Buying magic mushrooms in Vancouver is now as easy as picking up a coffee. Storefronts with names like Fun Guyz and Shroom City beckon passersby with paintings of colorful fungus and slogans such as “Walk into a new reality.” Source: magicmushroomsdispensary.ca

But these shops operate in an illegal gray area. They sell psilocybin, a hallucinogenic compound, which isn’t approved for medical use in Canada but has become popular for “micro-dosing.”

Shaping the Psyche: The Influence of Magic Mushroom Dispensaries

The store’s interior is decorated with mushroom motifs and psychedelic art. Customers walk past shelves filled with hemp lip balms and stoner-centric comic books before ordering a gummy that contains a low dose of mushroom extract. A higher-dosage version is also available. Prices range from $10 for a gram to $200 for an ounce.

A nurse helps customers select the right amount, telling them that different types of fungi are suited to various purposes, from focus and energy to relaxation and euphoria. She also discusses the risks, which include dizziness, nausea and depression, and recommends taking a sedative like Valium before consuming mushrooms or using a psychedelic antipsychotic medication such as haloperidol to ease any anxiety that might arise from tripping.

Although some of the psilocybin stores I visited were closed after being raided by police, others were reopening within days, a pattern that mirrors the way cannabis dispensaries opened before it became legal. One such shop in Ybor City, Florida, called Chillum Mushrooms and Hemp, reopened within weeks of being shut down by the state Department of Agriculture. It now offers mushroom grow kits, spores and mycology cultures, and a bar of chocolate infused with five grams of psilocybin for $160.