Mushroom shop robbed in Ontario, Canada

Another location of a psilocybin mushroom chain pharmacy in Canada was raided by police about a month after the previous location was raided. However, psilocybin advocates in Canada remain undeterred and have no plans to back down.

CTV News in London reports that officers from the St. Thomas Police Service (STPS) in Ontario, Canada, executed an arrest warrant for magic mushroom shop FunGuyz (pronounced mushrooms) on August 17. It wasn’t her first rodeo with police raids.

STPS issued a press release on August 18th. “A 39-year-old London resident has been arrested after the St Thomas Police Service (STPS) quickly responded to community concerns about the overt sale of psilocybin, commonly known as magic mushrooms, at a newly opened shop in the city .”

The store sold products like psilocybin-infused edibles and micro-doses of shrooms. For example, at other FunGuyz locations, mushrooms were sold in 7, 14, or 28 gram bags of dried mushrooms labeled Golden Teachers, Blue Meanies, African Pyramid, Amazonian, Penis Envy, etc. strains. Microdose psilocybin options for most mushroom strains are also available in 50, 100, or 200 micrograms. They also sell psilocybin-infused gummy bears, chocolate, tea, and other products.

“Our Street Crime Unit has arrested a 39-year-old London resident who was in possession of a controlled substance for drug trafficking,” said Samantha Wakefield, director of corporate communications for STPS. “The person was an employee of the facility here.”

STPS officials said members of the neighborhood community had expressed concerns but police had already been notified of the operation.

Local reports suggest that FunGuyz locations have played cat and mouse with law enforcement and have frequently reopened for business. It is the second target to be targeted in two months. In the St. Thomas raid, police identified various types of mushrooms in the store and seized 7,150 grams of psilocybin with an estimated street value of $71,504.

The owner, who wished to remain anonymous, told CTV News, “We like indictments because we only file a constitutional complaint against anyone who is indicted.”

FunGuyz vs Canadian Police

Sites in other provinces are also facing closure due to ongoing law enforcement efforts. Last July, a FunGuyz location in Montreal, Quebec was raided by police.

CTV News reported that a few hours after the opening of the company’s first location in the province of Quebec, in the Sainte-Marie neighborhood of Montreal, several police officers stormed the FunGuyz store. The store was raided on opening day, so the first day of sale was probably no secret. According to the police, four people were arrested, the investigation into the magic mushroom pharmacy is still ongoing.

“We’re just getting started and we’re hoping for word to spread,” Edgar Gorbans told CTV News Windsor. As of July, FunGuyz operates 11 additional stores in Ontario, plans to open additional stores in Quebec, and has locations near Detroit, Michigan.

“We’re dealing with people in active addictions who have very little impulse control and little ability to say no,” said director Don Trepanier. “If we have uncontrolled access to these substances, then it becomes a problem.”

The transformation of psilocybin in Canada

Psilocybin is banned in Canada under the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act (CDSA). The drug has been an illegally controlled substance since 1975. Despite psilocybin’s status, the government acknowledges that medicinal properties are likely to exist.

Canada’s former health minister used her powers to grant a limited number of legal exemptions for psilocybin, but these were mostly only granted to people with terminal illnesses and treatment-resistant depression.

“There is increasing interest in the potential therapeutic uses of magic mushrooms and psilocybin, one of the active compounds in magic mushrooms,” the Canadian government said. “While clinical trials of psilocybin have shown promising results, there are currently no approved therapeutic products containing psilocybin in Canada or anywhere else. Clinical trials are the most appropriate and effective way to advance research into unapproved drugs like psilocybin while protecting the health and safety of patients.”

The manufacture, sale and possession of psilocybin remains illegal in Canada. There are over 200 species of psilocybin mushrooms, and authorities don’t want people to take the risk into their own hands, as similar strains are potentially toxic.

However, the shop owners often don’t care and they often open their shops in broad daylight anyway. Advocates in Canada are pushing the envelope with psilocybin dispensaries operating in the gray area. Canadian lawyer Dana Larsen, for example, opened an online psilocybin dispensary and retail locations, four of them simultaneously in Vancouver.

Psilocybin mushrooms are being studied to treat depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder, trauma, alcoholism, irritable bowel syndrome, and other conditions. Efforts to decriminalize psilocybin and other psychedelics are underway in Colorado, Washington, Massachusetts and cities across California. Many people visit pharmacies to get microdoses to treat various medical conditions.