Magic Mushrooms Banned in Netherlands

(growroom)
Friday the Dutch government unveiled a ban on hallinogenic mushrooms.

I want to recycle some good photos I have lying around from earlier stories I did on this.

(smartshop)

Secondarily, I wanted to remark on the following: here is a list of the top stories in the Netherlands Friday (just after midnight Dutch time).



For those of you who don't read Dutch, they are:
1) Record oil price
2) 300 French Arrested for Child Pornography
3) Dead gangster's girlfriend remains in jail
4) Free Internet for soldiers
5) More traffic jam information on highway signboards
6) Bulgarians stymie "euro" spelling
7) Student wounds two in Rotterdam
8) Schiphol Airport won't be privatized
9) Al Gore wins Nobel Prize.

While the mushroom ban got a fair amount of attention internationally, it wasn't considered significant enough to make the list of top stories in the Netherlands.

Not quite sure why that is.


The city of Amsterdam is protesting, but the Oracle predicts they will find it difficult to resist a well-reasoned decision taken at the national level.

(sorry for the blur but this was taken with a cell phone!)

The Cabinet also plans to introduce a ban on smoking next year; marijuana smokers will be forced to sit in a ventilated compartment separated from the rest of the coffee shop.

I've very curious to see how that will work in practice.

The main mushroom growing company, Procare, says they plan to throw a party with the last mushrooms they grow legally.

If I can swing an invite I'll go and take pictures.
(ready for packaging) MORE

Fan Mail

Yes, this is for real!

At first I though, oh great, another crank, but by the end he (I doubt it was a she) had me laughing. Whoever the mystery author is, look me up when you get to Amsterdam and I'll buy you a beer...

Dear Mr. Sterling,

I recently read your amusing column regarding the potential disappearance of the magic mushroom from smart shops in Amsterdam, due to a few isolated cases of misuse by teenagers. In reading, it certainly seems as though you are strongly in support of this measure. I am outraged at this, as are most of the people with whom I am associated. What, I ask you, do you know about it? Are you stationed in Amsterdam currently? Have you ever taken a magic mushroom yourself? I thought not.

The varying points made throughout your poorly written column were the points of an inexperienced drug user. Having never ingested hallucinogens, how can you possibly be expected to understand what races through the mind of someone with a head full of mushrooms? You can't possibly know the paranoid dementia that is the sweet juicy innard of a mushroom trip. You can't say for certain that the people in the three cases you mentioned were not entirely justified in their actions on those nights. Is it conjecture or fact that no one was chasing the young man who leapt from the balcony? Just because you choose not to believe that the Danish driver who tore through a campsite was doing so in order to destroy last vestiges of the evil spirirt of Lucifer himself, do not think you can force those views on the rest of us. You are hopeless when it comes to psycotropic fungi my friend. I suggest you stick to what miniscule talents you have, perhaps you can arrange to be transferred to a more suitable assignment.

I find this column to be the lowest of the low, the yellowest of yellow journalism. You sir ought to be ashamed of yourself. You are a hack, and I am hereby actively calling for your immediate resignation, as well as an apology to the good people of Amsterdamn, and mushroom purveyors and enthusiasts the world over.

Sincerely,


The W.

There is no more so don't click "more"

Did you really think there would be any more? MORE

Mushrooms

There's talk of banning mushrooms in the Netherlands.

The problem with "Shrooms," in my opinion, is that it's unpredictable how people will react to them. I have nothing to say about whether it's morally wrong or right for someone to try them: people have been eating mushrooms since time began, I guess. They won't hurt your health directly, but when a tourist (or anybody) freaks out after taking them, it can be sad for them and a danger to others.

The real question should be: can society afford to balance the problems and trouble from people freaking out with the freedom people should have to take a trip that's the mental equivalent of flying to Mars? It reminds me very much of people who go hiking or sailing in dangerous areas and then taxpayer money gets spent bailing them out.

Anyhow, the 'kicker' to this story is: the brothers who grow all the mushrooms say they've never taken them themselves. If they get shut down, they plan to take the last ones they grow at a big party with all their friends. Now that's one party I'd like to see... MORE

Mush Room

Coming soon:

"At last the Caterpillar took the hookah out of its mouth, and addressed her in a languid, sleepy voice.

`Who are YOU?' said the Caterpillar.

This was not an encouraging opening for a conversation. Alice replied, rather shyly, `I--I hardly know, sir, just at present-- at least I know who I WAS when I got up this morning, but I think I must have been changed several times since then.'

`What do you mean by that?' said the Caterpillar sternly. `Explain yourself!'

`I can't explain MYSELF, I'm afraid, sir' said Alice, `because I'm not myself, you see.'

`I don't see,' said the Caterpillar.

`I'm afraid I can't put it more clearly,' Alice replied very politely, `for I can't understand it myself to begin with."

Poor Alice.

Today I met with two gentlemen whose business it is to grow mushrooms. This is 100 percent legal in Holland, though after some recent incidents in which tourists who took mushrooms caused problems or injured (and in one case killed) themselves, they're talking about banning them.

The punchline: the two guys who grow about 60 percent of mushrooms sold in the Netherlands have never tried them themselves. And no, this is not a question of 'not inhaling.' The moment was apparently never right...

Well, they say 'don't get high on your own supply', and I guess these gents have taken that advice to heart. It was quite a fascinating experience seeing their operation. Very high-tech.

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