HEALTH MINISTRY PLANS TO BAN 'MAGIC MUSHROOMS'

The Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry has decided to ban the sale and
possession
of mushrooms containing narcotic elements, in accordance with the Narcotics
Control
Law, ministry officials said Sunday.

The fungi, dubbed "magic mushrooms," have gained popularity among young people
as a so-called legal drug. The ministry plans to revise relevant laws to
designate the
mushrooms a raw material narcotic source under the law, after hearing opinions
from the public by the beginning of April.

The ministry aims to eventually classify all such mushrooms, which contain
hallucinogenic
ingredients psilocybin or psilocin, as narcotics and also ban the import,
cultivation and
advertisement of such mushrooms.

Extracting narcotic elements from such mushrooms is already prohibited
under the current
law, but the sale or possession of the mushrooms themselves is not subject
to the law, and is
generally overlooked by authorities in Japan.

As a result, the mushrooms are commonly sold in stores, on the street and
via the Internet.
They can be dangerous when taken in large doses, with the majority of
people who overdose
suffering symptoms such as vomiting and numbness in the extremities, said
the officials,
adding such symptoms are seen especially among teens and those in their 20s.

According to the ministry, at least 11 types of such mushrooms grow in the
wild, and two of
them are confirmed to be widely distributed. In addition, there are some
mushrooms that have
been imported from the Netherlands, it said.