Do you believe in magic? What about magic mushrooms?
Driving the news: Magic mushroom shops are springing up across the country, not unlike the spree of black market pot shops that populated urban areas in the runup to legalization in 2018.
- Psilocybin (the compound that gives magic mushrooms that little somethin’ special) is illegal in Canada, listed as a Schedule III controlled substance alongside LSD and DMT. But that fact (and ensuing police raids) haven’t stopped shroom-trepreneurs.
Not all enterprises involving the friendly fungus are illicit. (Perfectly legal) health startups want to capitalize on the craze, including Vancouver-based Numinus, which just received Health Canada’s approval to run a clinical trial for therapy using its psilocybin tea products.
Why it matters: Psilocybin advocates hope that recent gains in mainstream acceptance lead to decriminalization and eventual legalization (which happened south of the border last month in Oregon).
- In December, Québec announced that it would fund medical psilocybin-assisted therapy, becoming the first Canadian province to do so. Meanwhile, Alberta became the first province to regulate the use of psychedelic drugs for therapy.
Yes, but: Health Canada is standing pat on its stance that, while it will grant some exemptions for medical use, it has no plans to legalize recreational psilocybin any time soon.