In the City of Vancouver, buying magic mushrooms, in at least one case, can be as easy as ordering your morning cup of coffee.
In a development reminiscent of its first unlicensed pot cafés, the city has seen a recent shroom boom with at least four new dispensaries openly setting up shop: two in downtown Vancouver, one on Commercial Drive and another on the Downtown Eastside.
Many of them tout the benefits of psilocybin, an hallucinogenic compound found in mushrooms that the medical community has been studying for its therapeutic use in treating mental health conditions and end-of-life distress.
From the outside, the mushroom dispensary on the edge of Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside makes no attempt to hide the federally controlled substance it offers.
Its owner, Dana Larsen — no stranger to bending the law in the name of drug reform — is proud of his products.
“I was heavily involved in the cannabis movement in Vancouver and across Canada and I see psychedelics and mushrooms in particular as the next step in that process,” he said.
“We kind of operate in this grey area and I hope to change that grey area to lighter and lighter shades of grey, and hopefully in the next few years, we see a change in the laws around psilocybin mushrooms.”
Larsen’s dispensary offers psilocybin mushroom products both in sub-hallucinogenic micro-doses, and for higher doses, the filling out of a medical form.
Psilocybin is prohibited in Canada by the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act (CDSA). The drug has been illegal since 1975, yet these four dispensaries are operating openly in broad daylight.
How can the shops operate?
The Vancouver Police Department acknowledges psilocybin is illegal and those connected to it could face charges but admits it’s focused on landing bigger fish.
“[We] continue to target violent and organized criminals who produce and traffic harmful opioids, which fuel gang violence and contribute to the ongoing health crisis of illicit drug deaths,” said Const. Tania Visintin in a statement.
Last year, the former health minister started using her authority under a section of the act to grant legal exemptions for psilocybin, mainly to people with terminal illness and treatment-resistant depression.
But the City of Vancouver says there are currently no regulations federally, provincially, or municipally that allow for the recreational sale of magic mushrooms.
“A [business] license cannot be issued — any location in Vancouver offering these products for sale is subject to enforcement by the City, which may include orders, fines and/or prosecution,” said Sarah Hicks, the city’s chief licence inspector in a statement.
While Larsen says city bylaw officers sometimes visit, his business licence as a café was recently renewed. Larsen’s dispensary also houses a café that sells coca…
Read more:Magic mushroom dispensaries operating openly in Vancouver | CBC News