VANCOUVER- Magic mushrooms are technically illegal in Vancouver. But the Vancouver area is a hotbed of grey-market, out-in-the-open shroom dispensaries. From 2023 to 2025, places like Vancouver saw open mushroom shops flourish (and occasionally get busted) while other BC cities approached the trend more cautiously.
Vancouver: Ground Zero for the “Shroom Boom”
Magic mushroom dispensaries in Vancouver went from an underground curiosity to a full-blown phenomenon by 2023. I remember the buzz when the first shop opened its doors openly selling shrooms. It felt just like the early days of illegal weed dispensaries. And indeed by the time 2024 came around, there were “more than a dozen” of these stores around town. They had garish storefronts proudly advertising their product.
One spot called White Rabbit even painted itself bright purple and slapped “mushroom dispensary” in giant letters out. Walk inside and find a menu of 20+ strains of psychedelic mushrooms. There are also all sorts of microdose capsules, mushroom chocolates, and even LSD tabs and DMT for sale under the table. In one shop, I’ve literally seen a guy behind the counter holding up bags of dried shrooms the size of pillows. He was grinning as if it were totally normal (because in Vancouver these days, it kind of is).
Officially non of this is legal. Health Canada has been very clear that psilocybin is a controlled substance. Selling it to the public is not authorized under any law unless you have a licence from Health Canada. These stores are illegal, full stop, and could be shut down at any time. But Vancouver authorities took a “see no evil” approach for a while. Local police in 2023 and city officials largely tolerated the mushroom shops. This was the same approach they took with things like unlicensed cannabis dispensaries pre-2018.
Medical membership form
The understanding was that cops had “bigger fish to fry.” They were busy dealing with hard drugs and serious crime, and a few mushroom enthusiasts weren’t a priority. Dispensary owners leaned into this, often operating under a fig leaf of legitimacy. Some required customers to fill out a “medical membership form” at the door, claiming to be a “compassion club” or wellness center.
One famous activist-run shop on West Broadway even managed to get a business licence (by calling itself a “retail gift store.” They set up just blocks from City Hall and the police station, openly selling mushrooms, LSD, peyote, DMT, coca leaf, you name it. Nobody shut them down for months.
The hands-off honeymoon ended briefly in 2023. Vancouver Police publicly warned that these dispensaries were illegal and not immune to the law. In November 2023, the VPD followed through and raided three mushroom shops around the city in one go.
They seized a massive haul of psychedelics – reportedly 27 kilograms of psilocybin mushrooms (that’s like 60 pounds of shrooms) along with quantities of LSD, DMT and coca leaf. No one was arrested or charged in that operation. The police basically swooped in, took the stash, and left. By the next week, those same shops were open again, in true whack-a-mole fashion.
Vancouver mushroom shop operators
This lack of charges has been a pattern; as of early 2024, it appears no Vancouver mushroom shop operators have been criminally prosecuted, despite open trafficking. The city can raid and seize goods, but the businesses pop right back up (often literally the next day with new stock).
City Hall has been divided on how to handle this. In early 2024, two Green Party city councillors (who you could say are shroom-sympathetic) tried to push a motion to create a regulatory framework for psilocybin retailers. This was basically to license and regulate the dispensaries instead of fruitlessly busting them.
They argued Vancouver did the same thing with weed dispensaries before legalization, so why not get ahead of the curve with psychedelics? In a licensing hearing, a small city panel even sided with a mushroom shop. Despite staff objections, they allowed that West Broadway store to keep its business licence in a 2–1 vote. This actually prompted Health Canada to send a stern letter to Vancouver’s city manager in March 2024, warning that the city better not officially sanction mushroom sales.
Motion to regulate dispensaries
The majority of Vancouver’s council (and the Mayor, who leads the new civic party in power) slammed the door on the Green Party’s idea. In April 2024, Mayor Ken Sim said this is a federal issue, and the city isn’t going to legalize shrooms on its own watch. The council formally rejected the motion to regulate dispensaries. The mayor says that Vancouver needs to focus on public safety and leave drug laws to Ottawa.
Where does that leave Vancouver as of 2025? It’s in a weird limbo. Technically, all those magic mushroom stores are illegal. The police say they will enforce the law if needed. One police sergeant even reminded everyone that “these substances are not legal… we’re a country of laws, and it’s our role to uphold them.”
Magic Mushrooms in Vancouver
Many of these shops still operate and serve customers. From a user’s perspective, Vancouver is currently a psilocybin playground: you can walk into a discreetly-marked shop (sometimes not discreet at all) and buy shrooms over the counter.
This would have been unthinkable a few years ago. Enforcement tends to be complaint-driven or occasional. If a shop stays low-key and doesn’t draw too much ire, it might never see a raid. If it gets too bold or political, it risks a police visit where products are confiscated. But even then, the lack of charges suggests authorities are treating it more like a bylaw nuisance than a serious crime.
The vibe in Vancouver is very much “de facto decriminalization” for mushrooms, driven from the ground up. Users swap tips on which dispensary has the best edibles or whether you need a membership card.
It’s reminiscent of the pot scene pre-2018: legally risky, but in practice widely available. Bottom line for Vancouver: Magic mushrooms are illegal on paper, but readily accessible in reality. Don’t be shocked if your favourite shroom shop suddenly closes for a day because the cops swung by (only to reopen by the weekend).
