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WAHEY!
Money $hot engages with democracy!
Via The new faxyourMP.com
Tuesday 24 May 2005
Dear Glenda Jackson,
I have never written to an MP before, indeed until the recent general
election I had never exercised my right to vote before; since I was
inspired to do so this time round, I thought I'd really take up the
baton, so to speak, and address my local MP as well over an issue that
has come to my attention.
Some friends of mine have been earning their living the past couple of
years by procuring and selling, from a market stall in Camden, so
called 'magic' mushrooms. That is, mushrooms from around this
beautiful, bountiful planet of ours which contain the chemical compound
known as Psilocybin. Their company is the Camden Mushroom Company, and
they have stalls in Camden, Portobello Road, and a mail order service.
Young entrepreneurs, you see?
This fungus is no doubt popularly referred to as 'magic' because of the
astounding effect the compound Psilocybin has on the perceptual
funtioning of those who consume it. Indeed, our far distant ancestors,
stretching back long before civilisation as we know it, and the
attendant systems which have grown from it (such as, say, democracy,
and global trade, and the military-industrial complex) were apparently
so stunned by this effect, that the mushroom itself was elevated, as
with so many such psychoactive natural plants, to a sacred status, and
used in religious and sacred worship rites all across Europe. The
evidence for this is compelling, being present in cave art dated tens
of thousands of years old.
There is an argument, the stregth of which I would leave to your good
self if you can be bothered or are interested enough to pursue its
origin, that the psilocybin mushroom was in fact the unknown sacrament
used by the ancient Greeks in the Eleusinian Mysteries. If you are so
inclined, you can read a little about this at
http://www.pantheon.org/articles/e/eleusis.html
and the theory itself in the Terence McKenna book 'Food of the Gods'.
Anyway, fresh magic mushrooms have, in a curious little twist of
English law, been legal to possess and supply since the regulation of
such things began nearly 90 years ago. Strangely, if dried out, the
mushrooms mysteriously 'became' a Class A drug, possession of which is
punishable by up to 7 years in prison - along with thieves, thugs,
rapists and killers.
For possessing a - dry - mushroom.
But, fresh, perfectly legal. One wonders if the legislature that pass
these laws might not have been rather partial to some of the substances
they were banning - or leaving for their own enjoyment, as the case may
be.
About a year ago, the Government decided, in its wisdom, that magic
mushrooms, though perfectly legal to sell if fresh, should be subject
to sales taxation since they are not, strictly speaking, 'food', and so
not, strictly speaking, exempt.
They are food, of course, but the intent for which they are sold is
more sacred or, as you may have it, recreational. One man's religion,
after all, is another mans dull ceremonial claptrap, or one mans
sacrament is another mans relaxing tipple. Like wine, say, or beer,
though of course these other legal psychoactive drugs require man-made
intercessionary processes, while mushrooms just grow wild (typically in
cow and sheep excrement in the British countryside. Indeed, cows and
sheep regularly consume them. Although I am now a vegetarian, when I
ate meat I would much rather have eaten beef from a cow mad on magic
mushrooms than one mad on pigs spinal cord, another fabulous innovation
of modern 'civilisation'. I'm sure you'd agree.)
So, anyway, VAT was added to the sale of magic mushrooms. Ho hum.
The effect of magic mushrooms is not something I will go into here,
though you can of course read all about it at online resources such as
http://www.erowid.org
Suffice to say, it is considered by most of its users sacred, profound
and a key to accessing a larger than usual state of consciousness; a
spirit world, even.
This mushroom has been growing all over the planet for hundreds of
thousands of years, has been used in sacred rites by man for at least
tens of thousands of years, and will continue to grow, yes even in Her
Majesty the Queens own lands, for many years to come. It is completely
natural.
So why, on this one Earth which we all have to share, is it being made
illegal this summer?
Why is it that this weekend I can pay £15 pounds, of which £2.24 will
be passed onto Customs & Excise, and share a spiritual experience with
my friends, at our leisure, as my ancestors may have done for dozens of
millenia, free as a citizen of this country to exercise my right to
religious freedom; but, next weekend, for doing EXACTLY THE SAME THING,
I can be locked up at Her Majesty's pleasure, along with thieves,
thugs, rapists and killers, who have transgressed the rights of others
to live their lives without fear, for up to 7 years? Does this strike
you as sane?
I do not understand. This is not, cannot be the business of Government?
Please, please explain to me how and why this ridiculous and absurd
nonsense is becoming law. Declaring a mushroom to be illegal? One year
after slapping VAT on the sale of the same?
Again - declaring a mushroom to be illegal?
What next? I have heard, though I have never investigated, that nutmeg,
if ground into milk, has psychoactive properties, though I gather the
nausea that occurs with it is somewhat unpleasant. Are we to ban the
sale of nutmeg also? Criminalise the patisseries with their fiendish
nutmeg cakes?
And what about bananas? The skins, if dried, can be smoked to produce a
high? Shall we lock up the greengrocers and ban bananas? A little
consistency is surely required here.
It is a terrible, sad, pompous and ridiculous thing to do,so full of
hubris and characteristic, I fear, of the New Labour we have all grown
to recognise in the past 10 years or so.
I consider you to be a reasonable and rational MP, I admire the way you
vote on most issues, and I look forward to your response. i would like
to know how I can go about reversing this stupendously daft piece of
pointless legislation.
Yours sincerely,
Money $hot
Mushroom Eater
c2daa14429825caebfb7e9d3aaf3474abe688a7c
(Signed with an electronic signature in accordance with subsection 7(3)
of the Electronic Communications Act 2000.) |
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