The International Narcotics Control Board describes itself in its annual report as an “independent and quasi-judicial control organ, established by treaty”, that monitors implementation of the international drug control treaties (INCB Annual Report 2010). It publishes a report each year and comments on national drug policies.
Its 2010 report is often quoted on mushrooms. It notes that plants that are the sources of narcotic drugs, such as the opium poppy, coca bush and cannabis plant, are under specific control in the 1961 Convention, but that “no plants are currently controlled” under the 1971 or 1988 Conventions, even where their active ingredients are. Magic mushrooms (Psilocybe), which contain psilocybine and psilocine, are among its examples (INCB Annual Report 2010).
The Board did not call such plants harmless. It recommended that governments facing problems consider controlling the plant material nationally (INCB Annual Report 2010). Canada’s law reaches mushrooms because its Act covers psilocybin wherever it occurs, while the Netherlands chose to list mushrooms by species.
General information, not legal advice.
Sources
- International Narcotics Control Board: Annual Report 2010
- UNODC: Convention on Psychotropic Substances, 1971
Last checked .