Magic Mushrooms – Where to Find Them in Canada

For decades, microdosing vancouver has come to Haida Gwaii and other parts of British Columbia to pick psilocybin mushrooms. Two candidates exist for the hallucinogenic mushrooms traditionally used as ritual or spiritual intoxicants – the Liberty Cap (Psilocybe semilanceata) and the Flying Squid (Panaeolus subfimetarius). The former is common on grasslands associated with grazing livestock and thrives in wet pastures; it may have arrived in this part of Canada with European settlers, who brought fodder grass species. The latter grows in lawns and playing fields, in wet coastal areas. The mushrooms differ widely in pharmacology and subjective effects.

In the past, the Liberty Cap was the most commonly collected mushroom. Now, the Flying Squid is preferred because it has a stronger dose and more dramatic hallucinations. This year’s harvest started earlier than usual because of a late spring rainstorm that stimulated the mushroom season, which normally begins in early fall. Many people have been spotted picking mushrooms this month. The self-described “contemporary shamans” Gary Logan and Robert Grover have a mushroom retreat center in wine country on Vancouver Island, where they offer luxury mushroom experiences that blend metaphysics with somatic and mindset training.

From Mountains to Microdoses: Navigating Magic Mushrooms in Vancouver

Psychedelic storefronts are popping up in downtown Vancouver and Toronto, with hundreds more Canadian options online. Despite the proliferation of psilocybin shops, authorities remain cautious. They are not putting pressure on law enforcement to crack down on the stores, which operate in a legal grey area and sell MDMA and ketamine as well as magic mushrooms. Vancouver advocate David Larsen says that the benefits of legalizing substances like psilocybin far outweigh the harms of criminalization and overdoses. He founded a community drug-testing service in 2019 called Get Your Drugs Tested, which offers people an alternative to illegally purchasing drugs on the street.