Man Charged With Hallucinogenic Mushroom Operation
Friday, Oct 5, 2012 | Updated 7:59 AM EDT
ASSOCIATED PRESS
** FILE ** Magic mushrooms are seen in a grow room at the Procare farm in Hazerswoude, central Netherlands on this Aug. 3, 2007 file photo. The Dutch government will ban the sale of hallucinogenic mushrooms, a spokesman for the Justice Ministry said on Friday, Oct. 12, 2007, rolling back one element of the country's permissive drug policy after a series of well-publicized negative incidents. The decision will go into effect within several months and does not need parliamentary approval. "We intend to forbid the sale of magic mushrooms," he said. "That means shops caught doing so will be closed. Psilocybin, the main active chemical in the mushrooms, has been illegal under international law since 1971. However, fresh, unprocessed mushrooms continued to be sold legally in the Netherlands along with herbal medicines in so-called "smart-shops," on the theory that it was impossible to determine how much of the naturally occurring substance any given mushroom contains. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong, File)
Police who were planning to arrest a Stamford man who did not pay a 2011 ticket for playing his home stereo too loudly said they stumbled on an alleged hallucinogenic mushroom growing operation and instead arrested him on drug charges.
The Advocate of Stamford reports that Dimitri Taranov was charged on Wednesday with illegal cultivation of a hallucinogen and manufacture of a controlled substance.
Capt. Richard Conklin said Taranov, 43, operated an elaborate hallucinogenic mushroom growing operation and police were lucky to "stumble upon" the operation as it was beginning.
No mushrooms were growing.
It was not known on Friday if Taranov is represented by a lawyer. He was held on $500,000 bond.
