While shrooms canada is often seen as a progressive hotbed of marijuana legalization, magic mushrooms remain in a legal grey zone. Despite the fact that they are now more widely available than ever before, the cultivation, sale, possession and purchase of these fungi is still illegal under Canadian federal criminal law (although it may be permitted in limited circumstances where Health Canada grants an exemption or special access program request). As a result, businesses should review their workplace drug and alcohol policies to ensure that they are clearly communicating that the growth, production, possession and purchase of psilocybin-containing fungi is not permitted in the workplace.

The Shrooming Scene: Exploring Magic Mushrooms in Canada

In southern British Columbia, a 20,000-square-foot facility is producing a new kind of buzz. There, cultivators are focusing on one particular variety of mushroom known as psilocybe muscaria. These little slender brown tones, which can be bought for $2,000 a pound in counterculture, contain the powerful hallucinogen psilocybin. Since 1974, when it was added to Schedule III of the Food and Drug Act, psilocybin has been considered a controlled substance. However, last December, a B.C. Court of Appeals ruled that it is not an offense to possess these mushrooms as long as they are left in their natural state.

A growing number of therapists and doctors are asking Health Canada to let them use these mushrooms as part of psychedelic-assisted therapy, which they believe could help patients struggling with depression or other mental illness. But a handful of for-profit companies backed by private investment money are also staking claims in the “shroom boom,” hoping to capitalize on this potential market before it becomes fully legalized.