any other rural county."
While they may not be unusual, such arrests are a source of frustration for law enforcement officials, who say prosecution for possession of hallucinogenic mushrooms is rare. The arrests are also a source of concern for health officials who say eating wild mushrooms can be dangerous business.
Prosecution for possession of psilocybin -- the hallucinogenic agent in some mushrooms -- can be tough, Assistant State Attorney Steve Nelson said. The crime, typically a third-degree felony, is punishable by up to five years in prison and a $5,000 fine, but Nelson said a 1978 Florida Supreme Court ruling requires prosecutors to prove the person possessing the mushroom knew it contained a controlled substance.
"I wonder how you prove that," Nelson said. "What if somebody's out there collecting mushrooms for soup or whatever. How do you tell the difference?"
While the law may protect mushroom hunters from being prosecuted wrongfully, experts say eating wild mushrooms is a dangerous pastime.
"There are old mushroom hunters. There are bold mushroom hunters. But there are no old, bold mushroom hunters," said Dr. Jeffrey Bernstein, medical director of the Florida Poison Information Center-Miami.
While there are many edible species of wild mushrooms in Florida, there are also many dangerous species, he said. "There are mushrooms that will destroy livers and kidneys," he said. "(Some) will make you vomit for four days in a row."
For example, toxins in the all-white amanita tenufolia, a mushroom found on the ground under oak trees in Florida, cause liver and kidney damage and death, according to the online Cornell University Poisonous Plants Informational Database.
"Even the best of us get fooled from time to time," Bernstein said, adding that a mushroom field guide was not a good safety guarantee. "It's not that great of thing to risk your life for."
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http://heffter.org
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 DazedSol
old hand
Registered: 08/01/01
Posts: 1,230
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Re: Mushrooming problem [Re: motaman]
#1656593 - 06/23/03 06:20 PM (19 years, 11 months ago) |
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"There are old mushroom hunters. There are bold mushroom hunters. But there are no old, bold mushroom hunters," said Dr. Jeffrey Bernstein, medical director of the Florida Poison Information Center-Miami."
Thats good advice in more ways than one.............
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Peace,
Adam
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daba
Stranger
Registered: 12/30/02
Posts: 3,881
Last seen: 10 years, 4 months
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Re: Mushrooming problem [Re: DazedSol]
#1657899 - 06/24/03 05:26 AM (19 years, 11 months ago) |
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Since when was picking mushrooms illegal, even if they are hallucinogenic?
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chodamunky
Cheers!
Registered: 02/28/02
Posts: 2,030
Loc: sailing the seas of chees...
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Re: Mushrooming problem [Re: daba]
#1659949 - 06/24/03 10:26 PM (19 years, 11 months ago) |
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Those guys shouldn't of ran from the cops, I would of told them I'm picking mushrooms to eat because as a human being of this earth I have a right to eat anything I wish as long as my actions don't harm another human being. If they were true police officers and decent human beings they would look the other way.
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Raadt
nicht
Registered: 06/07/02
Posts: 2,107
Loc: azurescending
Last seen: 4 years, 1 month
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Re: Mushrooming problem [Re: daba]
#1660920 - 06/25/03 09:26 AM (19 years, 11 months ago) |
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possessing psilocybin a schedule 1 substance, is illegal. Mushrooms are the container.
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Raadt
-- The information I provide is only information from readings, growing of gourmet mushrooms, and second hand stories--
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em_bre_O
shroomery'sEmbryoticAsshole
Registered: 05/27/02
Posts: 2,311
Loc: In the stages of develope...
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Re: Mushrooming problem [Re: Raadt]
#1661340 - 06/25/03 12:31 PM (19 years, 11 months ago) |
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with the knowledge that they contain a controlled substance......of course.
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Jenny
part of thewhole
Registered: 06/02/00
Posts: 5,614
Loc: Columbus, OHIO
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Re: Mushrooming problem [Re: chodamunky]
#1667936 - 06/27/03 07:23 PM (19 years, 11 months ago) |
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couldn't have said it better myself.
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Mindfulness is the aware, balanced acceptance of the present experience.
It isn't more complicated than that.
It is opening to or recieving the present moment, pleasant or unpleasant, just as it is,
without either clinging to it or rejecting it.
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GGreatOne234
Stranger
Registered: 12/23/99
Posts: 8,946
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 Re: Mushrooming problem [Re: motaman]
#1668144 - 06/27/03 09:21 PM (19 years, 11 months ago) |
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This story sounds all but too familiar here in Florida.
I think the kids did the right thing by running from them in the first place;
-The thing they did do wrong is that they went back again for more.
--They got busted because of that.
They essentially got busted for Shrooms but they were charged with Trespassing.
It is a terrible thing to see these shroom busts, as 'tis the American way to seek such pleasures,
Disneyland just isnt enough for some tourists, some tourists need shrooms.
Keep shroomin,
GGreatOne234
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GGreatOne234
Stranger
Registered: 12/23/99
Posts: 8,946
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 Re: Mushrooming problem [Re: motaman]
#1670094 - 06/28/03 07:14 PM (19 years, 10 months ago) |
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First off, they were using flashlights,
Second off, they were using plastic bags,
Third off, they dropped their shrooms for the cops to find,
Fourth, they went back.
When newbie Shroomers ask me for any last minute advice before heading into the fields i say; "Yeah,, If you see the police or if you see the farmers, then run...run real fast, as fast as you can and never go back."
Keep shrooming,
GGreatOne234
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