BCPO on the lookout for magic mushroom

By Glazyl Y. Masculino

BACOLOD City – The Bacolod City Police Office (BCPO) urged police stations and drug enforcement units (DEUs) to be on alert against “hallucinogenic” magic mushrooms.

This, after Police Station 5 confiscated for the first time 3.610 kilograms of magic mushroom worth P361,000 from three persons, including a couple, in a buy-bust operation at Barangay Cabug here last Monday.

“This is new to me, to us, to our policemen. Sa pandinig natin ay bago ito,” said Police Lieutenant Colonel Bonifacio Ancajas Jr., BCPO’s public information officer.

In a press briefing yesterday, Ancajas said BCPO personnel should be on guard against this kind of contraband so that they can get more information on how these mushrooms are made and where they can be sourced from.

Police Major Joery Puerto, head of Police Station 5, earlier said that the mushrooms came from Don Salvador Benedicto, Negros Occidental and one of the suspects in the operation was the one who processed and produced “hallucinogenic” magic mushrooms.

Puerto also said that magic mushrooms can be used as party drugs like Ecstasy. Others might claim that the magic mushroom has a medical effect, but he warned the public that this has not been proven.

The Negros Occidental Police Provincial Office (Nocppo) and the BCPO are coordinating to identify the source of these mushroom drugs.

But since information as of now is limited, they have difficulty establishing the specific violation that can be sanctioned against a person who might harvest mushrooms that will be used as “hallucinogenic” magic mushrooms.

“Hindi pa natin ma confirm kung paano nila ginagamit itong magic mushroom and how to process it. Baka maihalo pa nila ito sa pagkain,” Ancajas said.

He said the BCPO is always on the lookout for illegal drugs, and new brands that can be illegally used.