On a sparse stretch of Vancouver’s East Hastings Street, the Coca Leaf Cafe & Thirdeye Microdose is hard to miss. A sign outside boasts of its legal and illegal offerings: psychedelic mushrooms, microdose psilocybin capsules, kratom, peyote, and Bolivian coca leaf products. Inside, psychedelic paintings hang on the walls and customers sip coca leaf tea and order shrooms.

The Rise of Microdosing: Navigating the Legal Landscape for Mushrooms in Canada

The shop’s owner, Stacey Larsen, sells a microdose of psilocybin mushrooms that are not approved for sale by Health Canada. The capsules contain a range of 25 to 100 milligrams. People who want larger doses can submit documentation that they have a medical condition that could be treated with mushrooms. But Larsen is worried that big corporations will take advantage of the mushroom boom by selling them under a doctor’s exemption.

Psychedelic mushrooms have long been used by some Indigenous communities and were a prized substance during the American-led “war on drugs.” But interest in the drugs has broadened from large-dose psychedelic use, known for its dramatic effects, to the idea of using them as a regular part of mental health treatment. A study published last year in Nature: Scientific Reports found that people who took a small dose of psilocybin — usually in the form of mushrooms — regularly reported fewer symptoms of depression, anxiety, and stress.

But despite the study’s findings, it’s not clear that psychedelic mushrooms or other drugs can improve mental health in the same way as prescription medications. And a lot of work needs to be done on how psychedelics affect the brain in order to understand whether they can have lasting effects in a regular dose.