# Mushroom mushroom! **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 27, 2003, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mushroom-mushroom/221202 "2003-12-27T01:47:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Grumple\_Grommit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9fc348/32.png) [@Grumple\_Grommit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grumple_Grommit)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2003, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mushroom-mushroom/221202/1 "2003-12-27T01:47:35Z")
Hi, I’m wondering how much proof would be needed to convict someone of harvesting magic mushrooms. I know something like growing them in your yard would be blatantly illegal, but what about growing them in a natural environment like a forest- would that make it impossible for the police to prove a crime was committed unless they actually caught you in the act? And would it be illegal to pick or consume wild psilocybe mushrooms that haven’t had any kind of assistance to grow? ---
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2003, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mushroom-mushroom/221202/2 "2003-12-27T03:35:25Z")
There **may** be an actual way to own psilocybin that is legal, but most ways are illegal meaning this thread will be closed. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2003, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mushroom-mushroom/221202/3 "2003-12-27T04:04:14Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Grumple Grommit \* > **I know something like growing them in your yard would be blatantly illegal** Inasmuch as [_Psilocybe semilanceata_ (Liberty Cap)](http://leda.lycaeum.org/?ID=62) grows wild in the Pacific Northwest and spreads by spore to any hospitable yard or field, you cannot be prosecuted for simply having them growing on your property, absent any evidence of cultivation (which they do not respond well to anyway). Otherwise, every dairy farmer around Bandon, Oregon would be in jail. ---
**Author:** ![Blown\_Injected](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a87d85/32.png) [@Blown\_Injected](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blown_Injected)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2003, 7:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mushroom-mushroom/221202/4 "2003-12-27T07:00:45Z")
If you are found with bags of dried shrooms it shows an intent to use and that is illegal - I would believe growing indoors would also be a non approved activity ---
**Author:** ![BlueMit11](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7feea3/32.png) [@BlueMit11](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlueMit11)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2003, 7:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mushroom-mushroom/221202/5 "2003-12-27T07:33:01Z")
I’ve heard that it is legal to buy the spores. It’s obviously illegal, from what people have said on this thread, to grow them, though. ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2003, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mushroom-mushroom/221202/6 "2003-12-27T15:18:56Z")
It is illegal to possess any psilocybin or psilocin containing material. So, yes, even picking wild Psilocybe sp. is illegal ( unless you have a permit ). How do you get a permit? Be a known expert on mushrooms with a legitimate reason to have them in your possesion. My former mycology professor has one ( and dried material stored in the herbarium ), but he maintains the largest mycological collection west of the Mississippi and is a recognized expert in mushroom taxonomy ( significant enough that the total list of grant money he has received from the NSF et al., runs in the neighborhood of ~ $1.5 million last I checked, which 'tain’t bad for a largely non-molecular taxonomist ). A graduate student working on the appropriate group(s) might be able to swing it as well. - Tamerlane ---
**Author:** ![UselessGit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/74df32/32.png) [@UselessGit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UselessGit)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2003, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mushroom-mushroom/221202/7 "2003-12-27T15:38:56Z")
I don’t know the latin name of them but here in Reykjavík we have a LOT of magic mushrooms growing each fall. They are eaten quite a lot and I don’t know anyone who has ever been charged with eating them. Since they grow pretty much everywhere and we have a collective police force of around 20 overweight guys, there isn’t much that can be done to stop this so they basically don´t try. But anyway… forest? You can grow them in your backyard… Hell, I grow them in my backyard and I’m not even trying to. If the police were to come and comment on my mushroom garden (again, I’m really not trying to grow them…) I’d love to hear their argument. If the mushrooms are in fact illegal shouldn’t the police be working 24/7 at ridding the world of this dangerous narcotic? And if they are allowed to grow in the wild, how are we forbidden to eat them? How am I to know which mushrooms are poisenous (hallucinagenic) and which are not? Oh… Winners don’t use drugs, be cool - stay in school! ---
**Author:** ![II\_Gyan\_II](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/bbe5ce/32.png) [@II\_Gyan\_II](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/II_Gyan_II)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2003, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mushroom-mushroom/221202/8 "2003-12-27T16:03:19Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by UselessGit \* > \*\*How am I to know which mushrooms are poisenous (hallucinagenic) and which are not? \*\* Unfortunate use of adjective. There are mushrooms which are poisonous but not **psychoactive**. ---
**Author:** ![UselessGit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/74df32/32.png) [@UselessGit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UselessGit)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2003, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mushroom-mushroom/221202/9 "2003-12-27T16:23:54Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Gyan9 \* > \*\*Unfortunate use of adjective. There are mushrooms which are poisonous but not **psychoactive**. \*\* I cry your pardon for my foolish adjective use… :smack: BTW interesting mushrooms that are both very pois **o** nous and psychoactive include the picturesque _Amanita muscaria_, or [Berserk’s Mushroom](http://www.floraislands.is/SVEP/amanimus1s.jpg). This colorful chap could well provide your last _trip_ should you be silly enough to eat it, but how can you resist? Just look at all the pretty colors…😛 ---
**Author:** ![UselessGit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/74df32/32.png) [@UselessGit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UselessGit)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2003, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mushroom-mushroom/221202/10 "2003-12-27T16:25:10Z")
…well, **both** the pretty colors… ---
**Author:** ![Fish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/bc8723/32.png) [@Fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fish)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2003, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mushroom-mushroom/221202/11 "2003-12-27T16:32:37Z")
You might also wish to be advised, **Grumple Gromit** , that besides the magic variety, there are many species of plants and mushrooms that _also_ flourish in the damp, dark Pacific Northwest that are toxic to humans. I don’t recommend hopping off the plane and gobbling fungus willy-nilly; that’s a good way to qualify for an [emergency liver transplant.](http://www.healthatoz.com/healthatoz/Atoz/ency/mushroom_poisoning.html) A quick Google search will turn up some field guides to identifying edible mushrooms; check before you eat. FISH ---
**Author:** ![Blown\_Injected](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a87d85/32.png) [@Blown\_Injected](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blown_Injected)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2003, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mushroom-mushroom/221202/12 "2003-12-27T16:59:54Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by UselessGit \* > \*\*And if they are allowed to grow in the wild, how are we forbidden to eat them? \*\* Hemp, poppies, coca, all may be found in the wild but the man somehow finds a way to, well you know.