Magic Mushrooms ???

[EG]

"As of April 2005, magic mushrooms in all forms - fresh, dried, processed, naturally growing - are illegal and class A under UK law.

In the US, mushrooms and psilocybin are categorised under schedule 1 along with LSD, cannabis, and heroin."

Magic mushrooms are not physically addictive. (although perhaps the psychological effects could become compelling and therefore hard to resist) Yet still, they only grow in the north of the UK for around a month a year, so it is practically impossible to pick up some kind of drug habit with them unless they are being imported.

There are no known adverse side effects, apart from slight fatigue. The main danger with taking them is if you pick the wrong kind of mushroom and that is most likely to just make you vomit and is really down to stupidity. A bad trip is possibly, but if they are being taken responsibly and in a safe enviroment there shouldn't be a problem. So things like alcohol and nicotine are legal....but being in the possesion of magic mushrooms is not. Alcohol is one of the biggest killers. Cigarettes are higly addictive. 

So it would be interesting to find out what people think about why magic mushrooms are illegal and things like alcohol are legal (mabye because they can't be taxed - they grow naturally!)...and perhaps to hear whether people think its wrong or right for them to be illegal...?


Mr T....Ngggg...

[Icy]

Hmm..I never thought about this before.

I do believe that, in an ideal world, alcohol and cigarettes should be completely banned.  They are completely worthless.  Drinking makes you act stupid and annoying, and you feel ill in the morning, and cigarettes...well, they just smell to high heaven!

Magic mushrooms, on the other hand...I dunno...I don't really 'agree' with drugs and things that affect your mind...but then, they ARE naturally grown...so I dunno :S 

Tis a toughy, I think I'll see others comments on it first

[Nightwing]

Cigarette taxation is a major boost to any country's economy. As it grows, the government can slowly begin to crack down on it, as is happening in this country. It is not inconceivable that smoking may eventually diminsh to nothingness in several generations.
They did actually ban alcohol once. The results were not pretty. Banning something that COULD become a problem is much easier than banning something that is. Why wait for a time when cigarettes are gone, only to be replaced by magic mushrooms and friends? Ultimately, people would get addicted for SOME reason, and then we would be buried under research proving just how harmful it really is.
With any luck on their part, this research might even be credible amidst the mountains currently thrown at us.
Walkers is teh devil spawn!

[Mithrandir]

Actually, I have to disgree with you, Nightwing. Tobacco taxation isn't nearly as significant as we are lead to believe - out of the £465 billion that the government took, less than £10 billion were due to tobacco taxation (tobacco, not specifically cigarettes). That's about 2% of the entire government budget, so to call that a "major boost" is definitely a misnomer. However, what I will say is that smokers pay a lot more in tax than it costs to treat smokers on the NHS.

As far as I know, alcohol has never been banned in the UK.

On the specific issue of magic mushrooms, I think they should be legalised. If people want to do stupid things like take drugs, smoke, or drink alcohol, that's their business and the state shouldn't interfere in their lives in such ways. However, if people make themselves ill on those things, they shouldn't come running to the state for medical help.

[Nightwing]

Sorry, my mistake. It was the US I had read about...

The first half of the 20th century saw periods of prohibition of alcoholic beverages in several countries:
1920 to 1933 in the United States
1914 to 1925 in Russia (called "sukhoy zakon", also transcribed as "Sukhoi zakon" what translates to "Dry Law")
1915 to 1922 in Iceland (though beer was still prohibited until 1989)
1916 to 1927 in Norway (wine and beer also included in 1917)
1919 to 1932 in Finland (called kieltolaki)
1901 to 1948 in Prince Edward Island, and for shorter periods in other locations in Canada
(Wiki)

Also my apologies for the way I phrased my second sentence. "As it grows" referred to the country's economy. In this case, Britain's. And hence the diminishing reliance of Britain on this mode of income opens up a path leading to a potential restriction of cigarette sales. Smokers suffer from other things just like non-smokers as well, so it's not as if their tax is purely devoted to smokeing-related treatments.

And ok, legalise magic mushrooms and abolish the NHS. Or at least restrict it in the manner that private medical insurance is restricted. That would work...

[Lessa]

not sure if they still have them but in some welsh counties they were dry on a Sunday as decided by a country wide referendum. The last being in the 70s I believe.

[Edge]

Magic Mushrooms and Cannibis are illigal for one reason and one reason only- they aren't tax drugs.....


As Bill Hicks rightly said;'They push alcohol 24/7 down your throat; Drink Beer, Drink Beer, Drink Beer, why? Because it makes you slow stupid and docile- just the way we like you! Hell, it's only the number two killer drug in the world but I've seen beer commercials right next to the war on drugs commercials!'


Also,*Sarcasm* 'Don't take those drugs [Pot and Mushrooms], you don't want those drugs- they're bad for you- have these other drugs, these are good drugs!!' */sarcasm*


Ah yes, the man was ahead of his time.....RIP.


