Dutch mediahype around magic mushrooms
According to an anonymous source of the GG&GD mushroom consumption was assumed even before it was investigated. The French tourist explained that he killed his dog because he freaked out after eating magic mushrooms. Now, it seems to be that he had a 'normal psychosis'.
Negative perspective
According to Hans van den Hurk, owner of the Conscious Dreams smartshop in Amsterdam and wholesaler, there is an all over trend going on to put magic mushrooms in a negative perspective.
Many accidents with tourists are automatically related with magic mushrooms. Besides, all incidents with tourists are compared with each other and the stories are published in the same way.
Whether earlier incidents really caused by eating magic mushrooms is still doubtable.
Last week a young tourist from Iceland jumped out his hotelroom window. He explained that he felt extremely paranoid, and then freaked out. He tried to escape through the window which made him fall down 6 meters. Both his legs and feet are broken. He declared that he panicked after eating magic mushrooms. His father insists on a total ban on magic mushrooms.
Motives
It is very rare that somebody freaks out and jumps after eating mushrooms. Accidents are often the result of combining mushrooms with alcohol, medicines or other stimulants. Also depressed people should not eat magic mushrooms.
A tourist who declares to have eaten magic mushrooms before panicking fits in the ongoing trend of negative publicity about magic mushrooms that started a few months ago.
Besides, this explanation keeps a tourist free from further criminal proceedings. If the man from Iceland would have possessed any harddrugs like LSD, speed or cocaine things would not worked out for him so easily. This 'mushroom explanation' was probably one the best options. These are just speculations, we are not sure yet if these arguments are correct. Unfortunately, in the same way speculations and assumptions are often presented by the media as the truth.
However, this negative publicity around magic mushrooms will lead to stricter political regulations and perhaps to a total ban on a drug that belongs to the group of least addictive and harmful substances in our society.
