So far, the opening of a certain magic mushroom shop in downtown Chatham has not had a calming effect.
That stands in harsh contrast to what psilocybin advocates – magic mushrooms contain the hallucinogenic – say nibbling on the mushrooms can do.
As of late last week, Chatham-Kent police had raided the Fun Guyz shop twice, seizing more than $32,000 worth of product.
For those who don’t know, psilocybin is illegal in Canada. Sure there are rare trials where its use is allowed, but good luck finding a doctor to prescribe magic mushrooms for you the way cannabis was used prior to its decriminalization (and is still used).
Advocates see how the quest to decriminalize magic mushrooms is following a very similar path that pot followed. And, by and large, they are correct.
Heck, cross into Michigan and you can find numerous cities, including Detroit, that have already decriminalized psilocybin.
Unfortunately, for Canadian advocates, and the owners of Fun Guyz, it remains illegal. And we know how police like to crack down on illegal activity.
Hence the raids.
The store is an easy target, a retail outlet that is openly challenging Canadian laws.
And with local police receiving more than 100 calls a day on average, plus the fact they are understaffed, well, you cannot blame them for going after the low-hanging fungus.
There are illegal dealers located all over the place in C-K. But they are harder to root out, as they are scattered and tend to not have bright-coloured posters advertising what they are selling in their front window.
Our problem with Fun Guyz, like that of some of our readers who called in last week, is twofold. First of all…illegal. Secondly, location. It is too close to the core, where a good portion of our homeless have ready access. Many are battling addiction or at the very least substance abuse.
Chatham-Kent is not isolated in its unwilling hosting of a magic mushroom shop. There are about two dozen, if not more, set up around the province. And that number will likely grow in the near future, as pressure is put on the government to legalize psilocybin.
