THE ZIDE DOOR SHOP REVIEW

ENTER THROUGH THE ZIDE DOOR

OAKLAND IS HOME TO CALIFORNIA’S FIRST ENTHEOGENIC CHURCH SELLING PLANT MEDICINE TO ITS CONSTITUENTS.

ZIDE DOOR

ZIDEDOOR.COM @DAVEHEMP

IT’S A SUNDAY AFTERNOON IN 2019 and the clock reads 4:20 p.m. Dave Hodges stands on a stage and delivers a sermon to a group of 40 people seated in pews, dressed in the garb of a Roman Catholic bishop – only, instead of his attire displaying traditional emblems of the Christian faith, his miter (or tall, pointed hat) and chasuble (a cape that’s worn over other vestments) feature the two sacraments of his religion: an unmistakable Cannabis leaf print and images of psychedelic mushrooms. You see, Hodges is the founder of the Church of Ambrosia – a nondenominational entheogenic church in Oakland, Calif. that doubles as a dispensary of plant medicines known as Zide Door.

ZIDE DOOR opened to the public as a Cannabis church in January 2019, offering a variety of flower, edibles and other weed products to its members using a Prop. 215 donation-based model. Technically, Zide is operating outside of Prop. 64’s (very flawed) pot regime, as the law doesn’t outline a framework for the religious use of Cannabis or the creation of churches (or the sale of psilocybin mushrooms, but more on that in a second). While Zide Door may look like a dispensary, there are nuances differentiating it from other Cannabis shops – perhaps the most striking in pre-pandemic times, when people would gather for sermons on Sundays.

In the United States, people have a constitutional right to practice the religion of their choice – and thanks to the Religious Freedom Restoration Act – the government doesn’t have the power to determine if that religion is “legitimate” or not. Moreover, Oakland also passed a local law in 2004 called Measure Z that made Cannabis the lowest priority for law enforcement.

“I’d been in the Cannabis industry for a long time,” Hodges said in a phone interview. “But Prop. 64 changed everything, and my only real spiritual connection to anything at that point was Cannabis.”

Little did he know how his church would evolve. In June 2019, the City of Oakland approved activist group Decriminalize Nature’s historic resolution to make earth-grown psychedelics (i.e., psilocybin mushrooms, mescaline-containing cacti, ayahuasca) the lowest priority of enforcement on cops’ to-do list, just as they did with weed over a decade prior.

“To me, it was a sign that we needed to provide access to the entheogenic offerings at Zide Door other entheogenic substances,” said Hodges, who remark- (another nuance separating it from a ably admitted he’d never eaten psilocybin mushrooms before Prop. 215 dispensary). For the donathat time. “Knowing that we had to do something else, and tion price of around $280 an ounce, out of the [entheogens] listed by the city, the only thing safe patients/parishioners can purchase an for people to have their own experience with was mush- array of psilocybin mushroom strains, rooms, so I decided I had to learn the mushroom.” including Golden Teachers, Burmese,

And so Hodges cannonballed into the deep end of the Thai, Penis Envy, B+ and others. psychedelic realm. Within just two months, he quickly went Church members can also buy other from a starting dose of two grams of cubensis to consuming mushroom-infused products, ranging 30 grams of mushrooms (yes, you read from branded chocolates to psilocythat correctly) in one sitting – a super- bin-infused honey to microdose capsules heroic dose that he says will show you blended with functional, non-psychoactive the origins of religion. In fact, he claims mushrooms like Lion’s Mane (a combinathat his interactions with “entities,” in tion known as the “Stamets Stack”). conjunction with the downloads he re- When asked about their experience atceived on these high-dose journeys, have tending Zide Door, several church membeen nothing short of a revelation. bers we spoke with unanimously agreed

“What I can say from my high-dose that access to mushrooms has improved work is that they’re not fun,” Hodges their mental health. “I didn’t really have said. “But there are entities on the other the same kind of access to mushrooms side that hold knowledge for us. The before Zide Door,” said one San Francisco Sunday sermons used to include safety tips resident. “And it’s because of this access that and historical uses, but also some of the I now know mushrooms can lift me out of knowledge I gained from those entities.” depressive loops on low days.”

Exactly what kind of knowledge is Some mushroom growers from NorthHodges referring to? He provides the ern California complain that the Zide following example: “After one of my model has caused the wholesale price five-gram journeys, a tradition- “After one of my five-gram journeys, of mushrooms to drop. “It’s not a al heroic dose, I came back re- a traditional heroic dose, I came growers’ market anymore,” an anonpeating a loop,” Hodges said. back repeating a loop,” Hodges said. ymous source told California Leaf. “I must have said it a hundred “I must have said it a hundred times: “It’s become a bit of a monopoly, and times: ‘You need to learn how ‘You need to learn how to breathe, and ‘the church’ is making more money to breathe, and you need to you need to eat more mushrooms.’” than any of the growers are.” And, of eat more mushrooms.’” course, legal dispensary operators are Heeding this message, Hodges began research- always feuding with Cannabis operations that don’t have ing how to breathe and discovered multiple doctors to pay the same hellish taxes. talking about how humans of the modern age have No doubt Zide Door is pushing boundaries. It’s the first forgotten how to breathe. Not only that, doctors have iteration we’ve seen for the retail sale of psilocybin mushidentified a condition affecting humans – predominant- rooms in the U.S. and is instigating new discourse around the ly seniors – triggered by decades of not breathing into the religious use of entheogens – neither of which the government diaphragm. It causes the diaphragm to atrophy, leading is necessarily happy with. In fact, the church was raided by to serious breathing problems. Oakland police on August 13, 2020, causing Hodges to incur “I discovered that I was one of those people, and it’s cumulative losses and damages equating to roughly $200,000. because of the mushrooms,” Hodges said. “Breath- His first court date pertaining to the incident takes place this ing is something that you do non-stop every day, month. It could take upwards of a decade for the case to play every moment of your life, and if you stop doing it, out and by then, the laws around entheogens will likely look differyou die. So, this is a small example of the kind of ent than they do today. In the meantime, Hodges is looking for a important knowledge [mushrooms] can give you.” new venue to host his Sunday services. Despite Oakland relaxing its enforcement laws on “I’m really looking forward to starting again,” he said. plant medicine, Hodges says these mushroom expe- “We have a few prospects, but nothing official yet. I know riences also contributed to the decision to expand a great venue will come along when the time is right.”