To Prevent LSD Freakouts, Florida Lawmakers Go After Spores

Last summer, two boys from Indian River County, ages 12 and 14, went to the emergency room because they were experiencing psychotic symptoms.  The boys had ingested hallucinogenic edibles, sold under the pretense that they contained psilocybin, a hallucinogenic compound found in psilocybin mushrooms.  When police tested the edibles in the crime lab, though, they discovered that the edibles contained not only psilocybin, but also LSD, a synthetic hallucinogen which has been popular for recreational use for decades.  LSD is stronger than psilocybin; you can also produce it quickly in a lab instead of waiting for a mushroom to become mature.  Therefore, it is less expensive than psilocybin, and drug dealers can increase their profits by mislabeling LSD as psilocybin, just as they can by mislabeling fentanyl as oxycodone or other less potent but more expensive opioids.  The comparison of LSD to fentanyl is misleading, though; no one has ever died of an LSD overdose, while fentanyl kills thousands of people every year.  If you are facing criminal charges for possession of LSD or other hallucinogens, a West Palm Beach criminal defense lawyer.

What Are Spores?

Florida lawmakers float a lot of ideas.  For example, two bills have recently proposed that litigants in divorce cases should be able to request a jury trial in divorce cases, despite that doing so would require either a significant rewriting of the family code, or else extensive juror education about what gets decided in divorce cases.  As for criminal law, the Florida House of Representatives just passed HB 651.

HB 651 makes it a crime to possess or sell the spores of psilocybin mushrooms.  Spores are the reproductive material of fungi; they are to mushrooms what seeds are to plants.  Mushroom spores are so small that wind and raindrops can easily carry them.  When spores from different parent individuals get into close contact with each other, they fuse and combine their genetic material, giving rise to a new individual.  Psilocybin spores do not have any psilocybin; it is not possible to induce a psychedelic trip simply by ingesting spores.

The new law is part of a turn away from the psychedelic-friendly mindset that some states have been embracing.  Like cannabis, psilocybin is a Schedule I controlled substance at the federal level, and like cannabis, some state and local laws have enabled workarounds for its medical use.  Although the medical community’s support for psychedelics is not unanimous, there has been recent research into their potential as treatments for mental illnesses and substance use disorder.  There were even clinical trials in South Florida toward this end.  Study participants would take LSD in a windowless room in Fort Lauderdale that, according to news reports, looked just like the kind of room where people trip on LSD in the movies.

Contact a West Palm Beach Criminal Defense Lawyer Today

Attorney William Wallshein has more than 41 years of experience, including five years as a prosecutor in Palm Beach County.  Contact William Wallshein P.A. in West Palm Beach, Florida to discuss your case.

Sources:

marijuanamoment.net/florida-lawmakers-approve-bills-to-outlaw-psychedelic-mushroom-spores/

cbs12.com/news/local/south-florida-teens-hospitalized-overdoses-on-lsd-laced-magic-mushrooms-on-the-rise