SaveOurShrooms.org

Requested by the Dutch Ministry of Health to get insight in the risks on Magic Mushrooms, the Coordination Centre for the Assessment and Monitoring of new drugs (CAM) has carried out a risk assessment on psychotropic mushrooms containing the active substances psilocin and psilocybin.

The research center advised NOT to ban shrooms, yet the Ministry decided to ignore the advice and proceed to ban.

The research was conducted in 2000, and later repeated in 2008. Both times the advice was NOT to ban. The second time there was another type of government, though.

This drug is not associated with physical or psychological dependency, acute toxicity is largely limited to possible panic and anxiety attacks and, in terms of chronic toxicity, the worst that can happen are flashbacks. Consequently, the use of paddos (hallucinogenic mushrooms) does not, on balance, present any risk to the health of the individual.

The product is relatively easy to come by, yet there is little adequate information available to users. The quality of the product is unreliable and the quality awareness of those who sell the product is, for the most part, lacking. On the other hand, we have been pleasantly surprised by findings relating to the scale of use, the vulnerability of the user and the number and seriousness of incidents reported. The risk to public health is therefore judged to be low.

This drug adversely affects the user’s reactions (including his or her ability to drive), but there is no danger of it lowering his or her violence threshold. Since usage is usually confined to the home or the open air, there is no inconvenience caused to other people. The risk to public order is therefore judged to be low.

There is no risk in relation to criminal involvement. Only a very small number of individuals on the smart shop scene have ties with the designer drugs underworld.

In comparison to other drugs for which CAM has carried out risk assessments (MBDB, MTA and GHB), paddos score relatively low on the risk scale.

In view of the above, CAM recommends that quality requirements be imposed on the paddos product (such as standardisation, purity and labelling) and the trade in paddos (such as the provision of reliable information). These measures should help make paddos available only in limited supply. The results of the risk assessment do not present any need for a statutory ban on paddos.