Changes to the law on Magic Mushrooms
Psilocin (Liberty Cap or magic mushrooms)
Psilocin and psilocybin (which breaks down into psilocin in the body) are the 'active ingredients' in ten species of psilocybe mushrooms. These include the 'Liberty Cap' mushroom that grows wild throughout Britain and the foreign magic mushrooms that you have been able to buy from head shops and stalls over the last few years.
The New Law
At the end of 2004, the government published the new Drugs Bill, which despite widespread criticism was passed on April 11th 2005 (in time for the election). The law should come fully into effect in summer 2005.
Mushrooms containing psilocin and psilocybin are now class A drugs, whether they are freshly picked, chilled, dried, frozen, prepared, processed, pickled or preserved in any way shape or form. It doesnąt matter if you pick them yourself, buy them from the internet or bring them into Britain from a country where they are still legal, they are now class A drugs.
No details of quite how this will work in practice have been announced at the time of writing. It will not be the case that mushrooms growing in your back garden will count as possession. But what if you dug up a bit of your lawn with mushrooms growing on it, stuck it on your head and walked around town with it on. Would you be in possession of a Class A drug? We simply donąt know yet.
Along with the proposed legislation on mushrooms, the Drugs Bill also introduces a new presumption that those caught with more drugs than is considered 'reasonable' for personal use will be regarded as intending to supply them. In other words, if you are caught with a 'certain amount' of drugs you will be charged with dealing and quite likely end up in prison.
As with the mushroom proposal, the Drugs Bill is particularly vague on detail. We donąt yet know what quantity of drugs the Home Office classifies as 'reasonable for personal use'. This should be announced sometime in 2006. So while last year you could legally pick a sack full of mushrooms from a field, now that sack of 'mushies' could in theory get you a maximum of Life in prison plus an unlimited fine for 'intending to supply' Class A drugs.
What effect will the new law have?
You will no longer be able to buy mushrooms legally via mail order or from shops and stalls. The Śregulatedą legal market will end. So, will all those who have bought magic mushrooms legally in the past simply stop using mind-bending drugs? Of course not, the government has simply handed the business over to criminals and will force users to buy from drug dealers.
It is possible that potentially dangerous extractions and preparations of psilocybe may appear. Extracting psilocin makes it easier to smuggle and more profitable without any extra risk (as psilocin would have the same legal penalties as fresh mushrooms). As with other drugs, the dealers would increase their profits by adulterating psilocin products with other chemicals and its purity would become quite variable. We may also see a range of other psychedelic drugs (like LSD, DMT etc) becoming more widely available.
Some people of course will still pick and eat fresh psilocybe mushrooms, despite the risk of getting caught. Which when you think about it isnąt much of a risk - unless you say to a police officer "I just swallowed psilocybe" (internal possession) or "I picked/used psilocybe on some specified day" (past possession). Very few people are charged with mushroom possession anyway, getting caught picking by an undercover policeman hiding in the hedgerow is extremely unlikely. Interest may also be drawn toward the totally legal Fly Agaric mushroom, which like the psilocybe mushroom grows naturally in Britain.
The result of the changes to the law will be to make psilocybe mushrooms in any form a Class A drug with the same penalties for possession and supply as heroin. It will end a legal regulated market, putting the supply of mushrooms into the hands of gangsters and turn current law abiding citizens into criminals.