The gray exterior of Dana Larsen’s dispensary belies the mosaic of psychedelia within. Inside, there are paintings of Incan gods spewing fire and lightning. There are shelves filled with hemp lip balms and stoner-centric comic books, many of them penned by Larsen himself.

Most importantly, there is fungus. Heaps of magic mushrooms dried and stored in cork-topped jars like a steampunk science experiment. Customers can buy them dried and by the gram, or in the form of gummies, edibles, micro-doses and rice-krispy squares. They come in strains ranging from “Blue Pulaski” (recommended for “astral voyaging,” reads its description card) to “Penis Envy.”

Larsen, 52, has sold mushrooms illegally but openly from the Vancouver shop since 2020. He opened two more locations last year, citing popular demand.

“It’s a matter of civil disobedience to provide these substances,” he said. “People come into my shop every day and tell me how access to psychedelics has changed and improved their lives.”

Welcome to Canada’s Shroom Boom. Spurred by growing demand, evolving medical research and small but significant changes to federal drug policy, shops peddling psilocybin — the psychoactive ingredient used in magic mushrooms — are sprouting up across the country. More than two dozen stores opened in 2023, with some of the top chains already boasting about expansion.

The storefronts are hard to miss. In Canada’s biggest cities, dispensaries with names like Fun Guyz, Shroom City and House of Mush display paintings of colorful fungus on their exteriors, welcoming passersby and goading local authorities. At a store called Shroomyz, in the heart of Toronto’s bustling downtown, a rainbow shiitake adorns the entrance beside a sign inviting customers to “walk into a new reality.” Employees distribute discount fliers at a nearby intersection.

The rise of the ‘shroom dispensary follows Canada’s decision to legalize cannabis in 2018. While Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government has said it is done decriminalizing drugs, subtle policy shifts in recent years have sparked optimism and a raison d’etre among psychedelics enthusiasts who see legalization as inevitable.

The first indicator emerged in May 2022, when British Columbia, the province hit hardest by Canada’s opioid and fentanyl crisis, received permission from the federal government to relax possession charges on a range of narcotics including heroin, cocaine and MDMA but not psilocybin. Toronto’s city council asked for similar permission.

Then, in January 2023, Alberta became the first province in Canada to regulate psychedelics for therapy, allowing the use of psilocybin, LSD and ecstasy in rare medical circumstances.

The policy changes produced a discrepancy in Canadian drug law that gives an opening to retailers, contends Jack Lloyd, a Toronto-based lawyer representing cannabis and ‘shroom businesses. While select medical patients can now possess small amounts of psilocybin for treatment, nobody has the ability to sell it.