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 veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 17,504
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 Magic mushroom "loophole" closed [UK] 
#4416151 - 07/17/05 06:40 PM (18 years, 8 months ago) |
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Magic mushroom ban becomes legal
July 18, 2005 - BBC News
A law banning magic mushrooms and making them a class A drug comes into force on Monday, July 18.
The Drugs Act 2005 ends the situation in which fresh magic mushrooms were legal but those which were dried or prepared for use were not.
Sellers have condemned the move, saying mushrooms are not harmful and accusing ministers of a knee-jerk reaction.
But the Home Office said the drug was harmful to some users and added the move clarified the existing law.
Home Office Minister Paul Goggins said in a statement: "Magic mushrooms are a powerful hallucinogen and can cause real harm, especially to vulnerable people and those with mental health problems.
Psychedelic qualities
"The law has not been clear with regard to the status of fresh magic mushrooms and some have tried to exploit this apparent loophole."
Magic mushrooms, more properly known as psilocybe, contain the psychedelic chemicals psilocybin and psilocin.
These chemicals were already class A but previously the law did not apply to fresh or raw magic mushrooms which contain far less of the drug gram-for-gram than when dried.
Under Clause 21 of the Drugs Act 2005, it is now an offence to import, export, produce, supply, possess or possess with intent to supply magic mushrooms, including in the form of grow kits.
Exceptions will be made for people who unknowingly pick the mushrooms in the wild or find them growing in their garden, and critics have argued the act will be difficult to police.
Magic mushrooms have risen in popularity dramatically in recent years, especially since becoming openly available over the internet or at about 400 "headshops" around the country.
According to Home Office figures, use of the fungi has risen 40% in a year, with more than a quarter-of -a-million people estimated to have taken them in 2003/04, compared with 180,000 in 2002/03. However, they still represent a tiny proportion of all drug use.
Although some psilocybe mushrooms do grow in the wild, the vast majority of mushrooms sold on the open market come from mushroom farms in Holland.
Users of fresh mushrooms experience effects ranging from giggling fits and intensification of colours, lights and sounds to, more rarely, hallucinations. Negative effects can include vomiting, and anxiety.
'Patronising'
Critics of the ban say that the mushrooms are harmless to physical health and would only be bad for people with existing mental health problems.
"Obviously I would not suggest someone with schizophrenia took magic mushrooms but nor should they probably take alcohol," said Chris Bovey, owner of online retailer Potseeds, based in Totnes, Devon.
"Our customers feel patronised by the government, victimising them for doing something harmless and enjoyable in their own homes, just because they need to sound tough on drugs."
Others fear that the ban could mean an increase in accidental poisonings as people go foraging for mushrooms in the wild and mistakenly pick a toxic variety.
Mushroom retailers have formed the Entheogen Defence Fund and plan to launch a legal challenge to the change in the law, saying it contravenes European trade rules and the 1971 Vienna convention.
Mike Bashall, chairman of the EDF said: "We would have welcomed regulation because through regulation you do get control - as with alcohol.
'Seven years' jail'
"This is a badly-drafted piece of legislation that was pushed through the House of Lords without proper scrutiny or discussion."
A spokeswoman for drugs information body Drugscope said the government did need to clarify the law on magic mushrooms but should not have made them class A.
"To see magic mushrooms alongside crack cocaine and heroin doesn't seem proportionate," said Petra Maxwell.
"Now that they're class A if people are found in possession the ultimate, if unlikely, sanction is seven years in prison and a fine."
The law change does not affect another, much more rarely used magic mushroom: Amanita muscaria - more commonly known as Fly Agaric.
 Related websites:The Sale of Magic Mushrooms from businesslink.gov.uk Magic Mushroom FAQ from drugs.gov.uk Related Stories: Magic Mushroom Loophole Closed from dailymail.co.uk Trip is over for magic mushrooms from theherald.co.uk Crackdown on mind-blowing mushrooms from the Belfast Telegraph How UK's love of mushrooms grew from BBC News
Edited by veggie (07/18/05 06:34 AM)
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roby000
me
Registered: 02/28/05
Posts: 9,189
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 Re: It's over in the UK, magic mushroom "loophole" closed *DELETED* [Re: veggie]
#4416392 - 07/17/05 08:00 PM (18 years, 8 months ago) |
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Post deleted by roby000
Reason for deletion: 1
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gdman
badger, badger,badger...
