IN-DEPTH: Why Are Police in Some Cities Turning Blind Eye to Magic Mushroom Shops Operating Illegally?

A Toronto police vehicle is shown parked on Yonge Street in downtown Toronto on Jan. 3, 2023. The Canadian Press/Doug Ives

As shops selling magic mushrooms continue to illegally open and operate in cities across Canada, experts say some police forces are reluctant to intervene in an environment where drug policy seems to be going in the direction of decriminalization and legalization.

“It’s really a perilous situation for a police officer to take action until the government makes a decision on what exactly is permissible. And we don’t have those answers yet with respect to legalization,” said Peter Shadgett, a 30-year veteran of the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP).

“If I was a police chief right now, I would be really reluctant to step into this without a firm position taken by the Liberal government.”

So-called magic mushrooms—which contain the hallucinogen psilocybin—are classified as a Schedule III drug under the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act, meaning their sale, distribution, and possession are illegal in Canada. Despite this, dispensaries selling them have been operating in cities across the country since at least 2021, and there has been little uniformity in how police services deal with them.

Health Canada says ingesting magic mushrooms “may cause you to see, hear or feel things that are not there, or to experience anxiety, fear, nausea and muscle twitches accompanied by increased heart rate and blood pressure. In some cases, the consumption of magic mushrooms can lead to ‘bad trips’ or ’flashbacks.'”

It said the long-term impacts of using the drug haven’t been studied yet.

Police Enforcement

On Nov. 13, 2022, Toronto police raided a magic mushroom dispensary called Shroomyz and arrested two men on drug-trafficking charges, but it reopened two days later. A similar story happened with the Mushroom Cabinet in Hamilton, which was shut down by police on Dec. 14, 2022, reopened within months, and has been operating since.

The sale, distribution, and possession of so-called magic mushrooms—which contain the hallucinogen psilocybin—are illegal in Canada, but there has been little uniformity in how police services deal with dispensaries selling them. Moha El-Jaw/Shutterstock

On May 19, 2023, Winnipeg police were quick to crack down on a business that claimed to be the city’s first magic mushroom dispensary, Magic Mush, arresting the two owners on drug-trafficking charges and seizing the store’s merchandise.

In Ottawa, however, it appears no enforcement action has been taken against magic mushroom dispensaries, some of which have been operating for years.

The Epoch Times asked the Ottawa Police Service what actions have been taken against the shops, if any, but they said that information “is not readily available.”

Edgar Gurben, a spokesperson for FunGuyz, a dispensary with 10 locations across Ontario, says the police have only taken enforcement action against one of its stores, located in Toronto.

“The reason why [the police] say they’re coming in is because people complain, and when there’s a complaint they will have to come in and enforce it,” Gurben said.

“What they do is come in, charge whoever is there for possession with intent to supply a Schedule III drug, take all the products, and take the keys for the store. Then we just open the next day.”

When Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was asked about the enforcement of laws relating to magic mushroom outlets during a May 24 press conference in Winnipeg, and why it seems to vary between jurisdictions, he said that the Criminal Code is the same across the country but that different provinces have different approaches on a variety of issues, giving the legal drinking age as an example.

“There is always going to be a certain amount of variety on many issues across the country, and that allows the provincial governments to respond to local priorities and local needs,” Trudeau said.

Health Canada says that the “production, sale and possession of magic mushrooms are illegal in Canada.”

Laws ‘Very Confusing’

Shadgett says law enforcement regarding magic mushroom shops must be seen through the context of the public interest, which involves a “special set of values that are best understood from the point of view of the aggregate good and our relevance to matters relating to the well-being of society.”

The former OPP officer, now a criminal justice professor at Wilfrid Laurier University, said police chiefs in various cities would have to carefully weigh the public interests when deciding whether to enforce federal drug laws by shutting down the dispensaries.

“In today’s society, which tends to react with violence more often than not these days, a chief would have to consider what the public interest is in enforcing this particular statute, especially now where the government is considering blanket decriminalization across the board,” he said.

