A natural disaster

Confusion reigns over the legal issues surrounding the sale and use of magic mushrooms, which are now available in high street shops across the country.

Out of favour since the early-1980s, these naturally occurring fungi contain the psychoactives psilocin and psilocybin, which produce hallucinatory effects similar to those of LSD.

And according to surveys taken at music festivals this summer, a growing number of young people are turning on and tuning in, prompting some to dub 2004 the Third Summer of Love, after the ecstasy-fuelled Second Summer of Love in 1988 and LSD which drove the first in 1967.

The active ingredients, psilocin and psilocybin, are proscribed under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 and while it is not illegal to pick, possess or eat raw magic mushrooms, preparing those mushrooms for use as a drug, is illegal. Possession of them carries the same penalties as those for possessing a Class A drug such as heroin, cocaine or ecstasy - a seven-year jail sentence and an unlimited fine.

Supply of, or possession with intent to supply, Class A drugs carries a maximum life sentence and an unlimited fine.

But how the law applies to the sale and distribution of mushrooms is something of a grey area.

In a statement to the Daily Echo, a Home Office spokesperson said: "Magic mushrooms naturally contain psilocin and psilocybin. It is these two substances which are classified as Class A drugs under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971, not the magic mushrooms themselves. When magic mushrooms are in their raw state it is not unlawful to possess or supply them.

"However, it is unlawful to possess and supply them if preparation and/or production has occurred. If fresh magic mushrooms are packaged as a product and offered for sale it is unlawful and those selling them are unlawfully supplying psilocin and psilocybin.

"It is an operational matter for the police whether or not to initiate prosecutions and up to the courts to decide if the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 applies."

The uncertainty exists in how that law should be interpreted.

When London-based mushrooms outlet, Psyche-Deli, requested a ruling from HM Customs and Excise, it was told mushrooms are standard-rated for VAT. Since VAT is only levied on legal products, mushrooms must be legal.

In the last few months though, shops selling mushrooms in Birmingham, Canterbury and Guildford have been raided and their owners charged under the Misuse of Drugs Act. Two defendants in Canterbury are now facing the UK's first ever Crown Court trial for intent to supply psilocin.

Bournemouth council's trading standards manager, Paul Walker, says the confusion is rooted in establishing the reasons for sale and ownership of the mushrooms.

"Clearly, as far as the VAT-man is concerned, they are not being sold as food, as food is zero-rated for VAT. Basically, so long as the police or bodies like the Medicines Control Agency aren't pursuing the sale or possession of raw mushrooms then there aren't really any trading standards issues," he says.

These are not the mushrooms found in supermarkets and greengrocers. The magic mushrooms commonly on sale in the high street are generally imported, perfectly legally, from Holland; although the varieties tend to originate from Mexico, Thailand and Hawaii.

Nor are they the same as the varieties of magic mushrooms that grow naturally throughout Dorset and the rest of the UK, some of which are easily confused with dangerous, poisonous varieties, as Paul Walker warns: "It does seem that Bournemouth has several sites where such mushrooms grow wild, and at certain times of the year people can be seen picking them. Now, there are a few British varieties that are very dangerous - some could kill you and several others could give you a nasty stomach upset."

Two years ago a Bournemouth businessman, Jay Onn, 36, placed himself at the forefront of efforts to clarify the law and how it is to be enforced when he wrote to the Home Office seeking guidance on whether he could legally sell and distribute mushroom growing kits imported from Holland.

Having cleared the sale of growing kits, when it became clear that some retailers were selling fresh mushrooms, Mr Onn sought further clarification from the Home Office and established that it was not illegal to sell or give away a freshly picked mushroom that has not been prepared in any way.

"The difficulty is the Home Office can only interpret the law and make recommendations, it is up to the police to investigate any complaints and the courts and juries to decide the outcome of any case. The thing is, the Crown Prosecution Service may be reluctant to bring the cases to court because the law is not clear."

A spokesperson for the Crown Prosecution Service told the Echo that although the sale and supply of psilocin and psilocybin is controlled by the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971, case law has a major role to play in defining the specific legal issues surrounding the sale of raw mushrooms.

"Each individual case is considered on its individual merits in accordance with the code of Crown Prosecutors which means we rely on a police investigation initially. We have prosecuted cases against people selling mushrooms and case law is defining what exactly constitutes the preparation of raw mushrooms as a product."

The ambiguity in the law is unlikely to be settled any time soon. Britain's schedule of controlled plants and animals is based on the list used by the United Nations. Marijuana, opium and coca leaves are all on that list. Mushrooms are not.

A Dorset Police spokesperson said: "To possess or sell prepared so-called magic mushrooms is an offence under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971. If any such offences come to the notice of Dorset Police they will be appropriately investigated.

"Dorset Police strongly advise against anyone experimenting with such compounds. They can cause stomach pains, nausea, vomiting and possible long term adverse physical and psychological consequences."

Staff at shops in Bournemouth and Poole that sell the mushrooms do not offer any advice to customers on what to do with the mushrooms. They also adhere to a self-imposed restriction to not sell mushrooms to anyone under 21 years old.

"It's actually very rare that we get people coming in to buy mushrooms who ask us what to do with them," says Mr Onn.

"We don't actively market the mushrooms, but word gets around, and as the director of a limited company of course I'm going to do all I can to meet demand, but we will not flout the law. I have a 15-year-old son and I wouldn't want him buying mushrooms. They are perfectly natural but they can have very potent effects on the mind."

Did you know...?

Several types of magic mushrooms grow wild in the UK. The most common is the Liberty Cap. Rock paintings in Algeria dating from around 5000 BC show the harvest, use and worship of the fungus, later called the Flesh of the Gods by the Aztecs. Siberian shamans used them to enlighten their path to the next world. Psilocin and psilocybin, the active ingredients in mushrooms that trigger the trip, disrupt the balance of the chemicals in the brain that regulate sensory perception. A mushroom trip lasts between four and eight hours. They produce feelings of euphoria and excitement, with hallucinations resulting from higher doses when sounds and visions will distort. Eating magic mushrooms can cause stomach cramps, nausea and sickness and, like any hallucinogen, may exacerbate existing mental problems. There's a very real danger of picking the wrong type of wild mushroom that could be poisonous. Street names for mushrooms include 'shrooms, mushies, happies, sillies, caps. Truffles can be known as the Philosopher's Stone. Mushroom takers are known as shroomers. British bands like The Coral and The Bees, with their 60s influences, have been described as shroomadelic.