Smoking stores, CBD stores, and delis across New York City that sell unlicensed cannabis also carry illegal candy bars containing psilocybin — the hallucinogenic ingredient in magic mushrooms.
While there are a handful of licensed legal cannabis dispensaries in Manhattan, there are hundreds that sell cannabis illegally, and many of them also sell magic mushroom products that are completely illegal throughout the Empire State.
Bitter, nutty-tasting psychedelic magic mushrooms have been consumed recreationally for millennia, but in the last decade, ground mushrooms have increasingly been incorporated into sweet candy bars.
Unlike cannabis, whose intoxicating ingredient is THC, magic mushrooms contain psilocybin, which can cause sensory disturbances, euphoria, and auditory and visual hallucinations.
Though they’re perfectly legal in Oregon and Colorado and partially decriminalized in five other states, they’re illegal in the remaining 44 — including New York.
Smoking stores, CBD stores, and delis across New York City that sell unlicensed cannabis also carry illegal psilocybin candy bars
The convenience shop on Canal Street was selling a Mindfull branded ‘Magic Bar’
In December, four people were arrested in connection with the sale of psilocybin at a CBD store called Come Back Daily in New York’s East Village (pictured).
Some of the most popular brands of magic mushroom chocolate include PolkaDot (pictured), Shroomiez, and Funguyz
According to a report by the New York Post, several smoke shops and delis in downtown Manhattan are openly selling psilocybin chocolate.
Some die-hard cannabis smokers told the publication they were blown away by the drug’s effects.
“I have a high weed tolerance, so I thought I’d be fine, but it wore me out,” said an employee at the Canal Street convenience shop, which sold a Mindfull-branded “Magic Bar.”
Both federally and in upstate New York, psilocybin is an illegal controlled substance, the sale and possession of which is punishable by imprisonment.
In some stores across Manhattan, professionally wrapped candy bars are invisible, while others have them on full display.
Efforts to decriminalize certain psychedelics have coincided with the largely successful and better known nationwide push to legalize cannabis.
Mushroom chocolates are therefore largely enjoying the decriminalization of cannabis and THC, despite the fact that psilocybin is as illegal as ever.
But in New York, about four years ago, a mushroom decriminalization bill, Assembly Bill A6065, first entered the legislature.
Despite the illegality of shrooms, products sold in the US and New York are well packaged and often come with brightly printed labels detailing the amount of psilocybin they contain.
Some of the most popular brands of magic mushroom chocolate include PolkaDot, Shroomiez, and Funguyz. Many brands sell their products on the Internet through regular websites and ship them across the country.
The Manhattan Attorney’s Office in February announced a partnership with Mayor Eric Adams to crack down on unlicensed dispensaries across the city and curb illicit cannabis sales.
Images released by the New York Special Attorney for Narcotics of psilocybin products seized in a raid last December
Kati Cornell, a spokeswoman for the New York Special Attorney for Narcotics, said involvement in the December raid was exceptional
In December, four people were arrested in connection with the sale of psilocybin at a CBD store and a separate smoker’s store in Manhattan’s East Village as part of an operation by the New York Special Attorney for Narcotics and the NYPD.
Officers seized a large quantity of psilocybin products in various forms, including pills, mushrooms, candy bars and jelly beans.
They seized nearly 1,500 psilocybin mushroom pills, 59 bags of Mushie-branded psilocybin in mushroom form, and 24 bags of Mushie-branded psilocybin gummies.
Officers also found a box containing 35 large polkadot chocolate bars containing psilocybin mushrooms.
Kati Cornell, a spokeswoman for the New York Special Attorney for Narcotics, described the raid to as a “single incident” and said her office does not generally deal with psilocybin products.
“It’s not really our focus because it’s not really a narcotic,” Cornell said. “We do the rare cases, but only when there are large volumes.”
“In this situation, there have been a large number of complaints from the population,” she added.