The mushroom, Amanita Muscaria, was not covered under a regulation introduced in January 2006 under the Misuse of Drugs Acts to outlaw the sale and possession of magic mushrooms containing psilocybin.
Contacted last week, the Department of Heath told the Sunday Tribune it had "no plans" to add Amanita mushrooms to the list of controlled substances despite their widespread availability in alternative lifestyle stores.
"The list of scheduled substances is kept under review on an ongoing basis and substances may be scheduled if there is evidence that the substances are being misused and are causing significant harm to public health," according to the statement.
The department has previously acknowledged that the toxic element in some species of Amanita could lead to death. Until 31 January 2006 it was illegal to sell hallucinogenic psilocybin mushrooms if they were processed (and not in their raw state) but the new regulation banned them completely. But as the Amanita does not contain psilocybin, it escaped the ban. VHI Healthcare says Amanita intoxications are responsible for 90% of mushroom deaths in the United States and western Europe.
One of the main exporters of psilocybin mushrooms from the Netherlands to Ireland before the ban said he was inundated with requests for the Amanita mushroom in the aftermath of the ban but he does not sell it because he believes there are more risks associated with it.
"The Amanita, as opposed to psilocybin mushrooms, can be toxic in the same way as alcohol can be. I believe the Amanita should only be sold by personnel who are very knowledgeable about it and to people who know what they're buying. But I imagine some stores are selling them to anyone. For some reason, the Irish government banned non-toxic psilocybin mushrooms. I've no doubt that Ireland banned the wrong type of magic mushroom."
Chris Murphy, director of Crosscare's drug and alcohol programme in Dublin, said he had "concerns" about the on-going availability of magic mushrooms in Irish stores.
A survey by the National Advisory Committee on Drugs (NACD) released two weeks ago found that magic mushrooms were the second most commonly used illegal drugs in Ireland across all areas after cannabis. This does not reflect the fact that people are commonly consuming magic mushrooms but 5.8% of those surveyed reported experimenting with them on at least one occasion. "It's misleading to say that people are only buying them in shops. There is a mushroom picking culture here," NACD director Mairéad Lyons told the Sunday Tribune.
Magic mushrooms grow naturally and seasonally throughout the country generally between the months of August and November. Hundreds of people pick them for their own consumption and their use as a hallucinogen dates back to Celtic times.
Scientists from Johns Hopkins University in the US reported last week that most volunteers who consumed magic mushrooms containing psilocybin in an experiment said they were still feeling and behaving better because of the experience 14 months on.
Two-thirds of them also said the drug had produced one of the five most spiritually significant experiences they'd ever had.
Source: Sunday Tribune, 06/07/2008
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