A third of Canadian cities have magic mushroom dispensaries: study

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According to a new study, most Canadian psilocybin pharmacies offer online sales while making unproven health claims and ignoring important risks.

The study, published Tuesday in the Medical Journal JAMA Network Open, identified a Canadian store-on-site pharmacy that operated last May. Fifty of these sites and delivery is provided.

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It concluded: “This cross-sectional study found that unauthorized psilocybin pharmacies are currently present in 35.7% of cities in Canada.”

“Most pharmacies are part of an organized chain that can use online ordering and delivering and processed psilocybin fusion edible products (such as candies and chocolates). Pharmacies present a wide variety of health claims for the benefits of psilocybin use, and these claims remain unsupported by current scientific evidence. Products produced need to continue to be monitored. Results.”

The study said Canadian psilocybin Pharmacy “proposes a variety of unverified health claims, lacking warnings about potential harm, suggesting greater regulatory measures are needed to protect the public.”

One of the authors, Dr. Daniel Myran, pointed out on Tuesday that the 2023 Canadian drug use survey found that an estimated 5.9% of Canadians tried hallucinogens over the past year, and that number jumped to 13.2% between the ages of 20 and 24.

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“I find you walking around Ottawa, I travel to Toronto a lot, and you see all kinds of pharmacies open,” said Myran, who works as Canadian social accountability at the University of Ottawa, where he also teaches family medicine.

He said while psilocybin is a controlled substance that cannot be legally sold here, “it’s interesting to see the retail market appear,” he said. “I did a lot of marijuana research and it reminded me of the legalized non-medical, grey market pharmacies.”

To handle the products sold by psilocybin pharmacies and the health statements they make, Myran’s student search website identified 50 storefronts last spring.

“I have some very smart, hard-working students as summer programs,” he said.

Myran said the pharmacy has made a wide range of health claims about psilocybin.

“Many people are related to mental health, so it’s talking about potential improvements in anxiety or depression, or use disorders or symptoms (PTSD). Then you go into other areas, such as improving creativity or improving concentration. What we really relate to about them is that in most cases, the health situation is inaccurate.”

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He said some exaggerated evidence in drug trials.

“Or it’s inaccurate, because almost all trials pair psychedelic uses with treatment.”

For example, studies showing improvements in drug-resistant depression were conducted “chat therapy and specific emotions in a very controlled environment and have a specific mood of atmosphere – something has been set up so it is therapeutic. This is not the time most of the time on the website is presented. Bruyer Institute of Health.

“There are very little data on certain health effects or adverse events of psilocybin use,” he said.

“For example, is it safe to use during pregnancy? You have had very little research over the decades.”

Myran said there are few psilocybin pharmacy websites that comment on the risk of mania, psychiatric or schizophrenia, which is actually an area where there is more evidence of potential risks. “There is enough evidence there that most trials exclude people with a history of mania or mental illness because they fear that the use of these substances would contribute or bring to people. ”

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He said most Canadians who try psilocybin get products from pharmacy stores or online sellers. “It is worrying that if this is the primary source of information people have obtained, it could be an incomplete situation of potential health benefits and possible adverse events that people expect to obtain.”

Ontario ranks among the top of the list of provinces studied, with the largest number of psilocybin pharmacies, with 38 storefronts, and 18 of them in Toronto’s Census Metropolitan Area. British Columbia ranks second with 17 stores, mainly in the Vancouver area.

“Nationwide, there are 815,628 people … within (one kilometer) of psilocybin pharmacy,” the study said.

Myran said that since the research was conducted last year, “there has been a big increase in stores”.

He said the researchers participated in the project, assuming that most psilocybin pharmacies would be “a single-use, low-end shops.” “In fact, we found that there was quite a high level of complexity and centralization, and it seemed that many of them were run by chain stores.”

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psilocybin is an illegal substance under the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act (CDSA), Nadine Ramadan, who spoke to the Toronto Police Department, said in an email Tuesday.

Ramadan said: “Anyone who sells or produces psilocybin will need to be exempted from Health Canada, and without these, they will commit a crime and may be charged by CDSA.”

“This was investigated when a report about the illegal pharmacy was filed with Toronto police and any decision to make the allegations was based on the results of the investigation. We also work with the city as brick-and-mortar stores can also comply with by the bylaws, licenses and zoning violations.”

But, “In terms of priorities, the implementation of TPS is focused on trafficking of illicit drugs that result in overdose deaths and have traumatic and devastating effects on our communities.”

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