Montreal police raid another illegal magic mushroom shop

Montreal police raided a shop selling illegal hallucinogenic mushrooms Thursday afternoon — more than a week after police shut down the shop on its opening day last Tuesday.

Despite four arrests last week, the FunGuyz store reopened a few days later.

“Now we confirm the fact of one arrest,” he said Service of the Police de la Ville de Montreal (SPVM) Const. Jean-Pierre Brabant said two other raids took place on the island of Montreal, both in apartments, one of which was in the same building as the store.

The person arrested, a 26-year-old woman, was at the store, but Brabant says he expects more arrests before the investigation is complete today.

FunGuyz advertises itself as a “medical dispensary” selling magic mushrooms, a type of mushroom considered hallucinogenic.

It is located on Ontario Street, east of Avenue Papineau in the Ville-Marie district.

People who identified themselves as the owners of FunGuyz stores claimed to be supporters of legalizing psilocybin, the active ingredient in magic mushrooms.

The cultivation, sale and possession of magic mushrooms is illegal in Canada, except for certain medical conditions that require a special permit from Health Canada.

But the people behind FunGuyz say they should be legalized.

Jean-Sebastien Falloux, an addiction specialist and assistant professor at the Université de Montréal's school of psychoeducation, said the city of Montreal may not have much recourse if the store insists on reopening.

“If nothing changes after a few police interventions, I think we could see an abandonment of that intervention strategy, like in British Columbia,” he told Canada Radio.

FunGuyz already operates 11 locations in Ontario, including five in Toronto. Police raided several stores, confiscating merchandise and arresting employees, but each store soon reopened.

A representative of the store is disputing the charges brought to court by the owners in early July.

A man working behind the counter at the store on the day of last week's raid, who identified himself as one of the owners and gave his name as Hector Hernandez, said he and his partners expected police to raid the store, but he said he wanted to reassure them. customers said it would reopen immediately.

Montreal Mayor Valerie Plante said in a statement that “despite her administration's strong position in favor of decriminalizing drug possession,” the sale of psilocybin remains illegal and that Montreal police will “continue to enforce the law.”