With magic mushrooms dispensary Canada now legalized in many parts of the country, a Canadian activist is now focusing on administering another drug that some say has medicinal benefits: magic mushrooms. Dana Larsen runs the Medicinal Mushroom Dispensary, an online shop that sells microdoses of psilocybin, the psychoactive substance in magic mushrooms. Customers buy 25 ml and 50 ml doses of the drug, which is about five to 10 per cent of what one would take to experience hallucinations.

His shop has a similar vibe to the online cannabis stores that sprouted up in Canada after marijuana became legal. Storefronts with names like Fun Guyz and Shroomyz have opened in cities across the country, including Vancouver, Toronto and London. Police have raided some of these shops in recent months, but they reopen within days.

Breaking Barriers: Ensuring Access and Equity in Canadian Magic Mushroom Dispensaries

The shops are operating in a gray area of the law, selling products that include psilocybin on its own and in different strains of the mushroom and in edibles like gummies. The owners argue that their stores are legitimate because they are offering products in line with the medical research that has found psilocybin can have therapeutic effects.

Despite the illegal nature of these stores, they have been able to thrive because of the lack of regulation around psychedelic drugs in Canada. Currently, only researchers and licensed dealers can purchase and sell controlled substances such as psilocybin in Canada. The government also restricts the type of mushrooms that can be purchased and sold, limiting them to a specific species known as the psilocybe cubensis.