Man commits suicide after taking magic mushrooms

I regularly take mushrooms and they are nothing but good, they're actually scientifically proven to reduce depression. Obviously any stimulants should be taken in moderation. The story is scaremongering st its finest.

mikom wrote: »

A lad kills himself.
His family and friends flail around and point blame at something they believe to be bad.
This is a multifaceted story, but the churnalists that pose as journalists in this country will put together a piece that just pushes the "drugs are bad" angle.

Points to note aside from him having ingested a miniscle amout of magic mushrooms:

Pressure of an upcoming wedding in November.

The dead man was a carpenter and farmer. A carpenter during a building downturn. I would also like to point out that the incidences of suicide are quite high in the farming community

Alan was not a drug user it is claimed. I presume he drank.

A quote from the piece.... “He said he didn’t deserve us. He said we would be better off without him. Then he said the wedding was off because we deserved better.”
Nothing may have happened, but he was back from a stag in Amsterdam where visiting prostitutes is a part of stags for some. Guilt can eat you up.

I would also like to point out that the place where the magic mushrooms in this story were consumed has a suicide rate of 12 people per 100,000 each year.
Ireland startlingly has suicide rate of 17 people per 100,000 each year.

There is more to this story than magic mushrooms.

I absolutely agree, there is more to this story..

Personally, about 10 years ago I was in thailand on a lads holiday, cheated on my gf at the time who was in Ireland. The guilt nearly drove me insane.

Tasden wrote: »

Thanks for the insight, I have no experience with them so wouldn't have a clue of how they would affect people in different scenarios.

Well, that was my experience anyway. My main thought the next morning was 'Jesus, I'll have to take more of those next time because they hardly did anything'.

What can happen is that they exacerbate whatever's on your mind in the first place, so if you're worried about anything it seem a lot bigger in your mind, but ime it only lasts as long as the trip, which wouldn't be 3 days.

Four of the fungus also would be entirely ineffective. My guess is he rode a whore and felt guilty about that and his family either don't know or refuse to believe it.

lufties wrote: »

How do you know it was the first time?

I don't know, but that's what his family are saying.

Now a question for you:

At least ten people on the thread have said so far: "There is more to this story".

Have you asked them to defend themselves, for making a point that they can in no way defend based on lack of information?

Just reinforces my view that people just believe what it suits them to believe.

4 truffles would produce little to no effect, especially with alcolol consumed also. They're tiny little things.

kylith wrote: »

Especially telling his partner that she deserved better.

I feel sorry for the family, but I really think there's more going on than a few shrooms.

I've only taken our own ones, would anyone be able to confirm what the effects of four Amsterdam truffles would be?

Tombo2001 wrote: »

I don't know, but that's what his family are saying.

Now a question for you:

At least ten people on the thread have said so far: "There is more to this story".

Have you asked them to defend themselves, for making a point that they can in no way defend based on lack of information?

Just reinforces my view that people just believe what it suits them to believe.

People are saying 'there is more to this story' because they are making an educated summation, not just believing what the paper said.

Think about it, why would someone feel such remorse for taking a few mild magic mushrooms??

lufties wrote: »

I took 4 strong mexican mushrooms and loved it..a few hours later I was back to normal, no hangover.

Mexicans are lovely, mushrooms and truffles are entirely different though, its like comparing steak and chicken.

RecordStraight wrote: »

This is specious. You might be entitled to make that argument if the man had taken drugs every day for 30 years. He didn't.

That's not how causation works. You need to be able to show either a deductive or inductive cause.

For example an inductive cause would be 50% of people who try this drug have suicidal tendencies. That doesn't prove anything but it does demonstrate a link between the two. An example is smoking whilst pregnant. There's no demonstrative evidence to show that smoking/drinking whilst pregnant harms the foetus. However there is a statistical correlation. Amongst women who smoke/drink there is a higher rate of birth defects. That doesn't mean that smoking harms the baby. Generally a woman who smokes/drinks in pregnancy will also engage in other risky behaviour and it could actually be that one of those is responsible.
However since there is a correlation it's advisable to tell women who are pregnant that smoking/drinking may harm the foetus and that they should therefore avoid it.

In this case there's no direct inductive correlation. Some studies (in the link I provided) have shown that psychedelics actually provide long term psychological benefits.

As far as deductive evidence goes, we have none right now. It's possible that investigations may turn it up but we don't have any evidence to suppose that mushroom were involved.
And suggesting that they were primarily responsible as opposed to say, long term depression, bi polar disorders etc... is reckless. It's far more possible that the guy in question had mental health issues that were responsible.

But anyway, my point is that we don't actually have any evidence. We can look at probabilities based on statistics but it's all just speculation (even if some could be considered educated speculation)

It's not uncommon for friends and family to say stuff like 'he was never depressed' or 'was always the life and soul of the party' after a loved one has taken their own life. Nor is it uncommon for them to blame things other than depression or mental health issues.

It's easier to do that than accept the fact that the person may have been depressed and that you never picked up on or recognised it.

KrakityJones wrote: »

Yep - that'd be the ones, available over the counter in a few (not all) the coffee shops there.

I don't believe coffeeshops are allowed to sell truffles, and I have never been in one that does, even on the sly.

J Mysterio wrote: »

They sell them in Smart Shops. They're all over the inner city.

I do know that, yes. I can see one from where I am sitting.