Police recommending criminal charges over 'magic mushroom' dispensary in Vancouver

Vancouver police say they plan to forward the results of an investigation into a storefront ‘magic mushroom’ dispensary to Crown counsel and that report will include a recommendation of charges.

Police raided the shop in November of last year.

“Evidence obtained during those searches, and throughout the course of this investigation, indicates that multiple criminal offences were occurring at these for-profit businesses,” Vancouver Police Department spokesperson Const. Tania Visintin said in a statement.

The latest legal development comes as the store at 651 East Hastings St. celebrates a partial victory over the City of Vancouver in court.

The Strathcona Tea Society operates the mushroom dispensary and is named in court documents along with its director Cindy Heemeryck and a numbered company.

“Well, it depends how you look at it. But yeah, I think we are,” said store spokesperson Dana Larsen, when asked by CTV News if the store was breaking the law.

Larsen, who is not named in the charges brought by the city, is a long-time drug legalization advocate.

In addition to magic mushrooms the store also sells a number of other banned psychoactive substances, including LSD.

The city’s court filing alleged the store was operating without a proper business licence – despite the fact that one was issued by the city. Lawyers for the city argued the store was operating outside the permissible uses of that licence.

"They actually said in court, they have no power to license a shop like ours because we're allegedly breaking the law,” said Larsen. “And yet we all know that Vancouver was licensing cannabis dispensaries in the years before legalization."

Aamna Afsar, the presiding judicial justice in the case, found the city failed to prove the society was operating outside the parameters of its license, in part because a property use inspector was unable to prove the products being sold actually contained psilocybin, the psychoactive ingredient in magic mushrooms.

In her written decision, Afsar acknowledge it was likely.

“However, a possibility or a probability does not meet the standard of proof,” she wrote.

The justice did find the society and Heemeryck guilty of failing to comply with city orders to shut down.

The Canadian Drug Policy Coalition’s position on psilocybin is that it should be legalized and properly regulated, similar to cannabis.

"Where we would want policy to be focusing is around ensuring that there are proper controls over access,” said CDPC executive director DJ Larkin. “And that includes:What's the quality of the substance? How is it packaged? Who can sell it? Who can purchase it?"

While awaiting sentencing for failing to comply with the city’s shutdown order, the shop continues to operate seven days a week.

"This bias against us is only going to fail and it's going to cost the city a lot of money in legal fees,” said Larsen.

The VPD statement says it expects to forward the results of its investigation to Crown soon.

After that it will be up to the BC Prosecution Service to decide if charges will be laid.