Yet again the government are trying to crack down on our rights to choose. This week labour has proposed ammedments to the law to make all sale and use of magic mushrooms illegal.
mushrooms in oxfordshire
Yet again the government are trying to crack down on our rights to choose. This week labour has proposed ammedments to the law to make all sale and use of magic mushrooms illegal. Up untill now any preparation and consumption of mushrooms has been considered illegal, but using and selling them as long as they are fresh has not been stopped. The proposed amendments will make any possession of them, irrespective of whether they are dried or not, a class a offence. This means mushrooms will be on par with crack, heroin and cocaine, and punishable by life imprisonment if judged to be selling them.
I personally believe all drugs should be legal, as prohibition creates more problems than solutions, however thats another argument for another day.
However the case of keeping mushrooms legal is particularly important. The reasons are numerous. First and foremost, they are a matter of personal choice, and no government should decide what one can and cannot fill their own body with.
Furthermore, Britain has several varieties of native magic mushroom, and it would be absurd to ban a naturally occurring plant. It would be like outlawing brambles, or sycamores!!
This poses the further question, are landowners who have magic mushrooms growing on their land breaking the law? Watch out farmers of Britain!!
Banning mushrooms would also be banning age old tradition. Throughout the history of our country, magic mushrooms have been used to enlighten and open eyes. Its part of our culture, and has been for millennia.
Moreover, its a victimless crime! No one has ever died from eating magic mushrooms. Nor are they part of drug trafficking or gang crime. More often than not, mushrooms are either grown or picked by individuals and passed on to friends and associates, but not traffic-d.
These are only some of the reasons for keeping mushrooms legal and there are many more. Just remember, a crack down of civil liberties and right affects EVERYONE.
- WE DONT WANT STATE CONTROLED FUN!!
I personally believe all drugs should be legal, as prohibition creates more problems than solutions, however thats another argument for another day.
However the case of keeping mushrooms legal is particularly important. The reasons are numerous. First and foremost, they are a matter of personal choice, and no government should decide what one can and cannot fill their own body with.
Furthermore, Britain has several varieties of native magic mushroom, and it would be absurd to ban a naturally occurring plant. It would be like outlawing brambles, or sycamores!!
This poses the further question, are landowners who have magic mushrooms growing on their land breaking the law? Watch out farmers of Britain!!
Banning mushrooms would also be banning age old tradition. Throughout the history of our country, magic mushrooms have been used to enlighten and open eyes. Its part of our culture, and has been for millennia.
Moreover, its a victimless crime! No one has ever died from eating magic mushrooms. Nor are they part of drug trafficking or gang crime. More often than not, mushrooms are either grown or picked by individuals and passed on to friends and associates, but not traffic-d.
These are only some of the reasons for keeping mushrooms legal and there are many more. Just remember, a crack down of civil liberties and right affects EVERYONE.
- WE DONT WANT STATE CONTROLED FUN!!
Comments
Hide the following 27 comments
Re: Save Our Magic Mushrooms!
19.12.2004 13:46
Hugh
oops!
19.12.2004 14:16
aex
wow
19.12.2004 22:05
phats
automatic resize
20.12.2004 01:02
(the resized picture itself could be a link to the original if required)
I know, i know, i should subscribe to indymedia-developers or whatever but i've enough of my own code to maintain !
hubba
oops!
20.12.2004 08:09
Doug
warning!
20.12.2004 21:01
hongos mexicanos
get on the case
20.12.2004 22:43
Unlike "hard drugs" shrooms are barely more than a blip on the radar of the moral majority, and most of our MPS have more on their plate. A little bit of pressure now is highly likely to make them ask Clarke what the point of this legislation is.
That and stop up on grow-kits etc.
For those who don't know, you can use
-Treat
p.s. the picture is pretty
Treat
These drugs should not be sold...(including Cannabis)
20.12.2004 23:00
So yes make it illegal to deal in these sacred things. But obviously it would be unenforcable to stop one from consuming pyscoactive mushrooms out on a welsh mountain.
Blessed be,
In the spirit of real free festivals (no trading),
(try Callenish...no police, an amazing goddess orintated reality forming 'machine' designed by her herself! Hi there!)
King Amdo
King Amdo.
Campaign to defend consumer & trade rights
21.12.2004 08:45
Duncan
Duncan Cameron
e-mail:
info@palad.org.uk
Homepage:
http://www.palad.org.uk
And on balance...?
21.12.2004 13:56
Addressing in turn the points you’ve made:
- I presume you mean the Drugs Bill that has been proposed – lots of places for it to go yet, and changes that could be made before it becomes legislation, so get lobbying if you want to.
- The Government is clearing up a problem wrt magic mushrooms, because (more or less) as you say it is a Class A drug and it’s not clear whether or not it can be sold and in what form.
- So, for example, in Birmingham it’s been banned completely, while you can still buy it in any of the 10 shops in London that sell it. Surely it should be the same anywhere?
- Most of what’s being sold in the UK, about £1m in sales each year, is brought from Holland, and is not native to the UK. Why should anyone make money out of something you can get for free (I agree with you on that, King Amdo)? As soon as someone sells something, it has to be regulated (see later).
