Pubdate: Wed, 27 Dec 2006
Source: SF Weekly (CA)
Copyright: 2006 New Times Inc
Contact:  http://www.sfweekly.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/812
Author: Alastair Bland

TRIP FANTASTIC

Mother Nature acknowledges no federal prohibitions on hallucinogenic 
substances, and, in spite of the law, soils across the city are 
coming alive with mushrooms of the intoxicating genus Psilocybe.

"They're everywhere," says Dr. Dennis Desjardin, a professor of 
mycology at San Francisco State University. "It's mostly Psilocybe 
cyanescens. They come up all over the State campus here -- in the 
parks, in yards, San Jose, in Marin. They grow almost anywhere that 
people have spread wood chips."

According to Desjardin, Psilocybe cyanescens will grow independently 
on most available soils, especially those that have been disturbed by 
gardening activity. As the mushrooms sprout, they draw up wholesome 
minerals and nutrients, then reconstruct them into the unlawful 
psychedelic alkaloids that have been sending free spirits on lofty 
trips for decades.

But the mushrooms haven't always grown wild here.

"The reason they're really starting to show up around the Bay Area is 
that people have them in cultivation," says Phil Carpenter, 
co-manager of the Fungus Federation of Santa Cruz. "They grow them 
and they escape. That's the best guess, because they're not native to here."

Rudy Johnson, a 54-year-old amateur naturalist and mushroom hunter 
from the Marina District, has enjoyed this influx every season for 
years, getting high every few days throughout the winter. Johnson has 
his secret patches throughout the city, and he discourages pesky 
journalists from blundering into the woods to report on subjects with 
which they have no business.

"I know the sort that reads the Weekly!" he scoffs.  "You're going to 
get hundreds of yahoos out there. I've seen fools come to the 
Presidio with shovels and sacks, ruining everything and not even 
knowing what they're looking for, anyway."

Many Psilocybe hunters, he adds, are unfamiliar with the Death Cap, 
Amanita phalloides, an abundant mushroom that can add some nice 
character and flavor to pasta sauces and cream soups but will begin 
to dissolve your liver within 24 hours. Johnson encourages interested 
parties to pick mind-altering fungi with care and respect -- and in 
moderation -- and to cultivate the spores at home. He says the 
mushrooms often take well to backyards fertilized with mulched 
woodchips of fir and alder.

Dr. Desjardin, meanwhile, suggests caution.

"It's illegal to pick mushrooms in the first place in a lot of the 
parks, and it's important to know that if they catch you out there 
with these Psilocybe mushrooms, they could throw you in jail."

Possession, production, distribution, or purchase of these little 
cappers is a U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration Schedule 1 
misdemeanor, just like pot.  If you should discover a patch of wild 
Psilocybe mushrooms, we advise that you carefully record the location 
and report immediately to   We know the sort. 
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MAP posted-by: Richard Lake