Europe: Dutch Magic Mushroom Ban Clears Final Hurdle, Now In Effect

As of Monday, it is no longer legal to sell or cultivate hallucinogenic mushrooms in the Netherlands. The Dutch government had imposed the ban in April, and a court in the Hague rejected a final challenge to it last Friday.

Previously, magic mushrooms had been a staple of Dutch "smart shops" and coffee shops, where they were sold alongside marijuana and hashish. But a spate of mushroom-related incidents, most of them involving teenage British tourists, led to successful calls to ban them. The incident that most galvanized public opinion against the 'shrooms was the April 2007 death of an attractive French female teen who jumped off a bridge while under the influence.

Selling dried magic mushrooms had already been illegal. The new law extends that ban to fresh ones as well.

While the Dutch government cited the risks associated with magic mushrooms, former mushroom purveyors said the ban would put users at even greater risk. "People will just go picking in the forest, and that can be dangerous. Or they will go to street dealers and get mixed up with hard drugs," Tatanka smart shop owner David Hendricks told the London newspaper The Independent [6].

Magic mushrooms gone. Coffee shops contracting. Government rumblings about shutting down the rest of them. What has happened to Holland?