- Legalisation of drugs – I don’t see the point of using drugs other than for medical purposes – you should be able to find much more interesting and constructive ways of using your time.
- Personal choice – by all means, you are free to believe what you want, and shove whatever you want, physical, mental or metaphorical, into your body – however, I don’t want my children to be able to buy them until they are old enough to make a reasoned choice. So I don’t want drugs on sale where they can buy them, legal or illegal.
- Outlawing natural plants? I think we do do that where it’s necessary – Japanese knotweed, for example. And elms were systematically destroyed as well.
- Enlightenment and eye-opening – see above. I’d do something about changing the world and making it a better place rather than try and escape from it.
- Victimless crime? How do you know no-one (how far back are you going in history) has died? It’s classified because it can damage people – maybe not you, but then how would you know?
- If you want to go pick them and eat them, go ahead.
- I’d be interested in the many more reasons for keeping them legal.
- State Controlled Fun – I think you do want this really. Regulations, whether you like them or not, are there to stop you doing something unsafe to yourself or others (like wiring a plug correctly), and to stop organisations that might cut corners (like food manufacturers or funfairs) from harming you. Are you saying that the government shouldn’t have banned hunting?
I’d be interested in any reasoned response you have to any of the above. If you think it’s worth it, let’s have a debate.
Scrivener
Quick comment
21.12.2004 17:31
Surely the onus of responsibility is on those seeking to ban something to demonstrate its harmful nature to society rather than the other way round? You don't start from a position of everything being outlawed and then work backwards. The assumption should be in favour of freedom of choice. In this particular instance, I don't think it has been demonstrated at all. Short of citing extreme scenarios that would lead to the banning of most things if the standards were applied uniformly, any possible harm in this case is limited to the individual consciously making the choice to experience this risk. Just as with sky-diving or a whole host of other activities.
Andrew
try em now
22.12.2004 00:04
Krop
Time is money
22.12.2004 13:44
"Legalisation of drugs – I don’t see the point of using drugs other than for medical purposes – you should be able to find much more interesting and constructive ways of using your time."
Maybe - but on that basis you would have to ban any acticty that you (or Tony Bliar, or whoever decides these things) decides isn't 'interesting and constructive'. I don't want anyone telling me how I should spend my (little) leisure time.
Mike
you are free to do what they tell you
22.12.2004 18:04
monsta
won't someobody pleeease think of the chillldreeeen..
23.12.2004 10:39
If mushrooms are a problem for health why hasn't there been a rise in cases since sales started? Why didn't Japan see a significant rise in psilocybin related health problems where mushrooms were openly sold for ten years? Maybe because there's no proven links and the whole health risk issue seems based on dubious research done over thirty years ago. The most recent study done by the Psychiatric University Hospital Zurich in 2003 concluded with "no cause for concern that PY (psilocybin) is hazardous with respect to somatic health". The Coordination point Assessment and Monitoring new drugs (CAM) risk assement study done in 2000 in Holland advised no reason for banning sales over there as mushrooms posed little to no risk to health and had no links to crime.
The UK government seems more interested in creating a link to crime and their figures on how large the UK mushroom market is are massively underestimated. If they think organised crime won't try and fill a multi million pound gap in the market they're even more clueless than I first thought.
Paul
Comments on comments...
23.12.2004 18:17
Andrew – I agree completely that we should have freedom of choice. But do we really want to always wait until something is proved dangerous before banning it? Blue asbestos wasn’t banned before its health threats were known, and the similar size/shape of the airborne nanotech threat means that we should anticipate and test adequately before allowing it onto the market (too late already it seems). With mushrooms, this is not a sudden decision to make it illegal, but a “tidying up” of a grey area. I appreciate that users don’t see a problem; I’m perhaps more interested in why it was put in the Class A category in the first place…
Krop – yep, you seem to have had ok experiences. Others haven’t. The problem I have with this is that the concentration and purity is unknown in each case, and how people seem to react to taking them seems to depend on their state of mind at the time. But if it works for you, and doesn’t adversely affect anyone else, go ahead.
Mike – I’m (luckily) not in a position to decide (and I don’t think Tony is/does either for that matter); it’s just my opinion, and as valid as yours I hope, that I have enough of what I consider interesting and constructive things to do without taking these type of drugs. Wouldn’t dream of telling you how to spend your leisure time, however little you may think you have.
Monsta – I think I agree with you, mostly. We don’t seem to be getting on top of drug abuse and the related criminal activity, whether organised or individual. But I think there are lots of things that grow naturally that people buy and sell… And who’s the monster, or am I deliberately missing your point? J
Paul – good points, well made. My reading of why the Home Office is doing this is to sort out a legal grey area and coming down on the “safe” side of Class A drug use. As I mentioned earlier, I’d be really interested to know how it got classified as that in the first place, especially in light of all the reports/research that seem to indicate it shouldn't be there. And yes, I am worried about my children in bus shelters (and elsewhere) on alcohol, solvents, cigarettes etc. All I can do is give them access to as much information as they are prepared to take from me, so they can make their own informed choices. However, I am glad that there is a barrier of some sort (however flimsy, I believe it’s better than nothing) to children under 16 having access to these substances.
