A drug legalization activist involved with the three Vancouver magic mushroom dispensaries that were raided Wednesday says he plans to reopen the stores as soon as possible.
Dana Larsen told Daily Hive he hopes to get at least some of the stores back up and running Thursday after police stormed in and seized psilocybin products. The incident left staff shaken up and the stores in disarray, but Larsen thinks it’s important not to back down.
“I hope that City Council recognizes that the right path here is not raids and police action. It’s bylaws and licensing,” Larsen told Daily Hive in an interview.
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Larsen, along with other advocates, is on a quest to get psilocybin legalized. He thinks it could happen in the next few years, and sees it taking a similar path to cannabis legalization — when dispensaries operated long before the Cannabis Act was approved by Parliament.
Daily Hive
Vancouver police have previously said the mushroom dispensaries proliferating in Vancouver are a low priority, given that they’re not typically linked to violent crime.
But that stance changed this week when officers descended on Larsen’s shops in Strathcona, Mount Pleasant, and Marpole. Larsen’s cannabis dispensary at 649 East Hastings Street, which is next to the Coca Leaf Cafe and Mushroom Dispensary, was also raided.
“We have been clear that anyone who breaks the law by illegally trafficking controlled drugs and substances could be arrested and charged with a criminal offence,” Sgt. Steve Addison said in a news release.
Psilocybin is a controlled substance in Canada, and although BC is piloting the decriminalization of small amounts of all drugs for personal use, trafficking remains illegal.
Officers visited all the shops around the same time Wednesday afternoon, and when Larsen came down to see what was going on, he was arrested. He spent seven hours in custody before being released without charges.
The raid comes as Larsen gears up for a regulatory battle with the City over business licences for his shops.
Larsen holds cafe and retail licences for the storefronts since there’s no licence available for a psilocybin dispensary. The City of Vancouver is challenging his business in court, and a public hearing on the matter is scheduled for December 6.
Larsen’s lawyer, Jack Lloyd, told Daily Hive in September that several other mushroom dispensaries in Vancouver are facing similar challenges from the City. He didn’t disclose which businesses or how many, since they haven’t spoken publicly about it like Larsen has.
Larsen hopes Vancouver uses this opportunity to take a progressive stance to allow mushroom dispensaries to operate, instead of spending money to fight them.
“City Council will have a chance… for a political response,” he said. “It’s very odd for the police to come raid us one month before that hearing. It’s very heavy-handed.”
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