POLICE SAY 'SHROOMS,' POPULAR PARTY DRUG, HITTING CAMPUSES

Drug officers know them as psilocybin mushrooms.

That's a mouthful for the substance known on the street as "shrooms,"
"mushies" or "Mexican Magic Mushrooms."

They're the same ones that popped up all over the psychedelic '60s, police
said, and they have a hallucinogenic effect - similar to LSD.

Mushrooms aren't as popular as many other drugs, the Drug Enforcement
Agency reported, but they often appear on college campuses, clubs and raves.

Chris Taylor with the North Texas Regional Drug Task Force said mushroom
users follow several recipes for taking the drug. Methods include:

- --Eating them;

- --Crushing them, then smoking them and

- --Putting them in gelatin capsules and swallowing them.

Broken down, the 25 pounds of mushrooms found in Tuesday's busts held more
than a million dosage units. That's how the value of this particular drug
is measured.

Department of Public Safety narcotics investigator Jim Blake said those
doses would likely sell on the street for about $10 each, following a
numerical formula DPS uses. He said the $11 million price tag sounds high,
but it's what the department's computerized system rang up.

The Controlled Substances Act does not address mushrooms themselves, the
DEA reported. But the mushrooms contain the chemicals psilocybin and
psilocin - both Schedule I drugs, it says.

Psilocybin breaks down in the body and produces psilocin, which may create
effects, including hallucinations and impaired ability to tell fantasy from
reality. The DEA also describes "a crossing of the senses, such as 'seeing
a sound' and 'hearing a color.' "

The drug affects senses, including touch, hearing and vision, the
government report says.

In addition to those effects, the DEA said there are other unpleasant
physical symptoms involved. Those can include:

- --Nausea and vomiting;

- --Weakness, drowsiness, yawning;

- --Restlessness;

- --Sweating;

- --Lack of coordination;

- --Enlarged pupils.

Investigators said the bust in Clay County cut into drug distribution
across parts of Texas.

The Department of Justice's Web site said one of the most significant
crackdowns in the country happened in Medford, Ore., in November 1999.
Several federal agencies teamed up to seize 100 pounds of fresh mushrooms
and 66 pounds of dry ones. The site said those drugs were being supplied to
11 states.