 
Registered: 12/10/02
Posts: 16,286
Loc: Dancing In the Streets
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Re: It's over in the UK, magic mushroom "loophole" closed [Re: roby000]
#4416606 - 07/17/05 09:03 PM (18 years, 8 months ago) |
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Here comes the return of the (mushroom) black market to the UK.
--------------------
Got a question about a substance? Erowid might already have your answer! Have questions about the mushroom experience? The Tripper's FAQ may have your answer or someone else might have had your question before.
I know up on the top you are seeing great sights, but down at the bottom we, too, should have rights.
- Theodor Seuss Geisel Dr. Suess
"I didn't come here to be easily understood" - Steve
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 Allah
This is NOTDemocracy.
Registered: 07/16/05
Posts: 3
Loc: UK
Last seen: 18 years, 8 months
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 Re: It's over in the UK, magic mushroom "loophole" closed [Re: gdman]
#4418197 - 07/18/05 07:51 AM (18 years, 8 months ago) |
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Less freedom every day.
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Rovastar
Visualist....
Registered: 08/21/03
Posts: 90
Last seen: 1 year, 5 months
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Re: It's over in the UK, magic mushroom "loophole" closed [Re: Allah]
#4418267 - 07/18/05 08:23 AM (18 years, 8 months ago) |
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Just to point out from another post I made in a different subforum on the shroomery
"Also to help the cause Sign Petition/donate/buy a T-shirt to:
http://www.entheogendefencefund.org.uk/
Who are trying help overturn the law."
MOre news on this from:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4691899.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/4692359.stm
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Old Visuals - Milkdrop and R4
New Visualization - Morphyre
Shroomery Music Visualization Wiki
Edited by Rovastar2 (07/18/05 08:26 AM)
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 17,504
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Re: Magic mushroom "loophole" closed [UK] [Re: veggie]
#4418879 - 07/18/05 12:19 PM (18 years, 8 months ago) |
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Magic mushroom ban too strong
July 18, 2005 - BBC News
A Scottish drugs advice service has questioned the decision to reclassify magic mushrooms as class A drugs
The Drugs Act 2005 has closed a loophole which had previously only banned the prepared form of the hallucinogenic Liberty Cap fungi.
It is estimated that up to one in five 16-year-olds in Scotland have tried magic mushrooms.
But drugs service Crew 2000 said it was "nuts" to categorise them alongside heroin, crack and cocaine.
Spokesman John Arthur said: "I think we are seeing laws passed in this country through ignorance.
Harm fears
"There is no way you could classify the effects of magic mushrooms the same as those of heroin, cocaine, etc - I think it's nuts."
Information body Drugscope said the government did need to clarify the law on magic mushrooms but should not have made them class A.
It said that from more than 12,600 people presenting problems to drug agencies in Scotland in 2004, only 30 had used hallucinogenics in the previous month.
But Drugscope said local surveys suggested that young people in Scotland and Wales were more likely to have taken magic mushrooms.
Its website says: "In Scotland, for example, one in five 16-year-olds will have typically tried them."
Under Clause 21 of the Drugs Act 2005, it is now an offence to import, export, produce, supply, possess or possess with intent to supply magic mushrooms, including in the form of grow kits.
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scatmanrav
Brainy Smurf
Registered: 05/08/04
Posts: 11,483
Loc: 
Last seen: 11 years, 3 months
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Re: Magic mushroom "loophole" closed [UK] [Re: veggie]
#4418977 - 07/18/05 01:07 PM (18 years, 8 months ago) |
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"There is no way you could classify the effects of magic mushrooms the same as those of heroin, cocaine, etc - I think it's nuts."