But yes, back to mushrooms; Mushrooms only bad side effect is that you have a chance of mildly freaking out, but that is only if you down a bucketload- the positive is it has hallucinogenic properties that people want to experience.....and I have never known anyone who's taken them to have had a bad reaction. They're as safe a drug as they come, perhaps more safe because it doesn't rot your insides and turn you violent after too many.

Pot is in the same boat, the only reason why the general public are allowed to kill themselves on cigarettes, but aren't allowed the WHOLLY POSITIVE experience of Marajuana is because it is an untaxed drug.....and in the end, all this bull about the Government 'protecting' people from drugs is just that; it's hypocritical bull of the highest order, because they're happy to tax and allow Cigarettes and Alcohol, the two worst killers of the lot, but not Marajuana and Mushrooms, possibly the safest. (There's no such thing as a safe drug, but safer is better.)


(Heroin, Crack, Cocaine and all those ARE dangerous and should be eliminated, this argument is solely based on Mushrooms and Pot vs Cigarettes and Alcohol.)

[Amy Lee]

Magic mushrooms CAN have bad effects, at least I think...My dad used to take them as a teen, and he said he suffered from flashbacks because of bad "trips", much like acid, which I dont think he ever took. He took a few things and he said they were the one thing he would never touch again...(well, he wouldnt touch any of them again but never mind)

As for cannabis, when pure, the only thing dangerous is the tobacco you smoke it with...its ridiculous to make it illegal! I mean, there are other ways to take it...bongs, pipes, etc...yout could take the drug pure that way and its not harmful at all. Unless you're driving...and alcohol isn't illegal, is it?

Unlike alcohol, you don't get aggressive on cannabis, yes you might act a bit like an idiot, but not in the downer way of booze, you dont fall over... it's a relaxant, much like tobacco, just a little bit stronger and nowhere near as harmful. So why not?

[Mortange.]

I didn't even realise this thread was created! Which is a bit stupid of me seeing as I suggested the topic.

But yeah, I'm on the side of legalising magic mushrooms and cannabis simply because it doesn't make sense to have them illegal and alcohol and cigarettes legal. Generally, the classification of drugs in Britain doesn't make sense. I can go to prison for seven years for picking magic mushrooms from the ground, but I can buy a bottle of vodka legally in a shop. Drinking the bottle of vodka would cause much more instant and lasting damage than eating the mushrooms....

I have no personal experience with cannabis, although I have a large amount of friends who do. The worst thing it seems to do is make people far too sleepy. (Or sick if taken with alcohol.) Obviously if misused it causes problems, but you can misuse cough medicine or caffeine; there has to be a certain amount of responsibility with any drug. Alcohol just seems to be far more harmful and dangerous.

It does just seem strange (to me at least) that magic mushrooms are so illegal when they are relatively harmless. I've never known anyone to have a bad trip, although I'm sure it does happen occasionally, I think a larger percentage of people react badly to alcohol...(violence, addiction etc.)

Heh. That was a rather badly written and late response...(but, I guess it's better than nothing?)

Magic Mushrooms and Cannibis are illigal for one reason and one reason only- they aren't tax drugs.....


As Bill Hicks rightly said;'They push alcohol 24/7 down your throat; Drink Beer, Drink Beer, Drink Beer, why? Because it makes you slow stupid and docile- just the way we like you! Hell, it's only the number two killer drug in the world but I've seen beer commercials right next to the war on drugs commercials!'


Also,*Sarcasm* 'Don't take those drugs [Pot and Mushrooms], you don't want those drugs- they're bad for you- have these other drugs, these are good drugs!!' */sarcasm*


Ah yes, the man was ahead of his time.....RIP.


But yes, back to mushrooms; Mushrooms only bad side effect is that you have a chance of mildly freaking out, but that is only if you down a bucketload- the positive is it has hallucinogenic properties that people want to experience.....and I have never known anyone who's taken them to have had a bad reaction. They're as safe a drug as they come, perhaps more safe because it doesn't rot your insides and turn you violent after too many.

Pot is in the same boat, the only reason why the general public are allowed to kill themselves on cigarettes, but aren't allowed the WHOLLY POSITIVE experience of Marajuana is because it is an untaxed drug.....and in the end, all this bull about the Government 'protecting' people from drugs is just that; it's hypocritical bull of the highest order, because they're happy to tax and allow Cigarettes and Alcohol, the two worst killers of the lot, but not Marajuana and Mushrooms, possibly the safest. (There's no such thing as a safe drug, but safer is better.)


(Heroin, Crack, Cocaine and all those ARE dangerous and should be eliminated, this argument is solely based on Mushrooms and Pot vs Cigarettes and Alcohol.)

P.S. I agree with all of this. And Bill Hicks is amazing.

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