THE sale of magic mushrooms is to be banned in Ireland, following a lobbying campaign by the family of a man who died after eating the drug.

Mary Harney, the health minister, told the Dail last week that legislation is being prepared to make possession or sale of magic mushrooms a criminal offence. This will bring Ireland into line with Britain, where they were classified as class A drugs alongside heroin and cocaine in July 2004.

The man in his thirties, from Dun Laoghaire, died last year after he jumped out of the balcony at his apartment. Gardai are investigating claims that he bought magic mushrooms at a shop in Dublin city centre, and had taken less than the recommended dosage on the packet.

The man’s family believe the hallucinogenic contributed to the actions that led to his death. Shortly beforehand, he and friends had been playing Trivial Pursuit and drinking beer.

His relatives have met government officials to ask that action be taken to stop shops selling magic mushrooms. Although there has been a long-standing ban on dry or packaged product, it is still legal to possess or sell them in fresh form.

Aengus O’Snodaigh, a Sinn Fein TD who has been in contact with the family, said they wanted people to be aware of what had happened to their son. “They also want prosecutions against these outlets to make sure the same thing doesn’t happen to someone else’s son or daughter,” he said.

In response to a Dail question O’Snodaigh posed last year, Michael McDowell, the justice minister, said gardai regularly monitor the premises where mushrooms are bought.

Noel Ahern, the junior minister in charge of the national drugs strategy, says he has met with Department of Health officials to discuss the legal position of magic mushrooms.

“Late last year, following the sad death of this man, I met with members of his family and I subsequently arranged for officials from my department to meet with the departments of health and justice, the gardai, customs and the Forensic Science Laboratory to assess the legal situation and whether existing legislation is sufficient to deal with their increased use and sale,” Ahern said.

“Arising from this it was decided that a change in the law was warranted. This is now being arranged through the tanaiste and her department.”

A drug prevalence study published in 2004 found that magic mushrooms were the second most commonly used drug, after cannabis, which had been used at least once by 17.6% of people. Mushrooms had been used by 4%, similar to ecstasy (3.8%) and cocaine (3.1%).

Following the British ban, a spokesman at the Department of Health said there were no plans to change Irish law. But Harney said last week that legislation is now being prepared that will remove any doubt that “magic mushrooms in their raw state are controlled drugs under the Misuse of Drugs Act”.

Dr Liam Twomey, Fine Gael’s spokesman on health, said that the mushrooms have hallucinogenic and often unpredictable effects. “Many people can get away with taking them, but some people can end up getting addicted and having significant psychotic episodes and something unfortunate can happen as happened in this case.”

Last week a Cork shopkeeper failed to get a High Court order stopping customs officers from seizing shipments of unprocessed magic mushrooms that she wanted to sell in her store.

Helen Stone, who runs the Funky Skunk shop, had sought an injunction pending the outcome of legal proceedings against customs.

She said seizures of the mushrooms, imported fresh from Holland, were having a bad effect on business. She argued that they were not processed by her employees, and therefore they were not illegal.

But lawyers representing the customs service argued that magic mushrooms are unlawful, because they contain a prohibited substance.

Justice Mary Laffoy refused to make an order, but said she would fix an early date for the hearing of the substantive case.

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