There's always somebody...

...who ruins it for everybody else.

The Dutch government said today that it will ban the sale of hallucinogenic mushrooms, rolling back one element of the country's permissive drug policy after a series of high-profile negative incidents. The decision will go into effect within several months and doesn't need parliamentary approval, Justice Ministry spokesman Wim van der Weegen said. [...]

Calls for a re-evaluation arose after a French 17-year-old, Gaelle Caroff, jumped from a building after eating psychedelic mushrooms while on a school visit to Amsterdam. Caroff's parents blamed her death on hallucinations brought on by the mushrooms, though the teenager had suffered from psychiatric problems in the past. [...] Since Caroff's death, other dramatic stories involving mushrooms have been reported in the Dutch press, though mushroom vendors complained that each of the cases involved tourists who were using other drugs and alcohol at the same time — against their usage instructions for mushrooms.

The users include:

— A British tourist, 22, who ran amok in a hotel, breaking his window and slicing his hand badly.

— An Icelandic tourist, 19, who thought he was being chased and jumped from a balcony, breaking both his legs.

— A Danish tourist, 29, who drove his car wildly through a campground, narrowly missing people sleeping in their tents.

Amsterdam mayor Job Cohen had suggested a 3-day "cooling off" period between ordering them and using them.

That last sentence keeps cracking me up.