A psychedelic mushroom dispensary is popping up across Canada, offering to sell psilocybin-containing mushrooms, in a grey area where the drug remains illegal but police have turned a blind eye to similar stores selling marijuana. The stores and websites sell products for both the recreational and therapeutic uses of psilocybin, including MDMA, ketamine, and more.

At the Wake headquarters in Burnaby, in a room tucked inside a generic office building, mycologist John Hume inoculates spores onto a round tray of blue growth medium, a first step in creating a magic mushroom crop. He’s dressed in a lab coat and hair net, and operates behind a counter in the style of a cannabis dispensary. Resource https://magicmushroomsdispensary.ca/

Unlike cannabis, which is a widely used and legal recreational drug that can be purchased on the street in decriminalized areas, mushroom buyers face serious consequences if they purchase them from a dispensary or street dealer in regions where the drugs remain illegal. Getting caught purchasing the drug in a non-decriminalized region can lead to felony charges and could result in imprisonment.

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For those who are interested in taking a trip, the store offers preparation sessions where a trained facilitator will help users prepare and stay with them during their experience, and can deny access to those with active psychosis or thoughts of harming others, as well as those on certain medications like lithium (used to treat mania). To help prevent a bad trip, the store sells a variety of items such as chamomile tea and CBD supplements, and provides information about how to avoid overdoing it, including eating only small amounts, avoiding caffeine, and staying away from music.