A mum whose 21-year-old student son died after taking illegal magic mushrooms is calling for a change in the law to ban the sale of the spores needed to grow them.
Laura Vesterinen-Maury was horrified when our investigation found no action could be taken against firms who supply the microscopic cells from which the Class A drug grows – because until they are cultivated they do not contain any banned substance.
One man whose customers openly rave online about the strength of the mushrooms they grew from his spores describes the loophole as “a nice little grey area”.
Psilocin, the active ingredient in the mushrooms that produces hallucinogenic effects, is a Class A drug. That can mean up to seven years in jail for possession – or life imprisonment for supplying or producing them.
But psilocin is not present in the reproductive spores from which the mushrooms grow, meaning they fall outside the law. And our investigation found a host of online sellers happy to exploit that.
Laura’s son Antoine was studying music at Edinburgh College when he died in 2016. He had disappeared after drinking mushroom tea with a friend and suffered a “bad trip”, and was found dead in a loch some five weeks later. A postmortem found psilocin in his body.
Antoine’s friend Scott Mckerral, who gave him the concoction, pleaded guilty to being concerned in the supply of a fungus containing psilocin and was given an 18-month supervision order and 210 hours of community work.
From her home in France, Laura told us: “I want to prevent another family going through what I’ve gone through – I want people to know how dangerous these drugs are. I can’t believe it’s legal.
“I know what can happen. People can become vulnerable when they take them and can lose control. That is the way my son died. The sellers of these spores are putting people in danger.
“To them it’s just a business. The government needs to change the law.”
Harry Sumnall, professor in substance use at Liverpool John Moores University, explained: “Spore kits don’t contain any fungus with these chemicals. This means that sale or possession of spore kits is not against the law.
“However, once people start to use the kit and grow magic mushrooms they are committing drug production and possession offences.”
The owner of one of many websites selling the spores defended the trade, telling our investigator: “We neither sell nor grow, nor would we advocate our customers to sell or grow, magic mushrooms.”
Daniel Quick, 41, who runs Cornwall based Orangutan Trading Co – which was not involved in Antoine’s death – markets spores with names such as Penis Envy, Aztec, and Jedi Mind F***.
He added: “Just to be clear, Orangutan Trading Co sells mushroom spores imported to the UK for mycological [scientific] use. This is perfectly legal.
“Whilst it is true that on our website I describe the law on magic mushroom spores as a ‘grey area’ and that the law is ‘dumb’, we abide by the law and respect the law in everything we do and we would always advocate our customers to do the same.”
The firm sells syringes of spores for £13. They can be bought by bank transfer or using crypto-currency, with no age checks.
On his website, Mr Quick states: “Magic mushroom spores (like the ones I sell) currently occupy a nice little grey area, much like cannabis seeds, where they’re totally legal to own and legal to do whatever you like with as long as you don’t grow the f***ers.”
He says he never advocates that his customers should cultivate his spores into magic mushrooms – which also grow naturally in the UK in woods and meadows.
His website carries a disclaimer saying the spores should be used only for scientific study. But a blog on the site offers a step-by-step guide on how to cultivate your own mushrooms.
And customers have posted on social media site Reddit about magic mushrooms they have grown using their spores.
One wrote: “They turned out great. Ended up with about 70g of dried very potent shrooms.”
Another said: “I grew some of em from orangutan.
“Be careful as they’re strong AF [very strong].”
On his site, Mr Quick says making the mushrooms illegal is “a dumb law, made by some old-fashioned dudes, and it flies in the face of all available research”.
He adds: “Personally I think growing magic mushrooms is cool and good, but I won’t sell anyone spores to break the law with or I’d be part of your evil nature crimes.”
The Home Office said: “This Government’s approach is to prevent drug misuse and support people through treatment and recovery.”
A syringe, treats and nod to law
Reporter Matthew Dresch bought a £13 spore kit from Orangutan Trading Co using crypto-currency.
He says of his purchase: “Inside a brown cardboard package I found a syringe filled with ‘Aztec’ magic mushroom spores, an alcohol wipe and a hypodermic needle.
“It also contained two red-topped magic mushroom toys, a couple of Maoam sweets, an Orangutan Trading Co sticker, and a letter with a handwritten signature.”
Matthew admits he is far from being won over by the extras.
He explains: “In online reviews, Orangutan Trading Co customers often share their gratitude for the free treats.
“But there is nothing sweet about the letter inside the package.
“It warns customers, ‘Oh yeah – these spores are for microscopy [scientific study] only – any other use is naughty’.”