Scrivener
Try sharing like real hippy's!
30.12.2004 22:09
Blessed be.
King Amdo
eat the "right" mushrooms!!!!!
04.01.2005 14:11
and yes i think the guvernment is again being completely missinformed, completely stupid and completly out of touch as per usual!
p.s. you have GOT TO try the mexicans!!!!(you only need one!)
steevie
Back to reality check (again)...
07.01.2005 08:42
What the government is doing is not trying to stop anyone enjoying themselves (probably the opposite, because then you won't bother to question what they are doing), but to treat all Class A drugs in the same way - stopping mushroom sales is closing a loophole in the law.
scrivener
I wholeheartedly agree with you
08.01.2005 19:35
take a look at
Remember to write and protest. Labour have said they are banning Magic Mushrooms in response to letters from their constituents concerned about the effect they have on mental health. You can pretty much be sure that all these so called letters came from people who have never taken a Magic Mushroom in their life. It would be great if all the many people who currently legally buy and consume Magic Mushrooms in the UK write to Labour to tell them otherwise; I'm sure they'd get a lot more letters complaining about a ban.
Don't forget to sign the Magic Mushroom Petition online at www.petitiononline.com/DBPF/petition.html
Regards,
Dr Hemp.
Dr Hemp
e-mail:
drhemp@canedintotnes.co.uk
Homepage:
http://www.drhemp.co.uk/
Rhiannon loves her mushrooms Mann
10.02.2005 15:34
Why take something from our society which I think is more fun than drinking. Probably cause none of them have never tried a good shroomie. I don't drink, I prefer to get off my tits in the privacy of my own house,instead of making a twat of myself, all to suffer a headache the next day.
Keep your mitts off our shrooms.
Its my choice to put it into my body.
I prefer something that has been homegrown and is natural.
This country has gone mad.
Rhiannon
e-mail:
rhiannon.mann@gmail.com
garden_gnome
02.03.2005 14:08
I take exception to people sneering at me for not using my time 'more constructively' and 'not changing reality instead of escaping from it'. I would point out that pretty much anything we do to relax can be construed as 'escapism'. Furthermore the idea that there is just one reality is the construct of a rather limited ideological mindset, and should by no means be taken as a given. I personally think that violent antipathy many people have towards mind-altering substances is hangover from the times where governments saw the substance-using activities of dissidents as a convenient way to arrest them.
But anyway, the case for illegalising magic mushrooms:
Physically, there has not been a single recorded case of someone dying or suffering lasting harmful effects from the toxicity of Psilocybin, Psilocin or Baeocystin, (the active ingredients in magic mushrooms). I challenge anyone to find otherwise.
Mentally, there have been reports that a mushroom trip may trigger latent psychological problems. I have several problems with this data, most notably that there is likely to be errors in data collected from the fact that just because people with mental problems use or have used mushrooms in the past, it does not mean that these mushrooms have caused their mental illness. Furthermore, risk is an unavoidable part of living a normal life. I don't think the risk is high enough with magic mushrooms to justify forbidding their sale.
But I'm not an ultra-libertarian nutcase. Being on a bad trip if you didn't know what was happening could be quite nasty, and in this sense I sympathise with the concerns, however misguided of constituents writing to their MP's to support a ban. I do think that people should be fully informed about what they're putting in their bodies, and for this reason, regulation is necessary. I would make it mandatory for magic mushroom sellers to supply leaflets describing all the likely risks and effects so people can make an informed choice, much like as we have with other risky activities, e.g. rock-climbing.
However, the banning of sale, which is the way the government seems to be headed, will push things in altogether the wrong direction. Demand will still exist, and demand will be supplied, probably by an unsavoury breed of criminal who's completely uninterested about informing people of the effects of mushrooms. If you think this will stop magic mushrooms getting to children, you're wrong (just read any statistics about cannabis use amongst teenagers). The government needs to use its head a bit and stop pandering to the scaremongers (as always :P)
Jerome Conrad
not being picky
08.10.2005 19:10
...sorry.
There are a few (harmless) strains that look almost identicle when veiwed from above, the 'nipple' is not limited just to liberty caps. I don't know the name of the strain in the picture but the strain is larger in all it's dimensions than the semilanceata, the cap is rounder, the gills are of a different shade and the stalks snap easily, were as the stalks of even fresh liberty caps tend to be very flexible and don't snap easily when bent, a bit like string.
I see many hundreds of specimens of the unnamed mushroom I'm describing every year, whilst picking libs, they grow side by side.
paul
Grrr.
20.07.2007 15:05
Voja
Save Our Shrooms website for Holland !
24.01.2009 16:52
go to www.saveourshrooms.org to get informed and help preventing this !
jesse
Jesse
Homepage:
http://www.saveourshrooms.org
Magic Mushrooms do not have a long history of use in this country
14.03.2009 03:02
Viktor Goncharev
e-mail:
mailmeyoufool@gmail.com
No need to worry, libert cap growing news special
02.11.2010 11:30
Neil