Family welcomes ban on magic mushrooms

THE family of a young man who jumped to his death after taking magic mushrooms yesterday welcomed a Government decision to ban their possession or sale.

Tánaiste and Minister for Health Mary Harney announced the ban - brought into immediate effect at 4pm yesterday - following a Cabinet meeting.

Colm Hodginson, aged 33, died last October after jumping off an apartment building in Dún Laoghaire, south Dublin, after consuming the mushrooms.

“On behalf of myself and the rest of the family we’re just delighted,” said Mr Hodginson’s brother Sean yesterday.

The Hodginson family approached Ms Harney after Mr Hodginson’s death and called on her to close a loophole in the law regarding magic mushrooms.

“I went to the Hemp Store, got a friend of mine to go in and buy these magic mushrooms and we brought them into the meeting with Mary Harney and put them on the table and told her this is what killed our brother.”

Sean said the Tánaiste was “very moved.”

Up until yesterday afternoon it had been legal to sell the psychoactive mushrooms to a person of any age as long as they had not been dried or processed.

Ms Harney said magic mushrooms in their raw state were now banned.

“In December I met with the family of a young man who died after having consumed psychoactive mushrooms. At that time it had become clear that the sale of magic mushrooms was increasingly commonplace, and I directed that legislation be prepared to clarify the law to ensure that the trade in these drugs could not continue,” she said.

Sean told RTÉ radio’s Liveline it was a shame they had to loose their brother before action was taken.

Anti-drugs activist Gráinne Kenny said she had highlighted the sale of magic mushrooms to Cabinet ministers in August 2002, but only got a “lot of gobbledegook” in response.

Dr Des Corrigan, director of the School of Pharmacy at Trinity College Dublin welcomed the ban.

“These are potentially harmful drugs in terms of the way they effect the brain and the delusional behaviour and psychotic behaviour that can follow,” he said.

Darcy Pettigrew, who until yesterday sold magic mushrooms in his shop in Drogheda, said he was surprised the ban had been brought in so quickly and with such little debate. “I believe they should have been legalised and controlled. Prohibition makes a black market,” he said.

Meanwhile, the owners of the Funky Skunk store in Cork, which is seeking an injunction in the High Court today to prevent the Revenue Commissioners from seizing their imports of magic mushrooms, last night declined to comment on the ban.