Even Possession of Psilocybin Spores Is Illegal
Birds do it. Bees do it. Everything has its own way of reproducing, but you have probably never wanted to think about how fungi reproduce. Of course, this is the age of the endless bombardment of unsolicited content suggestions, so this means that, if you are going to find out about fungus reproduction, it will be when you are minding your business, scrolling through ostensibly harmless content about cooking with vegan egg substitutes or about outdoor summer recreation that does not cost anything. You might not even have to click before the video about the dispersal of fungal spores starts playing on your phone. Florida lawmakers have had a lot to say recently about the reproductive habits of the most fun fungus in the Sunshine State, and a bill to criminalize the possession of psilocybin spores has just gotten approval in Florida’s House of Representatives. Even if you did not even know what a spore was, you could get criminal charges if police find them in your possession. Here, our Miami drug crimes defense lawyer explains how Florida went from seeing psilocybin mushrooms as the latest new wellness trend to being a dangerous controlled substance so illegal that it becomes a crime to possess even their precursors.
What’s the Deal With Spores?
You see, when a mommy mushroom and a daddy mushroom love each other very much, actually, fungus reproduction more closely resembles Aristophanes’ theory of love, as described in the playwright’s drunken speech in Plato’s Symposium. Aristophanes said that the deities created humans as spherical beings joined back-to-back and then split them in half and sent the halves to Earth separately, as a cruel prank. Therefore, each of us is searching for our other half, but we do not know who our other half is until we find him or her, but when the two halves find each other, they want to embrace each other face-to-face.
Spores are to psilocybin mushrooms and many other kinds of fungi as seeds are to plants. Technically, seeds are a type of spore. Many species of mushrooms have recourse to several modes of reproduction, one of which is the dispersal of spores. Spores are haploid cells, meaning that each one only has half the genetic material of the parent organism; in this way, they resemble the oocytes and spermatozoa (egg cells and sperm cells) of mammals. Wind and rain drops pick up the spores and carry them until they meet other spores in mid-air. They fuse and settle in the soil, where they develop into the next generation of mushrooms.
The Twilight of Legal Hallucinogens in Florida
It was not too long ago that nondescript office buildings were the site of LSD clinical trials in windowless, lava lamp-lit rooms, complete with Pink Floyd on vinyl. People were saying that medical psilocybin was the next medical cannabis. Under federal law, psilocybin, the active ingredient in psychedelic mushrooms, is a Schedule I controlled substance, meaning that, like heroin and MDMA, it is always illegal and has no legally approved medical uses. Of course, cannabis is also still Schedule I at the federal level. For most of 2024, the federal government came within inches of rescheduling it to Schedule III, although that effort is currently in limbo. Plans to open legal avenues for medical use of psilocybin have similarly stalled. Some states have decriminalized psilocybin, but Florida is not one of them.
HB651 and Other Legislation About Biological Products That Aren’t Not Drugs
The Florida House of Representatives recently approved HB651, which would criminalize the possession or distribution of psilocybin spores. The spores do not contain any psychoactive compounds; the mushrooms do not become psychedelic until at least a little while after fertilization. A motivation for this law was the increased prevalence of psilocybin mushrooms and psilocybin edibles adulterated with LSD, a synthetic hallucinogen which is much stronger. Last summer, two teenage boys were hospitalized after ingesting what they thought was a psilocybin edible. When police confiscated the edible, it tested positive for LSD. Even though no one has ever died from an overdose on hallucinogens, lawmakers consider the danger of psychedelic mushrooms adulterated with LSD similar to the danger of counterfeit prescription pills adulterated with fentanyl, since it involves a stronger, less expensive drug sold as a milder, more expensive one.
Contact Our Criminal Defense Attorneys
A South Florida criminal defense lawyer can help you defend yourself against criminal charges of possession of psychedelic mushrooms or their spores. Contact Ratzan & Faccidomo in Miami, Florida for a confidential consultation about 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
