Cebu City Councilor Pastor Alcover Jr. (standing). (PNA file photo)
CEBU CITY – A local legislator here on Wednesday urged authorities to look into the reported proliferation of wild mushrooms in the hinterland that have sent some young people to the hospital.
City Councilor Pastor Alcover Jr., chair of the committee on agriculture, said many young people are traveling up to the mountain villages here to buy those wild mushrooms, also called “magic mushrooms”.
Alarmed by reports that many youngsters buy this kind of mushroom because of its alleged addictive and hallucinogenic effects, he urged the city government to stop its proliferation before it can create havoc for the city youth.
"This is very alarming for our youth. We should act at once against its proliferation,” Alcover told the Philippine News Agency.
Alcover said many youngsters from the upland villages were admitted to Guba District Hospital after eating wild mushrooms.
Although he could not determine the number of young people who were hospitalized after eating wild mushrooms, he said some of the victims reportedly boiled some of the mushrooms and drank them.
“Duna nay mga batan-on gikan sa siyudad nga moadto sa bukid aron mopalit lang og wild mushrooms (There are reportedly young men and women from the city who would go to the mountain just to buy wild mushrooms),” he added.
Another local legislator, lawyer Joselyn Pesquera, warned Alcover about using terminologies, saying there is no crime when someone eats mushrooms.
However, she said there is a need to identify which particular species of mushroom that the youngsters are reportedly fixated on. (PNA)
