If you’re looking to take a trip, 3 Amigos is well-positioned for the psychedelic renaissance. Storefronts offering entheogens like mushrooms, peyote and ayahuasca are popping up in city centres. Several of them are openly marketed to drug tourists, who travel from around the world to purchase the mushrooms that can alter their consciousness and perceptions. But it’s not without risk.
Despite the growing popularity of magic mushroom stores, they remain illegal in Canada. The mushrooms, which are cultivated for their hallucinogenic properties, contain the drugs psilocybin and psilocin, which can cause users to see, hear or feel things that are not there, as well as experience anxiety, fear, nausea, muscle twitches and elevated heart rate.
Magic Mushrooms Vancouver: A Guide to Finding the Best Products
Last week, the City of Vancouver’s chief licence inspector sent a letter to the operators of a mushroom dispensary on West Broadway ordering them to close until they get a business licence. But the owners of the shop say they’re getting a lot of business and that they don’t plan to shut down until they’re forced to.
City council has already shot down a motion by Green councils Pete Fry and Adriane Carr that would have allowed the shops to operate under a licensing framework similar to one the City gave cannabis shops before legalization in 2015. The city is also in talks with the federal government to explore the possibility of regulating other substances, including peyote, ayahuasca and kratom, but that won’t happen any time soon.