Amid Canada’s green rush, a mushroom boom is taking hold. Storefronts with names like Fun Guyz and Shroom City dot the landscape in big cities, while ‘puffs’ are sold at farmers markets. The popularity of the psychoactive drug is fueled in part by a growing body of research suggesting it can help treat mental health problems and addictions. URL magicmushroomsdispensary.ca

However, unlike cannabis, psilocybin is still illegal to possess and sell in Canada. Those who want to use the mushrooms must be in a research study or obtain a personal exemption from Health Canada. The federal agency warns that using magic mushrooms can lead to “hallucinations” — causing people to see, hear and feel things that aren’t there. It can also cause anxiety, fear and nausea.

Magic Mushrooms and Mental Health: The Role of Canadian Dispensaries in Healing

But that hasn’t stopped people from trying it. The Winnipeg business owner behind one of the city’s first mushroom dispensaries says he hopes police will approach the stores in the same way they handled cannabis shops when they were illegal. “If there’s a need for law enforcement presence, I think they will see that as being an appropriate use of their resources,” said the owner of Magic Mush.

The city of Winnipeg isn’t offering any special permits or licenses to those who want to open a mushroom shop, though it does allow for business licences at some locations. It has also ruled out zoning concerns. The city is looking at adding mushrooms and psilocybin to the medicinal cannabis bylaw it adopted in 2015, but that requires council approval as a whole.