NO FUCKING SHIT YOU BASTARDS...crap heads...
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motaman
old hand
Registered: 12/18/02
Posts: 6,047
Last seen: 15 days, 20 hours
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Law spells end for mushrooming trade [Re: veggie]
#4420175 - 07/18/05 05:59 PM (18 years, 8 months ago) |
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http://www.guardian.co.uk/drugs/Story/0,2763,1531122,00.html?gusrc=rss
Law spells end for mushrooming trade
Mark Oliver
Monday July 18, 2005
Magic mushrooms.
Photograph: Daniel Berehulak/Getty
It is bad news for fans of psychedelic fungi: a legal loophole that allowed people to buy and sell fresh forms of magic mushrooms closed today.
Although there has been a long-standing ban on dry or packaged magic mushrooms, it did not, until today, apply to fresh forms, allowing them to be sold in shops, on stalls and online.
The number of retailers selling magic mushrooms in the UK soared from a handful to more than 400 in the last two years, with stalls and shops across the country, from Camden and Covent Garden in London to Derby, Birmingham and Guildford stocking them.
But today the government's Drugs Act 2005 came into force, stating that magic mushrooms are banned regardless of whether they are dried, packaged or fresh.
The new legislation rules psilocin, the hallucinogen found in the mushrooms, illegal and the mushrooms are therefore considered to be controlled drugs. Anyone caught selling, possessing or supplying magic mushrooms could face prosecution under section 21 of the act.
In all forms the drug is now a class A substance, like heroin or cocaine. A conviction for possession of a class A drug can lead to a maximum of seven years in prison and a fine; conviction for supply or intent to supply can lead to life imprisonment and a fine.
Some campaigners said it was ridiculous to one day have fresh magic mushrooms legal to buy and then the next day have them classified alongside heroin.
But the Home Office minister Paul Goggins said: "By clarifying the law we are making it clear that we will not allow the sale and supply of magic mushrooms ... this will benefit people likely to be at risk from the dangerous effects of magic mushrooms and will bring to an end profiteering in fresh mushrooms by growing numbers of vendors."
There are differing views about how dangerous magic mushrooms are. Some experts argue they can be particularly harmful to people with heart conditions or a mental illness or with an underlying mental health problem and can lead to psychosis.
However, a Dutch study found no evidence to link magic mushrooms with psychosis and said that mushrooms did not lower users' violence threshold.
Transform, a drug policy thinktank that has been a vocal critic of the ban on magic mushrooms, said the home office move was "ill thought out" and would mean more young people took more toxic and risky drugs like ecstasy.
Transform said the move was not supported by any of the leading drug organisations and was an "attempt to appear 'tough on drugs' rather than being the result of rational, evidence-based thinking".
A spokesman for Transform, Steve Rolles, said: "It seems to be the result of government embarrassment at the emergence of mushroom shops, particularly in areas such as Camden."
He went on: "The outcomes of this change will be all bad. A criminal market will be created where none currently exists. Profits will move from legitimate traders and the inland revenue to illegal dealers and organised crime networks. Thousands of otherwise law abiding citizens, mostly young people, will now face imprisonment for their choice of recreation."
Mr Rolles said the government's own Talk to Frank website said magic mushrooms were 'not addictive in any way' and that the biggest danger was accidentally picking the wrong mushrooms, which could be poisonous .
Much of the supply of magic mushrooms comes from the Netherlands and John Whyte, from Customs Detection, said a "robust approach" would be used against trafficking of the drug.
The effects produced by magic mushrooms substances can differ greatly among individual users, ranging from elation to terror.
Hallucinogens can produce varied experiences in a person each time the substance is used, even if the same dosage is used every time.
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http://heffter.org
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 17,504
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Re: Magic mushroom "loophole" closed [UK] [Re: veggie]
#4427471 - 07/20/05 09:12 AM (18 years, 8 months ago) |
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Police seize magic mushrooms
July 20, 2005 - scotsman.com
POLICE seized more than half a kilogram of magic mushrooms from shops in the Capital on the day that new laws turned them into Class A drugs.
