Windsor police raided the new “Fun Guyz” mushroom dispensary on Thursday and the shop’s owners are not letting the unpleasantry deter them from continuing business.
The Ontario store just opened last week and the dispensary chain now has 10 locations throughout the province. The shop’s Co-Owner Edgars Gorbans says he is trying to help provide access to psilocybin that the government can’t.
Gorbans told local media that it would be reopening at 11 am on Friday and continuing business as usual. The police service’s Constable Adam Young said the raid was inspired by numerous complaints about the new store and its controversial merchandise.
The Drugs and Guns Unit seized a variety of items containing psilocybin including 184 grams of dried mushrooms, 1,120 psilocybin capsules, various other items infused with the psychedelic compound, an ATM and about $5,500 cash.
One 21-year-old individual has been charged with possession of a controlled substance for the purpose of trafficking, according to local media reports.
Seized items containing psilocybin. Photo via the Windsor Police Service
Read more: PharmAla Biotech secures first purchase order for GMP LaNeo MDMA in Australia
Read more: NeoLumina Bioscience to develop Filament Health patented psilocybin as eating disorders treatment
Store’s co-owner thinks raid will help with constitutional challenge
The store’s co-owner believes that the police raid will help in his mission to contribute to the legalization and regulation of psilocybin in Canada.
“Now it’s going to be a lot easier to launch a constitutional challenge in Windsor,” said Gorbans in an interview with local media. He believes that psilocybin mushrooms help people with mental and physical health conditions like depression, PTSD and substance use disorders.
“Going through the court system is a lot faster with a criminal charge. With all the other people doing constitutional challenges without the criminal courts, it’s a lot harder to get through the system, so this is exactly what we needed,” he added.
Gorbans says the dispensary has a storage unit loaded with merchandise as backup in case of an event like this.
Fun Guyz co-owner Edgars Gorbans says despite today's raid, the store chain in Windsor will re-open tomorrow morning. pic.twitter.com/roess6Wdtd
— AM800 CKLW (@AM800CKLW) July 6, 2023
Read more: FDA publishes first draft guidance document for psychedelics research
Read more: Psilocybin advocates protest in Ottawa demanding fair medical access
Currently, psilocybin and its active ingredient psilocin are considered Schedule III drugs in Canada’s Controlled Drugs and Substances Act (CSDA).
Health Canada says that psychedelics like psilocybin have shown promise for the treatment of certain conditions in some cases, but further research is still necessary. The organization says access to psilocybin may sometimes be appropriate, but only via the Special Access Program (SAP), clinical trials or a subsection 56 (1) exemption.
Canadian organizations like TheraPsil have been actively campaigning for psilocybin legalization and regulation in recent days. The non-profit was protesting on Parliament Hill in Ottawa last November and recently partnered with Lucy Scientific Discovery Inc. (NASDAQ: LSDI) to help streamline access to medical psilocybin in Canada.
Several mushroom dispensaries have also been popping up in Vancouver recently, such as the Medicinal Mushroom Dispensaries on Hastings Street and Broadway, the Zoomers Dispensary on Granville, The Fungi Shop on Seymour Street and Electric Avenue, which is currently offering delivery in the city.
Fun Guyz plans on opening a location in Montreal this month and although the city’s Mayor Valérie Plante did not approve of the idea Gorbans said the store would just open back up again after any police intervention.
“Mushrooms are not legal in Canada so, of course, we will apply the law and Montreal police officers will be ready to act based on the law,” said Plante.
“They can’t technically shut us down, they can come in, seize our product and when their search warrant ends, we would open right back up like we are doing in Ontario,” said Gorbans in an interview with CTV last month.
Edgars Gorbans. Photo via CTV Montreal
rowan@mugglehead.com
