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And at around the same time made magic mushrooms completely illegal, whereas prior there had been a workaround leading to a healthy market. The tragedy of this

And at around the same time made magic mushrooms completely illegal, whereas prior there had been a workaround leading to a healthy market. The tragedy of this late Labour-era push against loosening /smarting-up of drug legislation is that it fairly directly led to the boom in synthetic cannabinoids, starting with the fairly benign Spice (as a brand) and resulting in a swathe of much-stronger, less-tested and more dangerous brands flying under the radar which (all Hoover/Google-like) were collectively known as 'Spice', but have caused problems for many in the underclass and prisons and such. I'm not much in to party politics, but this is one thing I directly attribute to Gordon Brown and his very unhelpful moralising.

mrzool 7y ago
Workaround == loophole?
- detritus 7y ago
  That's another way to put it, of course :) The law specified dried mushrooms specifically as the stance skirted complexities regarding the picking or possession of native wildlife samples (psilocybe semilanceata predominently). With kits offering the ability to grow easier-to-grow strains from elsewhere in the world (Central and South America principally) we sought clarification from the Home Office on whether it was actually illegal to possess and sell fresh magic mushrooms. Turns out, there wasn't anything illegal in that. Made for an interesting few years. We assumed a change or clarification in the law at some point, so prepared for a time when sale of fresh mushrooms per se would be outlawed. We never expected them to come down as hard as they did though, so the survival/back up plan of forming a small laboratory to grow mycelium and take spore prints and cater to an enthusiast market was all for naught. Strange to think at the time that we thought we were on the verge of the UK being at the front of the line for a change in stance on cannabis and drugs generally, but Mr. Brown took us down a different path.
  - mrzool 7y ago
    > Made for an interesting few years. Wow, didn’t know that. Which years are we talking about, roughly?
    - detritus 7y ago
      2003-2005-ish - so more couple than few!

mrzool 7y ago

Workaround == loophole?

detritus 7y ago
That's another way to put it, of course :) The law specified dried mushrooms specifically as the stance skirted complexities regarding the picking or possession of native wildlife samples (psilocybe semilanceata predominently). With kits offering the ability to grow easier-to-grow strains from elsewhere in the world (Central and South America principally) we sought clarification from the Home Office on whether it was actually illegal to possess and sell fresh magic mushrooms. Turns out, there wasn't anything illegal in that. Made for an interesting few years. We assumed a change or clarification in the law at some point, so prepared for a time when sale of fresh mushrooms per se would be outlawed. We never expected them to come down as hard as they did though, so the survival/back up plan of forming a small laboratory to grow mycelium and take spore prints and cater to an enthusiast market was all for naught. Strange to think at the time that we thought we were on the verge of the UK being at the front of the line for a change in stance on cannabis and drugs generally, but Mr. Brown took us down a different path.
- mrzool 7y ago
  > Made for an interesting few years. Wow, didn’t know that. Which years are we talking about, roughly?
  - detritus 7y ago
    2003-2005-ish - so more couple than few!