Canada Shrooms is often portrayed as a progressive hotbed of marijuana legalization, but when it comes to psychedelic exploration — specifically, magic mushrooms — the country remains in legal limbo.

The fungi marketed as magic mushrooms contain hallucinogens called psilocybin and psilocin, which are Schedule III controlled substances in Canada. They can cause users to see, hear or feel things that aren’t there, and may also provoke anxiety, fear, nausea and muscle twitches along with increased heart rate and blood pressure. Production, sale and possession of the drugs are illegal, but there are exceptions to the law allowing people living with mental health disorders to receive them through their doctors for therapeutic use.

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In recent years, a number of online and brick-and-mortar shops have opened in Vancouver that openly sell the psilocybin-containing fungi. These shops, with names like Fun Guyz and Shroomyz, have been raided by police, yet they continue to operate. They’ve even gotten more attention than the cannabis shops that first popped up in back alleys across the city, and many have adopted a guerrilla-style strategy of open defiance of archaic drug laws.

Nathan Stewart, 19, shopped at the new Magic Mushrooms store in Osborne Village and was surprised to find a legal mushroom shop. “I thought it was going to be a lot more sketchy,” he said. “I didn’t know it was legal.” But he says he has no problem with it. “If you want to try it, why not?” he asked.