Shroom boom? Psilocybin mushroom dispensaries sprouting up in Vancouver
More and more magic mushroom dispensaries are popping up around Vancouver, and some say the movement is just getting started.
“There’s a lot of demand for mushrooms and psychedelic products out there,” said Dana Larsen, owner of Magic Mushroom Dispensary in the Downtown Eastside. “I know of at least four places in the city that are operating, there might be more, I’m not sure, but I fully expect there to be several dozen by the end of the year.”
Larsen’s business sells a variety of psychedelics including LSD and peyote, but his most popular item is magic mushrooms. It’s currently against federal law to sell many of the items in Larsen’s shop, including psilocybin, the substance derived from the mushroom’s root.
“I think we’ve already created a pathway with cannabis that involved hundreds of shops across the country openly selling cannabis before it was legalized,” said Larsen, a drug advocate who pushed for cannabis legalization. “I think we’re going to see a very similar path with mushrooms.”
One lawyer who specializes in the field says Larsen and other shop owners are operating in a legal grey area, similar to cannabis shops before the drug was legalized by the federal government.
“Certainly a police officer is entitled to enforce the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act,” said Jack Lloyd, a cannabis and psychedelics lawyer. “Thus far they have not done so, which, in my view, really relates to the fact that so many people are using these psychedelic substances for medical purposes and it’s not drug trafficking in the sense that the police are accustomed to.”
In a statement to CTV News, Vancouver police said “anyone who traffics psilocybin, specifically those who contribute to violence and organized crime, could face arrest and charges.”
Larsen says he has yet to be targeted by the police. However, bylaw officials recently sent him a notice.
“They have sent us a letter a few months ago, chastising us and telling us to stop selling mushrooms or they’ll start fining us,” said Larsen. “We haven’t received any fines yet, but I would not be surprised if we did.”
He says he’s prepared for whatever comes his way when it comes to enforcement.
“I think, like with cannabis dispensaries, there’s going to be some legal challenges but ultimately, I think, we’re going to prevail.”
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Cargo ship had engine maintenance in port before Baltimore bridge collapse, officials say
The cargo ship that lost power and crashed into a bridge in Baltimore underwent 'routine engine maintenance' in port beforehand, the U.S. Coast Guard said Wednesday.
A Nigerian woman reviewed some tomato puree online. Now she faces jail
A Nigerian woman who wrote an online review of a can of tomato puree is facing imprisonment after its manufacturer accused her of making a “malicious allegation” that damaged its business.
Far North police 'dispatch' polar bear stalking schoolyard
Police and local hunters in an Ontario Far North First Nation community have “dispatched” a polar that was showing abnormal behaviour and treating the area as a hunting ground.
Donald Trump assails judge and his daughter after gag order in N.Y. hush-money criminal case
Donald Trump lashed out Wednesday at the New York judge who put him under a gag order that bars him from commenting publicly about witnesses, prosecutors, court staff and jurors in his upcoming hush-money criminal trial.
Families shocked after Niagara Falls hotel cancels bookings made year in advance of solar eclipse
After having the foresight to book their Niagara Falls hotel rooms more than a year in advance, several families planning to take in the solar eclipse next month were shocked to find out their reservations had been cancelled.
B.C. rescuers face 'high likelihood' of failure to reunite orphaned orca with pod
The race to reunite an orphaned orca calf that’s stuck in a shallow lagoon with a neighbouring pod has entered its fifth day, and a marine scientist says the clock is ticking.
Video shows police interrupting auto theft in progress outside Toronto home
New video footage obtained by CP24 shows the attempted theft of a vehicle in a North York driveway earlier this month that was ultimately interrupted by police.
Majority of Canadians believe in life after death: Angus Reid survey
A new survey from the Angus Reid Institute has found that a majority of Canadians believe in some form of life after death, a proportion that has held steady for decades.
MyPillow, owned by U.S. election denier Mike Lindell, formally evicted from Minnesota warehouse
A court ordered the eviction Wednesday of MyPillow from a suburban Minneapolis warehouse that it formerly used.