Microdose Mushrooms Canada

On a sparse stretch of Microdose Mushrooms Canada East Hastings Street, a storefront billed as the Coca Leaf Cafe & Mushroom Dispensary stands out. Its sign advertises legally dubious offerings: microdoses of psilocybin and shroom kits, as well as lion’s mane mushrooms and Bolivian coca leaves. Inside, amid psychedelic paintings and drug war propaganda posters, a barista serves CBD sandwiches and chai lattes.

The facility is run by Optimi, an enterprise funded by Chip Wilson, the founder of Lululemon. The firm aims to position itself as a major supplier of medical-grade psilocybin mushrooms. It also grows non-psychedelic fungi for supplements, including the mushroom known as chaga, which is now found in health food stores.

Exploring the Benefits: Microdosing Mushrooms in Canada

But the company’s chief operating officer says the main focus remains on psilocybin. “It’s a very promising substance in terms of its medicinal value,” Ryan Moss tells the New York Times. “We’re doing this because we believe that psilocybin could play a role in improving the way we treat some of the most devastating disorders, like anxiety and depression.”

Moss is among those betting on the benefits of microdosing, which involves taking small doses of psychedelic drugs to boost mood. Various studies of the practice—which usually involve self-administration of a serotonergic psychedelic compound such as LSD or psilocybin, often in the form of mushrooms—have reported improvements in well-being and cognitive functioning.

A longitudinal study published last year in the journal Nature followed 953 people who took small doses of psilocybin, more commonly known as magic mushrooms, and reported improved mood and mental health. It was a subset of a larger, worldwide survey that found similar results.