When luxury Psilocybin mushrooms Ottawa are out of reach, and self-meditation is inappropriate, some people are turning to mushroom therapy. Psilocybin, the active compound in magic mushrooms, can heighten perception and produce auditory, visual and tactile hallucinations. It’s a controlled substance in Canada, but legal avenues to access it are expanding.

When a 54-year-old woman from rural northern Ontario with stage IV small cell lung cancer heard of a Canadian who had been dramatically helped by legal psilocybin in combination with psychotherapy, she knew she wanted to try it. She had been suffering from severe anxiety and depression despite her palliative diagnosis, unable to work or even enjoy time with her family. She had tried escitalopram, sertraline and counseling but hadn’t found relief.

“Exploring the Magic of Psilocybin Mushrooms in Ottawa: A Beginner’s Guide

She sought help from TheraPsil, a Toronto-based nonprofit that advocates for legalized psilocybin with psychotherapy. It’s currently illegal for patients to receive the drug without a prescription, but Health Canada cleared the way last year for seriously ill patients to be prescribed the mushroom extract Psilocybe mexicana.

While a handful of psychedelic stores have opened in Ottawa, they operate on the fringes of the law. Police say they visited the Centretown store Shroomyz, which calls itself a “grey-area research facility,” to assist with a landlord and tenant dispute on Friday and found “drug paraphernalia and a variety of products containing psilocybin.” Officers executed a warrant at the Bank Street location Thursday and seized $320 in cash, dried psilocybin mushrooms packages, psilocybin mushroom gummies and psilocybin mushroom chocolate bar packages. Pavlo Osypenko, 24, and MacKenzie Porteous, 20, both of Ottawa, were charged with possession for the purpose of trafficking a Schedule III controlled substance.