Are mushroom dispensaries (Psilocybin) becoming a thing where you live?

giallo · #1 Posted **Jan 18, 2023, 1:18 AM**

Since moving back to Vancouver after a long time away, I started to notice fliers advertising mushroom dispensaries around the city. I hadn't seen a store, so I figured it was some dial service or something. Then, a few weeks later, I came across a shop selling mushrooms near my apartment. And then another one. And another one. Just yesterday, I noticed a big one on Broadway at a very visible location.

It reminds me of the lead up to cannabis legalization when you had the city and police basically look the other way when it came to business licenses for selling a formerly illegal substance. Granted, small amounts of all drugs are decriminalized in British Columbia, but it's still not legal to sell mushrooms as far as I know.

Is this something that's happening around the rest of Canada or is Vancouver in its own little bubble here?

ScreamingViking · #2 Posted **Jan 18, 2023, 1:22 AM**

There was one start-up in Hamilton fairly recently. But I think they were shut down within a few weeks.

As soon as governments figure out how they can get revenue from this, it will be allowed.

Hali87 · #3 Posted **Jan 18, 2023, 3:18 AM**

I don't think there are any psilocybin "storefronts" in Halifax yet but some of the non-NSLC dispensaries are known to sell shrooms and derived products. I also frequently see ads on social media for mail-order shroom dispensaries. I wouldn't be surprised if there were 1 or more low-key but blatant shroom dispensaries elsewhere in the province at this point in places like Wolfville, Shubenacadie, or Cape Breton. But as far as I know there are none that have garnered attention.

I've also seen businesses in BC and/or ON that openly advertise coca leaf and I think even DMT/ayahuasca, although not in NS.

Anecdotally it seems like mushrooms are fairly easy to grow at home (or wherever) - the amount of space/effort required is much lower than with cannabis for example (or even tomatoes) and I can't see them needing any more than a negligible amount of light or water. They're generally not treated as a "serious" drug by the police or courts here (I don't think I've ever heard of anyone going to jail over possession or even trafficking of shrooms unless it was on top of a bunch of other charges) and so a lot of people just casually grow them themselves.

Because of that widespread DIY factor, they don't really generate revenue for organized crime or involve international smuggling operations and have a low risk for cross-contamination, and they pose relatively few health risks and don't tend to be associated with violent behaviour - they are very low on the list of drugs that authorities here "care about" in any meaningful way. Mostly they care about cocaine, which is the polar opposite in all of those ways. There seems to be some interest here in clinical/prescription use of psilocybin but I think ketamine is a few years further along that path at this point (available as an "option" to a lot of patients, sometimes covered by insurance/sometimes not, it seems there are a lot of clinical trials happening here).

Fun fact: Psilocybe semilanceata grow wild on the Halifax Citadel and in several other local parks.

softee · #4 Posted **Jan 18, 2023, 5:06 AM**

There are at least 3 that I've seen in Toronto so far, two on Queen St W and one on Yonge St. The first one called "Shroomyz" opened last October, the other two opened more recently.

SignalHillHiker · #5 Posted **Jan 18, 2023, 8:34 AM**

None here that I know of - but I did become a member of a Vancouver-based one (even sent a photo of my ID, etc.

Risky, but I'm still very comfortable it was legit). However, it's probably been a year and I've not ordered anything yet. I do enjoy trying most things once, except the truly stupid shit like meth/heroin/etc. And mushrooms I have genuinely never tried in any form or any dose. The only opportunities I've had have been at parties in apartment buildings when I was in Winnipeg or traveling and I never try anything new at height

Coldrsx · #6 Posted **Jan 18, 2023, 2:41 PM**

Nothing that I know of in Alberta as of yet, but a lot of talk about them being the next wave.

A buddy in Toronto goes to some of their stores and it works well.

Certainly a lot of compelling evidence about micro-dosing for certain conditions; that includes Fridays.

Luisito · #7 Posted **Jan 18, 2023, 3:33 PM**

Haven't seen or heard of any shroom dispensaries here in Winnipeg. I checked out the websites of a few dispensaries from Vancouver and it seems like most deliver across the country. Some even sell LSD.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hali87

here).

Fun fact: Psilocybe semilanceata grow wild on the Halifax Citadel and in several other local parks.

Wow. Do people actually go shroom hunting on citadel hill? Are they safe to do? Point pleasent park would be a good place to do them.

WhipperSnapper · #8 Posted **Jan 18, 2023, 3:44 PM**

First time hearing of this. Make sense. Pot is saturated. It's fair to say more than half the pot dispensaries opened around the neighbourhood were shutdown not long after with documentation in the windows for failure to pay rent. I don't recall receiving a flyer for a new opening in 2022. It was weekly in 2021.

SpongeG · #9 Posted **Jan 19, 2023, 2:03 AM**

Vancouver has had a few for at least a year or so. They started popping up during the pandemic. I've seen at least three. There is one on Granville Street just north of Davie, on a recent saturday night we walked passed it and there were quite a lot of people inside.

If you know what you're looking for there are quite a few places where they grow. I knew some mushroom pickers who did it back in the 80s.

SpongeG · #10 Posted **Jan 19, 2023, 2:05 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by SignalHillHiker

None here that I know of - but I did become a member of a Vancouver-based one (even sent a photo of my ID, etc.

Risky, but I'm still very comfortable it was legit). However, it's probably been a year and I've not ordered anything yet. I do enjoy trying most things once, except the truly stupid shit like meth/heroin/etc. And mushrooms I have genuinely never tried in any form or any dose. The only opportunities I've had have been at parties in apartment buildings when I was in Winnipeg or traveling and I never try anything new at height

they are trippy lol and don't touch your face while looking at a mirror

Hali87 · #11 Posted **Jan 19, 2023, 6:44 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Luisito

Wow. Do people actually go shroom hunting on citadel hill? Are they safe to do? Point pleasent park would be a good place to do them.

I know a few people who keep track of that kind of thing and harvest some from the "wild"/parks every fall; there are similar-looking "inedible" mushrooms that grow in the same places, IIRC there's a way to tell them apart by looking at the undersides of the caps. Point Pleasant is definitely a popular place to do them

In theory they're no more or less safe than Cubensis (the typical "cultivated" shrooms) although there's always the potential for harvesting the wrong kind or having residual pesticides etc (although I don't think HRM uses pesticides in their parks) and the potency would be less predictable/controlled than with deliberately cultivated ones.

(I think the main harvesting season is in October)