“Marijuana and magic mushrooms. One’s a plant, one’s a fungi, both are illegal – for now.
But psychedelic drug reform is already happening in the US. The city of Denver, which has already legalized recreational cannabis, is preparing to vote on whether to decriminalize magic mushrooms in May.
With New Zealand moving towards a referendum on our cannabis laws, News-hub spoke to Victoria University drug use expert Dr Fiona Hutton about whether or not we need to take a look at our laws on mushrooms.
Magic mushrooms (or shrooms) contain psilocybin, which is converted in the body to the psychedelic substance psilocin. They’re classified as Class A, meaning they come with the strongest penalties if you get caught with them.
Possession is a maximum of six months in prison – while the maximum penalty for supply is life in prison.
In medical trials, patients reported improvements in anxiety and depression. Other studies found psilocybin could help users kick their drug, alcohol, and nicotine addictions.
In the US, drug researchers, including Johns Hopkins University researcher Dr Matthew Johnson, said they were worried about the risk of bad trips and how people with psychotic disorders could be affected.
According to the 2017 annual Global Drug Survey, which relies on self-reported drug use, the rate of users who needed emergency medical care after using mushrooms was three times lower that of cannabis.
And research by UK drug expert Prof Nutt found that mushrooms were statistically the least dangerous out of 20 drugs, including alcohol, tobacco, cannabis and LSD.
Read the full article at Newshub