Make the Magic Stop

Like Jesse Walker, I was surprised to hear that psilocybin mushrooms will soon be banned in the U.K.–mainly because I hadn't realized they were still legal there. In a recent Guardian column, Mark Honigsbaum explains that until now only dried or otherwise processed 'shrooms were forbidden. But this summer even the fresh variety will be placed in the same legal category as crack and heroin. Honigsbaum says the legislation, a token of the Labour Party's toughness on drugs, "is so flawed it could even see Her Majesty banged up at her own pleasure for permitting psycilocybe mushrooms to flourish at Windsor and Balmoral."

[Thanks to Thomas Roberts for the link.]