'Magic mushrooms not narcotic': Kerala High Court grants bail to petitioner held for possession of drugs

The Kerala High Court has noted that “magic mushroom” cannot be considered a scheduled narcotic substance under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act.

Justice P V Kunhikrishnan referred to the Karnataka HC and Madras HC's decision in the Saeidi Mozdheh Ehsan v. State of Karnataka, and S. Mohan v. State, respectively, and stated that mushrooms should only be considered as a fungi.

“I am in perfect agreement with the decisions of the Karnataka High Court and Madras High Court. Mushroom or magic mushroom cannot be treated as a mixture. Therefore, Note 4 of the Table dealing with the small quantity and commercial quantity is not applicable as far as Mushroom or magic mushroom is concerned. Admittedly, the mushroom or magic mushroom is not a scheduled narcotic or psychotropic substance," LiveLaw quoted the Kerala HC as saying.

The court was hearing a bail petition of a petitioner who was arrested in October 2024 for the possession and transportation of "charas, ganja and 226gm of Psilocybin contained magic mushroom and 50gm Psilocybin contained magic mushroom capsules" as per the report.

However, the court noted that the charas and ganja were found to be in small quantities and magic mushrooms did not qualify as narcotic according to the NDPS Act.

"Whether a mushroom can be considered as a mixture? I am not in a position to accept the contentions of the prosecution that mushroom is a mixture. It is only fungi. The Karnataka High Court in Saeidi Mozdheh Ehsan v. State of Karnataka, considered a similar question," the court went on to say.

Relying upon the decision of the Supreme Court in the Hira Singh v State of Union of India, the court further noted that along with the actual weight of the offending drug, the quantity of neutral substances in the mixture must also be considered while determining 'small or commercial quantity' under the NDPS Act.

Therefore, considering all these points and the fact that the petitioner was in jail for 90 days, the court allowed his bail petition.