From today clause 21 of the Drugs Act 2005 comes into force , reclassifying psilocybe mushrooms as a class A drug alongside heroin and crack cocaine. From that date, importation, possession or sale of magic mushrooms will be punishable by a life sentence.

Caroline Flint, the Home Office minister, who spearheaded the legislation through parliament shortly before the general election, said mushrooms could trigger psychosis and there was evidence users could be at risk of self-harm.

Home Office Minister Paul Goggins said in a statement: "Magic mushrooms are a powerful hallucinogen and can cause real harm, especially to vulnerable people and those with mental health problems.

They are both dicks. Shrooms are not hallucinogens they are psychedelics, a subtle but important difference. The term “hallucinogen” is applied to a substance that causes the sensory perception (sight, sound, etc) of something that does not exist (weapons of mass destruction, for instance). “Psychedelic” is a term that refers to a substance that causes altered perceptions of something that does exist - your surroundings. There is no evidence of any serious harmful effects from their ingestion and they are not addictive. Effects include giggling fits and intensification of colours, lights and sounds

A Dutch study found no evidence to link magic mushrooms with psychosis and said that mushrooms did not lower users' violence threshold. Since consumption usually took place at home or in the open air, "there is no inconvenience to other people," it concluded.

As if to prove what complete knobheads these ministers are, the magic mushroom Amanita muscaria - more commonly known as Fly Agaric - which IS dangerous has not been banned!

Judging by the results of previous attempts to control drug use we can expect a huge rise in the consumption of shrooms over the coming years culminating in shroom gang wars in Manchester, the domination of the shroom market by yardies and the development of 'crack mushrooms'.