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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
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Mushroom Crackdown 'Just Sham' [UK]
#4528794 - 08/13/05 01:22 AM (18 years, 7 months ago) |
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Mushroom Crackdown 'Just Sham' August 13, 2005 - mirror.co.uk
A crackdown on magic mushrooms can today be exposed as a sham.
In a written Commons answer, Home Office Minister Paul Goggins said the Government expects to make only 10 prosecutions a year of users and dealers in the illegal fungi.
The admission comes a month after the Drugs Act 2005 was introduced to make the hallucinogenic mushrooms a Class A drug - and Goggins said at the time: "They can cause real harm, especially to vulnerable people."
Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesman Mark Oaten said: "These mixed messages can only serve to bring the drug laws into further disrepute."
Home Office statistics reveal use of the fungi has risen 40 per cent in a year, with more than a quarter of a million people estimated to have taken them between 2003 and 2004.
But Petra Maxwell of the drugs information body Drugscope said classifying magic mushrooms as a Class A substance alongside heroin and crack cocaine was not "proportionate" as users often use them to treat migraines.
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IsaacHunt
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Re: Mushroom Crackdown 'Just Sham' [UK] [Re: veggie]
#4530366 - 08/13/05 02:01 PM (18 years, 7 months ago) |
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In a written Commons answer, Home Office Minister Paul Goggins said the Government expects to make only 10 prosecutions a year of users and dealers in the illegal fungi.
Depends how many people they catch with them doesn't it. If you are caught with them you will be prosecuted exactly the same as for heroin or coke.
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scatmanrav
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Re: Mushroom Crackdown 'Just Sham' [UK] [Re: IsaacHunt]
#4536758 - 08/15/05 02:36 AM (18 years, 7 months ago) |
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Thats their point, they arent expecting, or wanting many arrests for it. Stupid..
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IsaacHunt
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Re: Mushroom Crackdown 'Just Sham' [UK] [Re: scatmanrav]
#4537495 - 08/15/05 11:01 AM (18 years, 7 months ago) |
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It's a class A drug. It boosts their prosecution quota easily and with a lot less risk to the drug squad than taking on a crack gang. Don't kid yourself, the drug squad will want as many fungi busts as they can possibly find.
This sounds like a bit of propaganda in the face of widespread public disapproval to spread the myth that the government arn't being draconian about it.
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scatmanrav
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Re: Mushroom Crackdown 'Just Sham' [UK] [Re: IsaacHunt]
#4539238 - 08/15/05 06:02 PM (18 years, 7 months ago) |
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Maybe your right, but I still think they just dont feel its worth the trouble..they just wanted to make it a law so MOST people dont use them. I dont really know though.
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Sorted
Monkee
Registered: 12/26/98
Posts: 301
Loc: UK
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Re: Mushroom Crackdown 'Just Sham' [UK] [Re: scatmanrav]
#4546111 - 08/17/05 09:27 AM (18 years, 7 months ago) |
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I can't see much happening really.. they were never particularly bothered about dry shrooms before fresh sales started so can't see why they'd suddenly start now. On the rare occasions when peple have been sentenced for dealing it's usually been x number of months rather than years like with other Class A's.
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IsaacHunt
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Re: Mushroom Crackdown 'Just Sham' [UK] [Re: Sorted]
#4549711 - 08/17/05 11:56 PM (18 years, 7 months ago) |
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Sentencing for Class A drugs is the same for all of them. Any lawyer with experience of cases will tell you that. Judges really arn't that enlightened that they think "Oh, I'll sentence this Class A offence differently because it's sacred mushrooms". They consider all Class A drugs equally dangerous and will punish you with the full weight of the law.
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Monkee
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Re: Mushroom Crackdown 'Just Sham' [UK] [Re: IsaacHunt]
#4550606 - 08/18/05 05:13 AM (18 years, 7 months ago) |
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I was basing it on real life cases, not what should happen. They use their discretion and certainly don't treat mushrooms the same as crack.
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IsaacHunt
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Re: Mushroom Crackdown 'Just Sham' [UK] [Re: Sorted]
#4554115 - 08/19/05 12:04 AM (18 years, 7 months ago) |
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I know people who've been busted from shrooms. They recieved exactly the same sentence as for any Class A drug. That's what happens in real life. The "what should happen" theory is what people who havn't been arrested think.
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Monkee
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Re: Mushroom Crackdown 'Just Sham' [UK] [Re: IsaacHunt]
#4554589 - 08/19/05 05:45 AM (18 years, 7 months ago) |
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Varies a lot then doesn't it. Some woman got 9 months for dealing shrooms at Glastonbury.. had it been coke it would have been years. And that infamous case of the bloke caught with 73 bags of dried shrooms (again at Glastonbury) who said he was going to make a sculpture out of them and got acquitted as the jury couldn't decide. Had it been 73 bags of heroin I'm sure they'd have decided his fate in minutes. For simple possession I'm surprised they got any sentence at all.. they hardly do that with any Class A drugs these days.
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IsaacHunt
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Re: Mushroom Crackdown 'Just Sham' [UK] [Re: Sorted]
#4554951 - 08/19/05 10:10 AM (18 years, 7 months ago) |
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Ok man - the cops will just let you off if they catch you with shrooms.
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Monkee
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Re: Mushroom Crackdown 'Just Sham' [UK] [Re: IsaacHunt]
#4555235 - 08/19/05 11:48 AM (18 years, 7 months ago) |
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It has been known yes.. I even know of someone getting their dried libs back three months after being caught. The fact that hardly anybody gets convicted each year says it all. Dunno why it's so hard to understand that drugs in the same class get treated differently. More than a third of people caught with E's get off with a caution compared to none with crack..
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IsaacHunt
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Re: Mushroom Crackdown 'Just Sham' [UK] [Re: Sorted]
#4555491 - 08/19/05 01:16 PM (18 years, 7 months ago) |
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I even know of someone getting their dried libs back three months after being caught
The cops gave Class A drugs back to someone? Did you see this happen with your own eyes or is it something someone told you in a pub?
Dunno why it's so hard to understand that drugs in the same class get treated differently
Maybe it's cos when the person said that to the cops they replied "They are class A drugs and will be treated exactly the same as other class A drugs". The judge said exactly the same and that "Prison would be my first option for you". The probation officer said "there is no distinction in class A drugs sentencing". Oh and 2 lawyers said "there was no distinction in sentencing too".
That's probably why.
But whatever - you've got your opinion. I'm just letting people know a different angle on this from experience.
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Monkee
Registered: 12/26/98
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Re: Mushroom Crackdown 'Just Sham' [UK] [Re: IsaacHunt]
#4555602 - 08/19/05 01:58 PM (18 years, 7 months ago) |
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Quote:
IsaacHunt said:The cops gave Class A drugs back to someone? Did you see this happen with your own eyes or is it something someone told you in a pub?
Annecdotal evidence yea, doesn't mean it's made up. I believe the same thing happened after a court case once aswell with the dried mushrooms returned straight after the person was acquitted as they decided they weren't illegal in that case.
If whoever you know got treated like that just for possession they got very unlucky.. prison is rarely the first option for any drugs these days unless dealing has been involved or they've got previous..
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