He also referenced the increasing number of police officer deaths in the last year, including a B.C. RCMP officer killed while attending a homeless encampment in October 2022. He incidents like this could cause police chiefs to “think twice” about potentially putting officers in harm’s way.

Shadgett said that in Canada, the question of decriminalizing and legalizing drugs continues to be “fraught with peril and very confusing,” as governments are still studying whether it is working to reduce harm.

“This is a significant social problem we have to address: How does our society gain value from legalization and decriminalization? And I don’t think the experiment is over yet.”

‘Whack-a-Mole’

University of Toronto drug policy expert Akwasi Owusu-Bempah said magic mushroom dispensary operators are engaging in acts of “civil disobedience” that will incentivize the federal government to enact a regulatory framework around psilocybin.

He said this is similar to the illegal marijuana dispensaries that opened following the 2015 election of Trudeau as the owners saw a “grey area” in the law where they could operate.

He added that it’s “not unusual” for police services in different cities to have different priorities around drug enforcement, which he said is based on the leadership of police chiefs and the types of complaints police hear from the public.

Owusu-Bempah, who is also a consultant with Dutch mushroom firm Red Light Holland, said magic mushrooms have been shown to have potential mental health benefits, which is why Health Canada in 2020 began granting exemptions to doctors, therapists, and social workers to allow them to use psilocybin for personal training without fear of prosecution.

“Obviously cannabis has set an example and opened up the doors for broader legalization, and [the police] are just going to play whack-a-mole as they were with cannabis prior to legalization. So rather than wasting time and money, they should focus efforts elsewhere,” he said.

Kevin Sabet, president of Smart Approaches to Marijuana, urges caution before another “potentially harmful” substance is allowed to be sold to the public.

“I am skeptical of any substance that touts an easy fix to a complex issue because those claims are usually a marketing gimmick,” Sabet told The Epoch Times.

“There are no easy fixes, especially for some of the issues psychedelic supporters claim are aided by their use. Look at opioids, we were promised an addiction-free painkiller that had virtually no side effects. That was a lie. We should learn our lessons and remain skeptical of big promises like this.”

Openly Flaunting the Law

Donald Best, a former sergeant with the Toronto Police Service, agreed that law enforcement’s relaxed approach to magic mushrooms is similar to that of marijuana pre-legalization. For decades, he said, police officers in Canada had the discretion to choose whether to arrest and charge people for marijuana possession, and most of the time they chose not to do so.

“We'd let people go for marijuana 99 percent of the time, but it was done unofficially and quietly. But when you have someone openly flaunting the law, selling drugs as they did with marijuana, and the police don’t act, that kills the rule of law,” he said.

Best said the situation around illegal magic mushroom shops is also similar to the story of Henry Morgentaler, a physician who illegally performed abortions in Toronto in the 1970s. Despite Morgentaler openly violating the Criminal Code, Toronto police were told to “leave it alone,” he said.

Two abortion clinics Morgentaler opened in 1983 were raided shortly after they opened, but this eventually led to the Supreme Court of Canada striking down the abortion law in 1988, arguing it conflicted with Canadians’ charter rights.

“There is a parallel [with magic mushroom shops]. You don’t like a law, you break it, and then they are forced to change it,” Best said.

Best also referenced British Columbia, where the possession of 2.5 grams or less of opioids, cocaine, methamphetamine, and MDMA was decriminalized beginning on Jan. 31, 2023. Health Canada approved B.C.’s request for an exemption to Canada’s Controlled Drugs and Substances Act, as the province struggles to deal with rising overdoses.

Best said with B.C. allowing “heroin addicts to openly shoot up while cops are given orders not to enforce the law,” it isn’t surprising that magic mushroom stores are being allowed to operate throughout Canada.

“But I don’t think the legalization of magic mushrooms will help, and I don’t think that ignoring the laws will help,” he said.