Legal Mushrooms?

June 25, 2008 6:25 PM

Magic Mushrooms?

I live in Europe. I want to have a legal mushroom experience with my wife. What countries are magic mushrooms still legal?

posted by thedoctorpants to society & culture (12 comments total)

UK
posted by parmanparman at 6:31 PM on June 25, 2008

Wikipedia
posted by phoenixy at 6:38 PM on June 25, 2008

Erowid. Pretty much the best source of info for this sort of stuff.
posted by the dief at 7:00 PM on June 25, 2008

Easiest in the Netherlands.
posted by Meatbomb at 9:10 PM on June 25, 2008

Yeah, go to Amsterdam, which has many pleasant headshops that cater to drug tourists.
posted by phrontist at 9:14 PM on June 25, 2008

Mushrooms are no longer legal in the U.K, IIRC. For a long time you could grow mushrooms legally as long as you didn't dry them out, but no longer.

They still haven't banned them in the Netherlands, though. There was some talk about changing this, but I don't think they've done it yet. But cracking down on soft drugs is obviously not a high priority there.

Also, you can legally get mushroom spores in the U.S, because the spores contain none of the active ingredients. Growing them isn't too difficult, but takes a couple months.
posted by delmoi at 9:52 PM on June 25, 2008

Depending on where you live exactly, you possibly could even get the mushrooms (not just the spores or a grow kit, but the actual mushrooms) shipped directly to you...

...and taking the mushrooms somewhere 'safe' like in your living room or in a park you're familiar with might be the better option if this is your first time.


Anyway, I've used shayana shop before in the past and was really satisfied with the product and service.
posted by FunGus at 10:27 PM on June 25, 2008

I've heard several times (including a personal account from an individual who's honesty I would trust without hesitation) that psilocybin mushrooms are legal in Jamaica and that there are fairly well-known establishments that serve them. Another slant I've heard on it is that it is legal to ingest wild mushrooms in Jamaica so as long as they are wild harvested and served as food they are legal. However I haven't found a definitive legal reference for this assertion. I read that it is discussed in the Lonely Planet guide to Jamaica including specific establishments, so that's one resource to investigate. The personal account (an individual who personally ingested mushroom tea and in omelets, and who was experienced with psilocybin and so could make a reasonably positive identification of the experience) was a good decade ago, incidentally, so definitely research on your own.

Although psilocybin mushrooms have several unique defining characteristics that make their identification easier please do not approach wild harvesting in a cavalier manner. I'd strongly advise against ingesting any mushroom that was not positively identified by an individual with substantial experience with identifying the specific species in question in the wild. Forget about cultivation, it's a worse rap than possession if legality is your object. And having read a fair bit about mushroom cultivation in general, it seems to be no minor undertaking.

You don't say anything about whether you or your wife are experienced with this psychedelic. If not please be aware that it is quite powerful and the rare individual can have a very bad reaction to it. Be particularly wary of extracts like tea etc. where potency may be impossible to guess. Mushrooms often kick in slow with deceptive initial effects before the real rush kicks in so always go slow, give a good hour to gauge effects, you can always take more. I know it's the basic hippie prescription to, like, treat them with respect, dude, but really, do.
posted by nanojath at 11:15 PM on June 25, 2008

Also, you can legally get mushroom spores in the U.S, because the spores contain none of the active ingredients. Growing them isn't too difficult, but takes a couple months.

Gotta disagree with you on that last part. Years ago my buddies and I tried to make our own, and it never worked. For best results you need a lot of equipment, like glass petri dishes, various horticulture instruments...and a freakin' autoclave. The idea is you have to sterilize everything, and even boiling isn't strong enough. We didn't have access to an autoclave, so we boiled things to sterilize, and multiple tries were no-go's.
posted by zardoz at 12:14 AM on June 26, 2008

Thank you everyone for the answers. I'll try Amsterdam to start.
posted by thedoctorpants at 4:46 AM on June 26, 2008

I would tell the guy in the mushroom store that it's your first time and ask him for advice. He'll tell you which kind and how much of it is best to take for your first time.
posted by creasy boy at 6:17 AM on June 26, 2008

Gotta disagree with you on that last part. Years ago my buddies and I tried to make our own, and it never worked. For best results you need a lot of equipment

Bullshit.

The idea is you have to sterilize everything, and even boiling isn't strong enough. We didn't have access to an autoclave, so we boiled things to sterilize, and multiple tries were no-go's.

Autoclave? Are you kidding?

Seriously growing mushrooms is not hard. You need a $15 pressure cooker, just boiling it isn't good enough but a pressure cooker will do the job.
posted by delmoi at 7:48 AM on June 26, 2008