DRUG STORES

Unlicensed retail psychedelic shops have opened all over Toronto, which pale in comparison to the store in Vancouver selling ecstasy and coke. Is every drug on the doorstep of following weed into legalisation?

BY BEN KAPLAN

ILLUSTRATION BY GISELE MURIAS

THE GUYS WITH THE SHROOM SHOP ON Queen Street West in Toronto are sitting in a pub in Liberty Village and saying business is exceeding expectations. “We’re not just looking to make money. We believe we’re creating value and we truly believe in our product,” says the muscle-bound 27-year-old from the Jane and Finch neighbourhood, adding that his life has been permanently enhanced from his psychedelic explorations. “We believed in the business because we believe in the product—but we had no clue we would grow this fast.”

The growth in revenue for our psychedelic shop owners—who illegally offer their psilocybin-infused chocolate bars, teas and gummies for prices as low as $15—mirrors the growth in the overall market of illegal drug stores. Earlier this spring, Jerry Martin, a Vancouver-based activist, opened a mobile drug shop selling laboratory-tested heroin, meth, cocaine and MDMA. He told Global News, “It’s going to stop a lot of the overdoses as people don’t even know what they are getting. It’s very important that people know when they are buying something that they psilocybin as medicine, and Section 56 of the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act—which allows physicians exemptions to prescribe psychedelics for end-of-life care—the stores seem to indicate the fine tip of the spear towards the future of the legalisation of all drugs in Canada. According to Akwasi OwusuBempah, author of Waiting to Inhale: Cannabis Legalisation and the Fight for Racial Justice, momentum is turning in the War on Drugs. “Jerry Martin is most certainly expressing civil disobedience and I think it’s completely justifiable,” Owusu-Bempah told KIND, adding that he expects to see complete regulated drug legalisation occur in this country in the their community. During our conversation, they discussed the potential benefit of psychedelics to treat trauma in Black neighbourhoods, and the disproportion of white CEOs who reaped the financial benefits of the first wave of cannabis IPOs.

“We’re not transactional. We’re here for the long run and all we want for being pioneers is a seat at the table when the laws do change, as they should change and we know they will,” said the psychedelic entrepreneur, mentioning that he’s putting all of his money back into his business and looking to hire more staff and open more stores.

“We want to be permanent stakeholders in the space because we believe in our product and believe in its benefits medicinally and financially for our community. This is not a drug dealing operation. This is a medical dispensary business, and we’re going to be around for a very long time.”

The cannabis industry is currently undergoing financial challenges, as well as the legal challenges it’s addressing as part of the year-long Cannabis Act review, to be