A while back, I mentioned that psilocybin mushrooms are "as illegal as LSD" in our dear, drippy (at least on this side of the Cascades) Washington. One thing worth discussing here is why, exactly, LSD is so very illegal. As illicit drugs go, LSD and "magic mushrooms" would seem to be low-end offenders. They're apparently not addictive, certainly not in any physical dependency sort of way, the lethal dose seems to be ... well, if there is one, it's apparently very high, and they furthermore don't seem to shred your liver, lungs, heart, or spleen. So what's the big deal?
Well, aside from the "we don't like lotus-eaters" factor and the (probably overblown) dread of some guy blitzed out of his mind on the stuff taking a shotgun to the mall, the major concern seems to be that the stuff might just shred your pretty brain meats. Unlike claims about "reefer madness" and "dope fiends," this is an argument with some teeth: apparently, long-term users can start to show some psychological ill-effects, and then there's the possibility of people who already aren't on the best terms with their brains getting worse as a result of hallucinogens. There's some indication that people with underlying mental problems can have them "triggered" by the drug.
And that's not getting into the more immediate potential for a "bad trip," or the longer-term risk for LSD users of having a trip abruptly resurface at inconvenient moments, like in traffic.
Reason enough for outright prohibition? Maybe. Psychological damage is not fun. Then again, compare to the long-term effects of alcohol abuse.
Reason enough for possession to constitute a class C felony? ... yeah, maybe not.
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