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TLG
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Registered: 02/01/06
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Loc: Ireland
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[IRL] Mushroom Death: Inquest Adjourned
#5356378 - 03/02/06 05:17 AM (17 years, 10 months ago) |
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From today's Irish Independent
Mushrooms 'made man fall to his death' from fourth-storey balcony during party Breda Heffernan
COLM Hodkinson bought a box of ?25 magic mushrooms thinking they were a "bit of fun" but less than an hour after eating them he was dead, having fallen from a fourth-floor balcony.
The Hodkinson family believe their son's death at the age of 33 was due to the hallucinogenic mushrooms he had earlier bought over the counter at an alternative lifestyle shop in Dublin city centre.
The successful young businessman and keen golfer had been a first-time user of the drug. He allegedly bought the mushrooms to share with friends at a Hallowe'en party.
Yesterday his father Eoin and brothers Sean and Paul attended the opening of his inquest at the Dublin County Coroner's Court in Dun Laoghaire.
They heard in shocking detail how Mr Hodkinson sustained extensive injuries, including fractures to the facial bones and base of the skull and crush injuries to the brain, in the plunge from the balcony of his apartment at The Anchorage, Clarence Street, in the seaside town on October 30 last.
Insp Denis Henaghan applied for an adjournment of the inquest as the Director of Public Prosecutions is still considering whether charges should be brought in relation to the death.
Sean Hodkinson is reported as saying that his brother had heard that magic mushrooms were meant to be a "bit of fun" and that no real harm could come from them.
His brother and three friends ate the mushrooms raw from the packet, he added.
But around half an hour after taking three of the hallucinogenic mushrooms with some alcohol, Mr Hodkinson started feeling sick and vomited several times.
According to Sean, his brother then became agitated and scared and did not know what was happening to him.
Soon after he plunged to his death from the balcony.
In the days following their son's death, the distraught Hodkinson family launched a campaign to make the sale and possession of the hallucinogenic mushrooms illegal. After petitioning their locals politicians they met Tanaiste Mary Harney in December.
In January of this year Ms Harney announced that she was introducing legislation banning the sale and possession of the mushrooms in both their raw and processed states.
Previously, it had been legal to sell them untreated.
After the introduction of the ban, owners of stores selling magic mushrooms branded the move a "knee-jerk reaction".
The large-scale selling of magic mushrooms in Ireland began around two years ago when a loophole in the legislation meant that unprocessed mushrooms could be sold over the counter.
Coroner Dr Kieran Geraghty adjourned the inquest to June 27 next.
He said: "This is a very tragic case and I want to extend my sympathies to Mr Hodkinson's family.
"How his death came about will be explained when the inquest is heard in full."
Edited by TLG (03/02/06 05:17 AM)
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blackout


Registered: 07/16/00
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Re: [IRL] Mushroom Death: Inquest Adjourned [Re: TLG]
#5356384 - 03/02/06 05:24 AM (17 years, 10 months ago) |
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Quote:
TLG said: the Director of Public Prosecutions is still considering whether charges should be brought in relation to the death.
This is in a few papers today but it never says who charges should be brought against. The person who sold them? person who grew them? Mary Harney for allowing their sale up to that point? the off licence owner who sold him the alcohol? The brewery?
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Mitchnast
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Registered: 10/27/99
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Re: [IRL] Mushroom Death: Inquest Adjourned [Re: blackout]
#5356392 - 03/02/06 05:33 AM (17 years, 10 months ago) |
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sounds to me like the landing killed him.
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abrad84
Stranger


Registered: 10/15/05
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Re: [IRL] Mushroom Death: Inquest Adjourned [Re: Mitchnast]
#5356479 - 03/02/06 06:58 AM (17 years, 10 months ago) |
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I would be very pissed off if th Hemp Shop were charged with manslaughter but it wouldn't surprise me the way things are going in this country. Hopefully the coroner will rule that the mushrooms did not cause his death and hopefully they have the packet they were sold in with the label saying "DO NOT TAKE WITH ALCOHOL" as evidence. I wonder if it is found that the mushrooms were not to blame will the ban be reversed? I doubt it.
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a_h_w
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Re: [IRL] Mushroom Death: Inquest Adjourned [Re: abrad84]
#5356507 - 03/02/06 07:31 AM (17 years, 10 months ago) |
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I can't help but feel sad that people selling mushrooms apparently do not give the appropriate advice and are not responsible enough to properly instruct their clients. we're talking about someone taking shrooms for the first time without any real knowledge of the extreme potential of these magic tools. mixing with alcohol is a disaster! and from the report you can tell the dosage was way too strong (both of alcohol and shrooms). unfortunately most people still seem to use shrooms only to have some fun. and this way we will get more and more banning... and death.
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TLG
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Registered: 02/01/06
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Re: [IRL] Mushroom Death: Inquest Adjourned [Re: blackout]
#5356526 - 03/02/06 07:42 AM (17 years, 10 months ago) |
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Quote:
blackout said:
Quote:
TLG said: the Director of Public Prosecutions is still considering whether charges should be brought in relation to the death.
This is in a few papers today but it never says who charges should be brought against. The person who sold them? person who grew them? Mary Harney for allowing their sale up to that point? the off licence owner who sold him the alcohol? The brewery?
As I understand it, the charge will be against the owner of the Hemp Shop, which is apparantly where this nice, middle-class chap bought the evil, murdering mushrooms.
Also worth pointing out, the man vomited several times after taking them... it's not beyond the bounds of possibility that the blood tests would show no psilocybin in his body, which would be very interesting, to say the least.
Maybe then Harney will have to ban alcohol!
Edited by TLG (03/02/06 07:43 AM)
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blackout


Registered: 07/16/00
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Re: [IRL] Mushroom Death: Inquest Adjourned [Re: a_h_w]
#5356678 - 03/02/06 08:42 AM (17 years, 10 months ago) |
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Quote:
a_h_w said: and from the report you can tell the dosage was way too strong (both of alcohol and shrooms).
No, the reports alledge that he took less than the recommended dose, which is usually 20g fresh cubensis in shops. He was also meant to have had just a few beers "while playing trivial pursuit"
Quote:
TLG said: Maybe then Harney will have to ban alcohol!
And put that evil off licence owner in prison. Imagine the nerve of some fuckers, selling perfectly legal drugs.
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TLG
Stranger
Registered: 02/01/06
Posts: 31
Loc: Ireland
Last seen: 17 years, 8 months
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Re: [IRL] Mushroom Death: Inquest Adjourned [Re: blackout]
#5356690 - 03/02/06 08:47 AM (17 years, 10 months ago) |
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Quote:
blackout said: And put that evil off licence owner in prison. Imagine the nerve of some fuckers, selling perfectly legal drugs.

Giggedy, giggedy!
Edited by TLG (03/02/06 08:48 AM)
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