Mum of teen who died in Scots loch after drinking magic mushrooms calls for change in law

dailyrecord.co.uk:

The mum of a student who died after taking magic mushrooms wants changes to the law to ban them from being produced. The mushrooms are illegal to buy but the spores needed to grow them can be readily purchased across the UK, reports the Daily Mirror.Antoine Vesterinen-Maury was studying at Edinburgh Music College when he died in 2016 after drinking mushroom tea with a friend and was found dead in Duddingston Loch five weeks later.

His mum Laura is disgusted that no action can be taken against firms who supply the microscopic cells because until they are cultivated they do not contain any banned substance.One man who grows super-strength spores describes the loophole as “a nice little grey area”.The active ingredient in the mushrooms that produces hallucinogenic effects, is a Class A drug called Psilocin.People can face up to seven years in jail for possession – or life imprisonment for supplying or producing them.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.Laura said: “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.