Officers raided two businesses in Southside and Tollcross on Monday, hours after the Drugs Act 2005 came into force. No arrests were made, but the mushrooms were taken away for tests and a report will be submitted to the procurator fiscal who will decide whether to press charges.
Today, police revealed the mushrooms contained psilocybin, which is now illegal. Supplying, possessing or importing the mushrooms can lead to a custodial sentence. A police spokeswoman said: "Up until recently there were a number of shops in Edinburgh that imported and sold magic mushrooms. They are usually eaten raw or dried out and can produce a hallucinogenic effect similar to LSD.
"From Monday, following reclassification, magic mushrooms became a Class A drug and for people to possess or sell them is now a criminal offence. Most shop owners selling the mushrooms were aware of this change and it is as a result of information that some were still offering psilocybin products for sale that officers from Lothian and Borders drugs squad took action.
"As a result of the operation, more than half a kilo of mushrooms were seized."
Police refused to name the stores which were raided. Shops across the country have had to act quickly following the reclassification. A growing number of people were taking mushrooms before they became illegal, a demand mostly met by traders.
More than 250,000 16-59-year-olds in the UK used them between 2003 and 2004, a 40 per cent leap on the previous year.
But now anyone caught buying, selling or possessing mushrooms could face jail after the Government put them into the same class as heroin and cocaine. Supporters claim that they are harmless and have warned that drug dealers will now benefit as users turn to them for supplies rather than to previously legitimate traders.
Alan Myerthall, who owns the Pipe Shop, in Leith Walk, was among them but made sure he had got rid of his stock by the time the new law came into force.
The tobacconist said: "The police were perfectly entitled to raid shops on Monday. Everyone was given plenty of notice. No-one can say they didn't know.
"We don't break the law, we comply with the law, so we made sure we were sold out.
"And as long as they are illegal we won't sell them. It's hard lines as they were good business but there's nothing we can do about it."
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 17,504
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Re: Magic mushroom "loophole" closed [UK] [Re: veggie]
#4431570 - 07/21/05 12:53 AM (18 years, 8 months ago) |
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The raids continue...
POLICE IN SWOOP ON MAGIC MUSHROOMS
Jul 21 2005 - dailyrecord.co.uk
?7k of fungus seized in raids hours after ban
DRUG squad officers seized magic mushrooms worth almost ?7000 in raids hours after they were outlawed.
Police swooped to grab 3.5 kilos of the fungus - with a street value of ?6000 - from a house in Newarthill, Lanarkshire.
And Edinburgh cops bagged a half-kilo from two shops in the capital.
Cubensis mushrooms, which have an effect like LSD because they contain psilocybin, could be legally sold until Monday.
But they have been reclassified as a Class A drug - alongside the likes of heroin and cocaine.
That means anyone possessing, selling or supplying magic mushrooms could face a prison sentence.
People who unwittingly pick wild mushrooms growing on uncultivated land are the only exception to the rule.
A Lothian and Borders Police spokeswoman said: 'Up until recently, there were a number of shops in Edinburgh that imported and sold magic mushrooms.
Hallucinogenic 'They are eaten raw or dried out and produce a hallucinogenic effect similar to LSD.
'Most shop owners selling the mushrooms were aware of the change in the law.
'It is as a result of information that some were still offering psilocybin products for sale that the drugs squad took action.'
Strathclyde Police said a 33-year-old man was being reported to the procurator fiscal following Tuesday's raid in Newarthill
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Sorted
Monkee
Registered: 12/26/98
Posts: 301
Loc: UK
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Re: Magic mushroom "loophole" closed [UK] [Re: veggie]
#4432089 - 07/21/05 03:49 AM (18 years, 8 months ago) |
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"Most shop owners selling the mushrooms were aware of the change in the law"
But not all of them, so why didn't they just have a quiet word to let them know before getting all heavy handed. Funny how the 600g originally reported to be found in that house has now gone up to 3.5 kilos.. they must still be growing or something..
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