These candy bars are a real trip.
Some Big Apple smoke shops are selling “magic mushroom” psilocybin bars to anyone looking for a psychedelic kick, The Post has learned.
“I took five pieces of that — stupidest decision I’ve made in my actual life,” said one employee at Convenience Store on Canal Street about his experience with a Mindfull Magic Bar. “I have a high tolerance for weed, so I thought I’d be fine, but it f—ked me up.”
The Post stopped by five storefronts in the East Village and Chinatown hawking chocolate bars whose wrappers advertised containing several grams of psilocybin — the hallucinogenic component in magic mushrooms and a Schedule 1 illegal narcotic — for anywhere between $50 to $90.
A majority of stores had their bars tucked away behind the counter and in zippered bags, bringing them out to see only upon customer request. Many also sell weed candies and vape pens out in the open.
Marijuana is now legal to use and consume under New York State law, but consuming and selling psilocybin is not.
Shop owners face potential felony charges if the candy bars indeed contain the hallucinogenic ingredient, although several employees said that they weren’t worried about a police raid anytime soon.
“The store owners are comfortable because no one’s checking on them,” said Michael Alcazar, a retired NYPD detective and current adjunct professor at John Jay College, about the trippy confections. “No one’s paying them a visit. There’s no threat of repercussions.”
At one smoke shop in the East Village, PolkaDot-brand shroom bars are displayed in a glass counter for all to see, alongside CBD candies and THC vape pens. Employees at the store said that they had sold 40 bars in a little over a week, the vast majority to young women in their early 20s.
“That s–t is freaky,” said Jay Louis, 20, of his experience.
Research has shown that microdosing psilocybin can help treat alcohol addiction, while legislators in New York State have recently been pushing to decriminalize the hallucinogen as well as legalize its medical use.
But Luke Nasta, founder and CEO of Camelot Counseling Centers, sees a difference between giving people access to regulated medical purposes for a drug and letting them casually wolf down sugar-coated hallucinogens to blow their minds.
“Any time you’re using a psychoactive drug, if you have an underlying psychological condition, it’s gonna make it worse,” Nasta said. “It might push you to some extreme behavior.”
Earlier this month, a United Airlines passenger went ballistic mid-flight and assaulted a passenger and flight attendant after ingesting magic mushrooms. Last year in Miami, a man who was tripping fatally shot a 21-year-old father protecting his infant son and allegedly danced on the victim’s body.
An NYPD spokesperson said that the department was not aware of the psilocybin bars in the 5th and 9th Precincts and would investigate. PolkaDot did not respond to a request for comment.
Additional reporting by Dean Balsamini
