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Legalbrief   |   your legal news hub Monday 15 June 2026

British court refuses to prosecute because of confusing law

A British court has refused to prosecute two men accused of selling magic mushrooms, which are known for their hallucinogenic properties, because the law was so confusing over the issue.

The Guardian quotes Crown Court recorder Claire Miskin as saying that the law was so ambiguous that to put the pair on trial amounted to an ‘abuse of process’. She recommended that Parliament consider new legislation to clarify the legal position. Although the courts had previously ruled that it was legal to possess magic mushrooms except where they had been ‘altered by the hand of man’, the Home Office also advised that merely chilling the mushrooms might constitute alteration. Full report in The Guardian