FUNGI MAGAZINE Review

SACRED MUSHROOMS & THE LAW

by Richard Glen Boire

The one exception to our focus on identification guides, this is a summary of the laws and other legal aspects of psilocybin, psilocin, and the mushrooms that contain them. However, from a practical viewpoint, such a guide seems hardly necessary if one considers that possession of psilocybin and psilocin is a crime throughout the U.S. Although apparently the laws have not been enforced to this extent, in many states a home or landowner could be prosecuted if psilocybin mushrooms were found on his/her property, regardless of whether she/he knew they were there and what they were.  Boire makes much of the fact that the laws are written in terms of the active compounds, not the mushrooms that contain them. However, the cases he describes suggest that defendants arrested for possessing psilocybin mushrooms have had little or no success pursuing a defense strategy that makes use of that distinction.  Of interest for those who want to understand the legal background associated with magic mushrooms.

Fungi, Vol 4:3 Summer 2011