Subject: Re: URGENT! Hallucinogenic fungi & legislation

From: [email-masked] (Larry Caldwell)
Date: 8 Feb 1996 01:02:06 -0800

In article <[email-masked]>,
"Erast Parmasto" <[email-masked]> wrote:

>    Just now, some years later than needed, Estonian parliament
> is going to discuss a law on use of narcotics. The question is,
> is it regulated by law in some country to control the use of
> hallucinogenic fungi, their commercial or home production,
> and propaganda of their use in media (newspapers, books,
> TV, radio)?
>    Our mycologists here in Estonia have some few weeks to give
> their expert opinion about what may be included to the new law.
>    Any information will be appreciated.

I'm not aware of any amanita regulations in the USA.  They may exist,
but amateur consumption of amanita sp. is a self-limiting practice. :)
Once the general public becomes aware of the potential death penalty
for eating the wrong amanita, good sense prevails.

Psilocybin is classed legally with the narcotics, and possession is
illegal.  Technically, most farmers with a cow or a woodlot are
criminals, since p.semilanceata is common in cow pastures and 
p.cubensis grows well in wood chips.  Laws against cultivation are
rarely enforced, since most police don't even notice mushrooms.
P.semilanciata is a common contaminant in exhausted agaricus bisporous 
beds.

Despite the general lack of enforcement, psilocybin use in the USA is
not perceived as a major social problem, since it is generally seasonal,
nonaddictive, and nontoxic.  The main danger is an inexperienced 
collector mistaking galerina autumnalis for p.semilanceata.

Limiting discussion in publications is likely to be self-defeating, since
new varieties of euphoric mushrooms are still being discovered.  

-- Larry