I gave him some money because I do think the law is silly. He's out picking wild mushrooms. If some turn out to be psychedelics then so be it. It was in nature. Maybe if we were selling them I'd have a confern, but if the man wants to pick mushrooms, let him pick mushrooms.
As someone who can't stand the taste of them I'm still enthralled by the prospect of collecting mushrooms for fun and their culinary value. The trouble I run into is how I have no idea what's good to eat, what'll make you sick, what'll get you high, and what'll just simply kill you.<p>Guidebooks are worse than useless, because you can never be sure that the slight differences between the mushroom you're looking at and your best guess in the guidebook are unimportant or a distinction that means the one you picked is fatal instead of edible.<p>There's no app for this. [EDIT: Ok, there are apps for this, but there's always room for improvement]<p>There should be. And this guy could earn a modest income helping some semi-talented ML and mobile engineers in Washington build one with his wealth of knowledge.<p>Take a picture of a mushroom with your phone, and it'll help you tell what you can expect from it.<p>Nothing helps with legal or medical problems like not having to worry about relatively tiny amounts of money.
Less clickbaity title: "Washington man facing prison for drug possession".<p>Whether someone should be jailed for picking psilocybin mushrooms is up for discussion (hint: they shouldn't), but he wasn't arrested for picking Portobellos.
Which makes me wonder: do mycologists (mushroom scientists) get a legal license to pick mushrooms wherever the heck they want? Let's say this really is a completely new, unidentified species that only grows in this national park. Then what?
><i>Corbett has been frustrated by what he considers insufficient or even counterproductive advice by his lawyers, who have urged him to plead guilty. They have refused to discuss anything relating to mushrooms or entheogens, and hope Corbett will settle for the plea deal and probation. But Corbett is determined to challenge the law and prove his innocence. He has since fired his attorneys and he hopes to hire one who will best represent him and his unique situation. </i><p>Not a very smart move. The lawyers he fired are right.