Magic mushrooms trader defends business

THE owners of a shop which sells hallucinogenic 'magic' mushrooms defended their business yesterday.

"We are not about pushing drugs. We're about education and drug reduction," said Helen Stone, the owner of the Funky Skunk store in Cork.

Ms Stone and her business partner Steve Wilson, were selling the natural high-inducing fungi from their city centre store yesterday for €15 for a 20-gram bag.

Their shop also sells Gothic-style clothes, candles, books and other items.

But they have been doing a roaring trade in the magic mushrooms they import from Holland since they first started selling them six months ago.

Magic mushrooms contain psilocin and psilocybin. Psilocybin is converted to psilocin in the body.

The effects of psilocin are very similar to those of LSD, although psilocin is about 100 times less potent than LSD.

Changes to the classification of magic mushrooms in Britain and the North last year put them in the Class A category - in the same league as heroin, ecstasy and cocaine.

The changes made it an offence to import, export, produce, supply, possess or possess with intent to supply magic mushrooms, whatever form they are in.

But Mr Wilson said what they were doing was perfectly legal.

"They are legal here in their raw and unprocessed form," Mr Wilson said.

The law on magic mushrooms is unclear, according to legal sources.

"I had a customer in here yesterday who used to sniff three bottles of nail varnish every day," Mr Wilson said.

"He came in to thank me. I would tell him that what he was doing was damaging his health. He's off the varnish now and he comes in to us for a bag of mushrooms every few days."

Ms Stone said they have a very strict policy of not selling mushrooms to under-18s.

And the bags also come with labels warning people of the side effects.

Legally high: new stimulants, old plants find their way onto the Irish market from Holland

SALVIA DIVINORUM:

Rare form of sage contains Salvinorin A, powerful psychoactive chemical.

When smoked, its effects are instantaneous, powerful and strange.

Duration: five-10 minutes, with an hour-long tail-off.

Status: Banned in Australia and Italy.

KRATOM (MITRAGYNA SPECIOSA):

Native south-east Asian plant.

When eaten, powdered leaves cause an effect similar to a combination of heroin and cocaine.

Effects: Waves of pleasure, euphoria.

Duration: five-eight hours.

Status: Illegal in Thailand and Australia.

FLY AGARIC (AMANITA MUSCARIA):

Red and white spotted mushroom. When cooked the toxins break down, so it can be drunk in a tea.

Effects: Often unreliable, a dreamy intoxicated state, excessive salivation.

Duration: Five hours.

Status: Legal everywhere.

SAN PEDRO (TRICHOCEREUS PACHANOI):

Common cactus found in most garden centres, has large amounts of mescaline, a class-A psychedelic.

Effects: Mild stimulant or full-blown psychedelia. Large amounts must be taken. Most throw up.

Duration: 12-18 hrs.

Status: Legal.