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Written by jesse
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Tuesday, 01 December 2009 00:00 |
 The past few weeks a couple of misleading headlines were published allover the Dutch media. "Psychedelic truffles, which are being sold in smartshops since the ban on shrooms in 2008, are just as addictive and dangerous as magic mushrooms." That's what psychiater and drug-expert Don Linszen , from the Academic Medical Centrum of the University Amsterdam, said. He made his claim in a christian broadcasting show (Dit is de Dag - 'this is the day') on Radio1. The Dutch media copied the message and wrote that the truffles are just as dangerous as the magic shrooms which were made illegal last year. Actually mr Linszen is right: magic mushrooms are just as addictive as truffles, which is because they both have a 0% dependency. With this message, however, the suggestion was made that shrooms and truffles are indeed very addictive. As we all know, except for this so called drug expert, mushrooms (and truffles) are not addictive at all. Even the government’s own research in 2008 concluded they are not.
The so called CAM report about magic mushrooms, which the government made concluded that mushrooms are not harmful. "The use of
hallucination mushrooms has such a low risk for the individual's health and to society that banning it is a too heavy restriction in
comparison with the nuisance and damage, with the current usage. About the possible addictive properties, the CAM sais the following:
"The CAM has made a risk analysis on shrooms containing psilocybine and psilocine, according to set procedures. The CAM was assisted by the Commission Risk Analysis New Drugs. From the risk analysis the following appears: there is no sign of physical or mental dependency.
The acute toxity is mostly limited to possible feeling of panic, which have only incidental fatal consequenses. The chronic toxity could only
possibly be in the form of flashbacks [lively memories]. Netto there is no risk for the individual's health. Although there are no real
scientific numbers, it seems that mushrooms in combination with other drugs (including alcohol) could form a risk.
Most smartshops took their own initiative and only sell truffles in quantities of 10 to 15 grams a box. These portions give trippy effects, but are not disorientating. There has been not a single death of shrooms or truffles in Amsterdam in 2009. In the last 20 years there have been 2 deaths from combinations of shrooms with other drugs (including alcohol). Every death is 1 too many, but compare this with the world's most accepted drug: alcohol. A recent study said that 1 in every 25 deaths is alcohol related ( www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/06/090626102332.htm ). So what's the fuzz about? Are the people who campaign against shrooms completely abstaining from alcohol? I bet 50.000 euro's right now that they're not.
The mushroom substitutes are from the same family as the mushrooms, but they build a protective shield against bad weather. The active ingredients are the same (psilocybine and psilocine). "For many people that has an enjoyable effect, but there are people who can get very scared of it", said Linzen in the radio program. "Enjoyable" isnt exactely the right word: its hillarious and philosophical. It does happen that people get scared. All they need is some comfort and some milk, and they are just fine. 20 years and millions of users have proved this.
Apart from this, many newspapers wrote that the ban on shrooms has been a success. "Spits" news wrote that the incidents decreased since last year. Incidents means that a drunk and tripping tourist is scared while being on the street in between the shopping people, and has an ambulance called. After a decrease it turned out (from health care numbers) that there is an increase again now. What do they mean with success if only the market shifts from legal to illegal. Everywhere in Amsterdam you can now find shrooms on the street markets, with creepy guys offering you heroine and prescription drugs from the doctor.
Drug researcher Peter van Dijk from the Trimbosinstituut sais: "it's too early to cheer about the success of the mushroom ban". In 2 years it might turn out that we're back to were we began, because the smartshops have found a loophole in the law. The market will always supply the demand."
What Peter probably doesn't realize is that the illegal market can and will also supply the demand. Since the ban on MDMA and GHB there has never been so much demand, and the supply has always been there. The prices have even dropped because of the overflooding of the market. The only difference is that the government doesnt get tax money from illegal trades, and that they have to uselessly spend taxmoney on police that cant stop the tsunami coming.
Worldwide its extremely easy to get presctiption drugs ('medicines'), or any illegal drug. Just as easy as it is to get alcohol in Dubai (or any Islamic country), or alcohol during the prohibition in the USA during the 1920's.
In some countries of the Muslim world, consumption of alcoholic beverages is forbidden according to Islamic Law — though the strictness by which this prohibition was and is enforced varies considerably between various Islamic countries and various periods in their history. In the early twentieth century, much of the impetus for the prohibition movement in the Nordic countries and North America came from Protestant wariness of alcohol.
The first half of the 20th century saw periods of prohibition of alcoholic beverages in several countries:
• 1900 to 1948 in Prince Edward Island, but for much shorter periods in other provinces in Canada
• 1914 to 1925 in Russia and the Soviet Union
• 1915 to 1922 in Iceland (though beer was still prohibited until 1989)
• 1916 to 1927 in Norway (fortified wine and beer also prohibited from 1917 to 1923)
• 1919 in Hungary (in the Hungarian Soviet Republic, March 21 to August 1; called szesztilalom)
• 1919 to 1932 in Finland (called kieltolaki)
• 1920 to 1933 in the United States
After several years, prohibition became a failure in North America and elsewhere, as smuggling and bootlegging (rum-running) became
widespread and organized crime took control of the distribution of alcohol. Distilleries and breweries in Canada, Mexico, and the
Caribbean flourished as their products were either consumed by visiting Americans or illegally imported to the U.S. Chicago became
notorious as a haven for prohibition dodgers during the time known as the Roaring Twenties. Many of Chicago's most notorious gangsters,
including Al Capone and his enemy Bugs Moran, made millions of dollars through illegal alcohol sales. By the end of the 1920s Capone
controlled all 10,000 speakeasies in Chicago and ruled the bootlegging business from Canada to Florida. Numerous other crimes, including
theft and murder, were directly linked to criminal activities in Chicago and elsewhere in violation of prohibition. Prohibition generally came to an end in the late 1920s or early 1930s in most of North America and Europe
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