Revised March 6, 2006, July 30, 2007 and Revised October 29, 2007
Copyright 199-2006 by John W. Allen
| A page devoted to newspaper clippings, unusual articles some psilocybian mushroom trivia |
NEWS ARCHIVES
| Hello and welcome to our News archives. In this section you will find
a wide variety of newspaper clippings regarding the visionary mushrooms.
I Started to catalogue these clippings back in 1973. They are arranged alphabetically newspapers and then chronologically by dates. In additon, I would like to add that one must not beleive everything one reads in a newspaper. Although the majority of these articles are loaded with misinformation, They were at the time, the only source of public knowledge reagrding the sacred mushrooms. This page is devoted to News Items form Canada. |
CANADA
British Columbia
PAGE 2
THE VANCOUVER SUN November 6, 1980. Page A13. Farmers Plan Polictical Ccounter As Mushroom Picking Booms By Michael Bocking Surrey farmers are planing a polictical counter-attack against the armies of magicmushroom pickers who have invaded their fields this fall. This year's wet, frost-free autumn is producing a bumper crop of the psychedelic delicacy and it is not unusual to see more than a hundred people in one field picking the mushrooms. The hunters of this tiiny psilocybin fungi are creating real problems for farmers. Not only are some of their crops being trampled, but bottles, cans and other garbage left behind fouls or damages farm machinery. And farmers, like everyone else, want to enjoy privacy on thier property without strangers walking all over their fields. At a meeting Wednesday night the Hall's Prarie Farmers' Institute (the local organization for Syurrey farmers in the Hazelmere Valley) decided to lobby the Federal Government to outlaw possession of the mushrooms and to ask Surrey council to enact a trespassing bylaw. Bob Jacobs, an alderman abnd Surrey's crown prosecutor, told the group of 20 farmers in the Hall's Prarie elementary school that there is no trespassing law currently available to Surrey residents. Provincial legislation concerning trespassing applies only to unorganized areas. It is up to local councils to enact a bylaw governing trespassing, a bylaw Surrey does not have. "There is not much we can do this year," Jacobs said, "but we should try to fix things up before the next season." The current situation makes it difficult for farmers or police officers to prevent people from invading private property. He said he will ask council at its next meeting to consider implimenting a trespassing bylaw. "A bylaw would give you some token of legal protection so that someone can react and charge these people," Jacobs said. The farmers are concerned about their legal responsibilities. They are worried that a picker high on the mushrooms could injure himself and the farmer would be held legally responsible. Farmer Joe Beck said there were more than 100 people on his farm Wednesday. "I have very big ditches on my property. When one of those mushroom freaks, goofed up on this stuff falls into my ditch and drowns, will I be responbsible for that?" he asked. Jacobs replied that it would depend on the circumstances but that it is quite possible the farmer could be sued in such situations. BEck said he has consulted his lawyer about the effect on his insurance policies if there are unauthorized people on his farm. "My lawyer says, "that if they come in here and burn down my barn, for example, I can't collect insurance, unless I had previously asked them to leave." Jacobs said farmers might be able to controll the situation through assault legislation. He said a property owner is entitled to remove an unauthorized person from his land with whatever force might be necessary. A trespasser resisting such a move could be charged with assault. "But it depends on how he resists. If he is passive and just sits there he can't be charged, but if there is an overt act of resistence he can be charged," said Jacobs. There was no indication, that the Surrey Farmers were considering anything like the alleged vigilante action carried out by Courtenay farmners two weeks ago and aided by the RCMP. SOme of the pickers in that incident said they were beaten and their cars damaged. They alleged shots were fired. That incident resulted in the arrest of 41 pickers. Most were charged with trespassing or public mischief. At Wednesday's meeting a farmer asked if the mushrooms could be killed with a fungicide, but district agriculturalist Ernie Walker said the mushroom spores are very difficult to kill. Other farmers suggested they might even go into the mushroom business themselves, given the high prices paid for the mushrooms. A person has offered me $300 a day for next year to use my fields," said one farmer. Jacobs urged the farmers to ask their local members of parliament to pressure the appropriate authorities in Ottawa to outlaw the mushroom. |
| SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER Sunday, October 17, 1982. Victoria, British Columbia (AP) People gathering "magic mushrooms" in some British Colombia fields may be flirting with disaster, says toxicologist Dr. Ron Kobylnyk. Agricultural pesticides diazinon and parathion, both deadly poisons, are being used on Vancouver Island to combat infestations of leatherjacket larvae. The pesticides can contaminate the tiny, hallucinogenic psilocybin mushrooms, said Kobylnyk, who is director of the British Columbia Pesticide Control Branch. The mushrooms which grow well in the Pacific Northwest, have been compared to a mild version of LSD. |
October 18, 1982. Page A6. LURE OF MAGIC MUSHROOMS. COURTENAY, British Columbia. Trespassing charges were filed against two more people willing to risk the wrath of farmers for the delight of hallucinogenic mushrooms, police said yesterday. The harvesting of psilocybin mushrooms, commonly referred to as "magic mushrooms," is a poular pastime every autumn. Possession of mushrooms has been treated as legal by police since 1979, when British Columbia Chief Justice Nathan Nemetz ruled that although refined psilocybin is a controlled substance under the Food and Drug Act, psilocybin mushrooms are not. |
| SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER Thursday June 5, 1997. Page B2 Victoria, British Columbia. Professor is Charged After Police Find Marijuana Plants A widely known University of Victoria professor has been charged with cultivating marijuana plants and more than 18 pounds of marijuana. Jean Veevers, 54, appeared in provincial court Tuesday charged with cultivation, possession of marijuana for the purpose of traffiking, theft of power from B.C. Hydro and possession of psilocybin (hallucinogenic mushrooms). She is also acharged with possession of a prohibited weapon, a canister of tear gas. Police said they found the plants in the garage of a home in suburban Saanich. The dried marijuana and about 3 ounces of mushrooms in a freezer. Police said the marijuana was packaged in various quantities. Veevers is internationally know for her work in the sociology of marriage and family, sex and gender, demography, social problems, aging and the sociology of animals. She has been at the University of Victoria since 1980. |
| THE PARKSVILLE-QUANTICUM BEACH MORNING SUN>-Online
Newpaper February 22, 2000 Parksville RCMP busted what they are calling a magic mushroom "factory," Feb. 2 in Bowser. At 9:30 a.m., five officers executed a search warrant on a rural home in Bowser, says Cst. Gord Nixon, adding that no resistence was encountered. They came away wqith 11 kg (24 pounds) of what they believe are psilocybin mushrooms. "we seized mushrooms at all stages -- growing, semi-dry and dry<" Nixon told the Morning Sun on Monday. "The drying process was ongoing at the time of the seizure. Nixon called the mushroom growing operation fairly unique. "This is not a very common way of producing a controlled drug, or substance," he said. The mushroom factory was located in three tractor trailor units, which had been specially modified for the job. Police seized all three units and remained at the scene until 6 p.m.. when the last unit was moved to secure storage. Several charges under the Controlled Drugs and Substance Act are pending against a man and a woman residing on the property, but police have not released their names. The co-accuseds are due in Parksville provincial court on March 29. |
Thursday February 10, 2000 http:www.tvforbc.com/bctv.nsf/fddb.../2/25/00 A GROW-OP OF A DIFFERENT KIND (CHEK) In Victoria, police today raided a different kind of grow
operations, the likes of which they had never seen before. For the
first time, they came across a "magic mushrooms" grow-op. It filled
nearly every square inch of an intire house on Wilkinson Road - row
upon row of mushrooms sprouting up from some sort of pod. Police seized
150 kilograms of product, worth more than a million dollars on the
street. A 28-year old man is now facing charges of producing a controlled
substance and possession for the purpose of trafficking. |
|
The following note was a correspondence bnetween me and a member of a secret site on Entheogens about a post on a large-scaled shroom bust. This is dated February 14, 2000. And I am not sure of its accuracy? Canadian Mushroom Bust (Mycoinfo http://www.mycoinfo.com/news.html - 02/14/00) Here was a reply on this bust as I searched to find data pertaining to this bust. Hi, Theo, I searched all of the BC nespapers and could not find a siongle reference to a mushroom Bust anywhere around the Saanich Penisula. No reference to it anywhere in any Canadian Newspaper and nothing on the wire service. I have numerous bigger busts in my files, way bigger than the one you discussed in that news Item from Mycoinfo. They always seem to have outdated info there or late responses to quires. RycheHawk was just hassled and almost busted in Gilbert, Arizpona and his hassle was not put in the papers either. They brought him into to talk with after hassling him at the post office after he picked up a strange package from Europe. They then got a warrant and raided his house thinking he was a big international smuggler. My response to Theo was: " They alledgedly found 9 dried ounces of shrooms. But they let him out a day later on his own recog, after trying to get him to snith. Well there was nothing to snitch about since spores are legal. He'll be back with his spore syringes in no time. However, No news reports of this bust exist. What do you think? Theo's response back to me has disappeared from my files somehow. This was my last response onthis bust which appears somewhere in the Canadian news items or int he big Cultivation Busts section of the News Items posted here: Hi
Agagin, After
much searching and much frustration, I have finally found a little of this
mushroom bust, which definately does not add up to a million dollar bust. Here
goes. Looking through multiple newspaper sites in Canda and British Columbia,
here is what I ran across . Theo's
news item was dated Febryuary 14th, 2000 and reported that Television stations
described this as a million dollar bust.. Jere
is the story taken from the "The Parksville" - Quanticum Beach
Morning Sun-Online Newspaper. Dated Feb 2, 2000....... Parksville
RCMPO (Royal Canadian Mounted Police) [as if they need horses to haul out the
mushroom compost, hehehe.] busted what they are calling a macig mushroom
"factory," Feb. 2 in Bowser. At
9:30 a.m., five officers executed a search warrant on a rural home in Bowser,
says Cst. Gord Nixon, adding that no resistance was encounteered. They came
away with 11 kg (24 pounds) of what they believe are psilocybin mushrooms. "We
seized mushrooms at all stages -- growing, semi-dry and dry." Nixon told
the Morning Sun on Monday. "The
drying process was ongoing at the time of the seizure." Nixon
called the mushroom grow operation fairly unique. "This is not a very
common way of producing a controlled drug, or substance." he said. The
mushroom factory was located in three tractor trailers units, which had been
specially modified for the job. Police seized all three units and remained at
the scene until 6 p.m., when the last unit was moved to secure storage. Several
charges under the controlled substance act are pending against a man and a
woman residing on the property, but the police have not released their names. The
co-accused are due in Parksville provincial court on March 29, 2000. And
there you have the real news. |
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