A B.C. MLA says she’s outraged to have received magic mushrooms and a coca leaf in the mail from a prominent Vancouver drug activist.
Longtime cannabis legalization activist Dana Larsen, who now operates what he describes as medicinal mushroom dispensaries, sent packages to all 87 B.C. MLAs this Christmas.
The packages contain a gram of “Golden Teacher” psilocybin mushrooms and a coca leaf, the unrefined plant that is processed to make cocaine. Both are illegal in Canada.
“This is about a personal integrity issue for me, so to have someone send illicit drugs to me in the mail and put me in possession of illicit drugs is absolutely unacceptable. It’s ridiculous, it’s insulting to British Columbians,” Surrey South MLA Elenore Sturko told Global News.
“This is coming to me in a Christmas card, which I find also offensive.”
Sturko said she and other BC United MLAs are turning the drugs over to police.
She added that she intends to press the BC NDP government over the issue, accusing the party of emboldening drug trafficking and drug use with its policies around decriminalization and harm reduction.
She also described receiving the package from Larsen as “harassment,” noting he’s previously offered her drugs.
“There is no doubt in my mind that this type of publicity stunt is an attempt to open dialogue on having legalization,” Sturko said.
“I think there is a marked difference between a court challenge and looking to scientific studies and harassing elected officials by sending drugs to their offices.”
In an interview Tuesday, Larsen confirmed he sent the packages, saying he wanted to show elected officials that they aren’t something to be afraid of.
“I think that access to these kinds of natural plant medicines is part of the solution to the prohibition death crisis facing our society right now,” Larsen said.
“It’s important for people, not only our elected officials but all Canadians to be able to touch and understand what these substances really are, and sometimes we can forget the plant-based origin of these medicines.”
It’s not the first time Larsen has mailed drugs to politicians.
During the 2014 B.C. teachers strike, he mailed cannabis to then-B.C. premier Christy Clark, and after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was first elected he sent a gram of marijuana to the PM and members of his caucus.
“I don’t mean it as a way of making fun or mocking anybody, I really just want people to understand what we are doing here as well,” Larsen said.
“I encourage them to try the mushroom in a safe and responsible setting and to have that experience, it can be very beneficial, but even just to have a look at it and understand what we are talking about.”
Larsen argued that psychedelic drugs have proven to be effective at helping people deal with substance use problems including alcohol and hard drugs, as well as as a treatment for anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder and other mental health issues.
Coca leaves, he said, are legal in several South American countries where they have a long history of cultural and medicinal use.
In November, Vancouver police raided several of Larsen’s dispensaries and seized product, though no charges have been approved.
Larsen acknowledged he could be charged with trafficking for sending the packages, as well as for what he does at his stores, but said he’s willing to take the risk.
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“If we were charged we would launch a very serious constitutional defence and quite possibly win,” he said.
“There’s a lot of legal challenges around mushrooms that have already gone on, very similar as with cannabis, that patients have a right to access these kinds of plant medicines.”
The province says it alerted authorities as soon as it was made aware of the drug packages, and that the legislature’s sergeant at arms sent a notice to all MLAs’ offices warning about them, with instructions.
“The irresponsible act of sending illegal substances to MLA offices in British Columbia is reprehensible and wrong,” Public Safety Minister and Solicitor Mike Farnworth said.
“Government has alerted law enforcement and they have provided instructions to MLA offices on the appropriate actions to take. MLA offices provide essential work and services for people in B.C., and this action has disrupted access to these important services.”
Sturko, meanwhile, said she has no intention of letting the issue drop, and that there was nothing harmless about the packages.
“I don’t appreciate getting these,” she said.
“I think it’s outrageous that someone would be bold enough to send this kind of crap in the mail.”
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