AMSTERDAM, Netherlands - The famously liberal Netherlands has been swinging
toward the right, cracking down on immigration, religious freedoms and the
freewheeling red light district. The next possible target? Magic mushrooms.

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The death of a 17-year-old French girl, who jumped from a building after
eating psychedelic mushrooms while on a school visit, has ignited a
campaign to ban the fungi ? sold legally at so-called "smartshops" as long
as they're fresh.

Regulation of mushrooms is even less stringent than Holland's famously loose
laws on marijuana, which is illegal but tolerated in "coffee shops" that
are a major tourist attraction.

Gaelle Caroff's parents blamed their daughter's death in March on
hallucinations brought on by the mushrooms, although the teenager had
suffered from psychiatric problems in the past. Photographs of her
beautiful, youthful face have been splashed across newspapers around the
country.

In May, Health Minister Ab Klink ordered the national health institute to
perform a new study on the risks of mushrooms. Depending on the
conclusions, which are due next month, he said he would either recommend
that mushroom sales be limited to those over 18 or impose a total ban.

A 1971 U.N. convention on psychotropic substances banned psilocybin, the
main active ingredient in mushrooms, in its purified form. But the legal
status of mushrooms themselves was long unclear. Over the last six years,
they have been outlawed in Denmark, Japan, Britain and Ireland. It is also
illegal to sell psilocybin-containing mushrooms in all U.S. states, but the
status of spores, homegrown and wild species varies from state to state.

Peter Van Dijk, a researcher at the Netherlands' independent Trimbos
Institute of Mental Health and Addiction, said in an interview last week
that the mushrooms themselves are not a health threat because they are
neither addictive nor toxic.

However, people who take them may hurt themselves or others, he said. The
risks grow if mushrooms are combined with alcohol or cannabis, or if people
already have psychiatric problems.

"They really shouldn't use mushrooms because that can trigger psychosis," he
said.

A study published in January by Amsterdam's health services said the city's
emergency services were summoned 148 times to deal with a negative reaction
to mushrooms in 2004-2006. Of those, 134 were foreigners, with Britons
forming the largest group.

Dutch government data suggest most mushrooms sold in smartshops are eaten by
tourists. Since Caroff's death, other dramatic stories involving foreigners
have been reported in the Dutch press:

? A 22-year-old British tourist ran amok in a hotel, breaking his window and
slicing his hand.

? A 19-year-old Icelandic tourist thought he was being chased and jumped
from a balcony, breaking both his legs.

? A 29-year-old Danish tourist drove his car wildly through a campground,
narrowly missing people sleeping in their tents.

A majority of parties in parliament ranging from centrist to far right have
demanded the hallucinogenic mushrooms be outlawed.

If the government does ban mushrooms, it will be in keeping with
conservative trends that have been sweeping the country in recent years.
Since 2001, Muslim immigrants have been under pressure to learn Dutch and
integrate, and there have been calls by some to ban Islamic schools and
radical mosques.

Last month, authorities announced a major crackdown on organized crime in
Amsterdam's Red Light District. And the country's marijuana policies have
also been under pressure, with authorities launching more aggressive
prosecution of growers.

Brothers Murat and Ali Kucuksen, whose farm "Procare" supplies about half
the psychedelic mushrooms on the Dutch market, say they are afraid their
business will now be forced to close.

Their state-of-the-art system to grow and package fresh mushrooms is already
operating at half capacity, in part because of the British ban and in part
because of the recent bad press.

"The reputation of the product is down the drain," Ali Kucuksen said.

For many, however, it is still business as usual at Amsterdam's smartshops.

Chloe Collette, the owner of the Full Moon shop in Amsterdam, showed a group
of British backpackers the various types of psychedelic mushrooms on sale
Thursday.

"We have seven kinds on the menu, most of them are the softer kind," she
told the group.

She said she doesn't sell to people under 18 and tries to screen out
customers who appear unstable. But she acknowledged there is no way to be
sure. She said she recommends people find a park or someplace outside where
they can sit and talk with friends when they take them.

"People need to feel comfortable when they take it," she said. "It's
something natural that makes you connected to yourself."