Educational
Psilocybin Mushrooms of the World
Psilocybin Mushrooms of the World is a educational by Paul Stamets. Banned because it "deals exclusively with the location, identification and ingestion" of controlled hallucinogenic plants.
Description
About the work
Psilocybin Mushrooms of the World is a educational by Paul Stamets. Banned because it "deals exclusively with the location, identification and ingestion" of controlled hallucinogenic plants.
The surviving record is interesting because it shows how even ordinary-looking books can acquire a charged political afterlife. As a educational, it can be read not only for subject matter but for the way form, tone, and circulation make a text feel dangerous, intimate, or politically usable to anxious officials.
It also matters as part of a wider censorship history in New Zealand. The present page is a dossier starter built from source-tracked ban records; the surviving note currently says: Banned because it "deals exclusively with the location, identification and ingestion" of controlled hallucinogenic plants. More publication history, translations, and close reading can be added later.
Overview
Why it was banned
Psilocybin Mushrooms of the World entered censorship debates as a educational associated with circulation politics, controversy, institutional control, publication history, risk knowledge, and state scrutiny. In the current dossier, the main state objections cluster around political sensitivity, instructional harm, and public order.
The earliest event currently captured here is 2002 in New Zealand, where Office of Film and Literature Classification classified, prohibited, or restricted. Banned because it "deals exclusively with the location, identification and ingestion" of controlled hallucinogenic plants. Banned because it "deals exclusively with the location, identification and ingestion" of controlled hallucinogenic plants.
The record already stretches across New Zealand, Virginia, and Wisconsin, which is why the page should be read as a cross-border censorship trail rather than a single isolated dispute.
This page is intentionally incomplete. The ban history is a starter dataset, not a final census of every jurisdiction or decree.
Counter and critical readings
Context, rebuttals, and criticism
- 100 Banned Books: Censorship Histories of World Literature Nicholas J. Karolides, Margaret Bald, and Dawn B. Sova
A compact reference on how censorship systems moved across states, churches, and courts.
- Banned Books: 387 B.C. to 1978 A.D. Anne Lyon Haight
Useful for comparing older obscenity, heresy, and political bans with modern free-speech disputes.
Ban history
Known government actions
| Date | Jurisdiction | Action | Reason | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2002 | New Zealand | classified, prohibited, or restricted | Banned because it "deals exclusively with the location, identification and ingestion" of controlled hallucinogenic plants. | Banned because it "deals exclusively with the location, identification and ingestion" of controlled hallucinogenic plants. |
| Date not yet pinned down | Virginia | excluded from prison circulation | The Virginia prison-ban record treats the book as excluded reading inside state custody, which shows how prison and mailroom censorship function as a government reading regime. The exported reason says: C4 | The Virginia prison-ban record treats the book as excluded reading inside state custody, which shows how prison and mailroom censorship function as a government reading regime. The exported reason says: C4 |
| Date not yet pinned down | Wisconsin | excluded from prison circulation | The Wisconsin prison-ban record treats the book as excluded reading inside state custody, which shows how prison and mailroom censorship function as a government reading regime. The exported reason says: 309.05-2.(b)(c) | The Wisconsin prison-ban record treats the book as excluded reading inside state custody, which shows how prison and mailroom censorship function as a government reading regime. The exported reason says: 309.05-2.(b)(c) |
Sources
Harvested references for this page
- The Marshall Project: Banned book lists from 18 states database partial
- Wikipedia: List of books banned in New Zealand reference partial
- Wikipedia REST summary API database partial
- 100 Banned Books: Censorship Histories of World Literature book partial
- Banned Books: 387 B.C. to 1978 A.D. book partial