{"id":4062,"date":"2022-02-03T21:34:06","date_gmt":"2022-02-03T21:34:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.leafly.com\/wp-home\/?p=192541"},"modified":"2022-02-03T21:34:06","modified_gmt":"2022-02-03T21:34:06","slug":"americas-only-psychedelic-mushroom-store-is-a-church-in-oakland-we-observed-the-sacrament","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thcinct.com\/?p=4062","title":{"rendered":"America\u2019s only psychedelic mushroom store is a church in Oakland. We observed the sacrament"},"content":{"rendered":"
America’s only psychedelic mushroom store is a church in Oakland. We observed the sacrament | Leafly<\/title> <!-- This is Index Exchange, a script\/\/3rd-party integration that interjects GAM. It needs to be 'ahead' of GTM in the DOM, which comes from Cephalopod. GTM loads GAM. This script needs to setup it's interjection stuff before GAM loads. --> <!-- End Index Exchange --> <!-- Quotes = strings--><!-- No quotes = boolean-->\t <!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v17.5 (Yoast SEO v17.5) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ --> <!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. --> <\/p>\n<p> <!-- BEGIN Sailthru Horizon Meta Information --><\/p>\n<p><!-- END Sailthru Horizon Meta Information --> <!-- Google Publisher Tag --> <!-- End Google Publisher Tag --> <!-- Google Tag Manager --> <!-- End Google Tag Manager --> <!-- Chartbeat --> <!-- End Chartbeat --><br \/>\n <!-- Google Tag Manager (noscript) --> <\/p>\n<div id=\"copy_clipboard_success\" class=\"fixed top-0 left-0 right-0\">\n<div class=\"bg-white p-lg container mt-xl flex justify-between elevation-low rounded\"> <span class=\"flex items-center\"> <span class=\"ml-md\">Link copied to your clipboard<\/span> <\/span> <button id=\"copy_clipboard_close_btn\"> <\/button> <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p> <!-- End Google Tag Manager (noscript) --> <title>Leafly<\/title> <title>Leafly \u00ae<\/title> <title>Loading\u2026<\/title> <\/p>\n<div class=\"bg-white fixed flex hidden inset-0 items-start md:h-auto md:items-center overflow-auto\" id=\"age-gate-container\">\n<div class=\"bg-white md:h-auto mx-auto p-lg text-sm w-full\" id=\"age-gate\">\n<p><label for=\"select-country\">Where are you from?<\/label><\/p>\n<div class=\"age-gate__info\">\n<p><button class=\"button\" data-testid=\"age-gate-no-button\" id=\"tou-cancel\">no<\/button><button class=\"button ml-md\" data-testid=\"age-gate-yes-button\" id=\"tou-continue\">yes<\/button><\/p>\n<p><label class=\"checkbox__label my-xl\"><span class=\"text-xs\" id=\"remember-user-label\">Remember me for 30 days. <br \/>I confirm that this is not a shared device.<\/span><\/label><\/p>\n<p class=\"error error--underage hidden\">Darn! You’re not old enough to use Leafly.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"hidden age-gate__loading\">Redirecting you to<span class=\"redirect-domain\"><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"text-xs mt-auto\">By accessing this site, you accept<br \/>\nthe <a class=\"py-xl\" data-testid=\"tou-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.leafly.com\/info\/terms-of-use\">Terms of Use<\/a><br \/>\nand <a class=\"py-xl\" data-testid=\"pp-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.leafly.com\/info\/privacy-policy\">Privacy Policy<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"container my-xl\">\n<div class=\"row\">\n<div class=\"col md:col-9\" id=\"article-content\">\n<p class=\"has-drop-cap\">Zide Door\u2019s front door faces the street in an industrial section of Oakland, California. But the portal into America\u2019s only openly operating psychedelic mushroom access point is completely unmarked. Because this self-described <a href=\"https:\/\/zidedoor.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Church of Entheogenic Plants<\/a> doesn\u2019t advertise or proselytize.<\/p>\n<p>In fact, it took an Aug. 2020 raid by the Oakland Police Department to put them on the map\u2014literally. Prior to that, you couldn\u2019t locate Zide Door anywhere on the internet, including Google Maps.<\/p>\n<p>Walking into Zide Door today, a seasoned cannabis reporter can\u2019t help but recall the early days of medical marijuana in California. In that earlier era, even dispensaries in the friendliest jurisdictions faced the daily threat of a law enforcement raid.<\/p>\n<p>The first wave of cannabis retail didn\u2019t look like today\u2019s Apple stores. And there\u2019s a reason for that: They were usually run by someone with one foot in the underground market and the other in civil disobedience. They started those pioneering collectives with modest funds and a reasonable expectation that \u201cthe man\u201d could show up unannounced at any moment, slap on the handcuffs, and seize everything in sight. <\/p>\n<h2 id=\"h-stepping-into-the-legal-psychedelic-future\">Stepping into the legal psychedelic future<\/h2>\n<p>Security at Zide Door is friendly, but also well-equipped to deal with any potential problems. To join the church (40,000 people have), you must show up in person, be 18+ with a valid government-issued ID, and sign a waiver declaring that you\u2019re not a law enforcement officer or informant, and that you accept entheogenic plants as part of your religion.<\/p>\n<p>Aside from some well-worn furniture, a small altar for the sermons, and a few decorative flourishes, the place looks like a basement punk rock club.<\/p>\n<p>In a back room, past the pulpit and pews, a series of display cases offer an array of cannabis and psychedelic mushrooms. The mushrooms come dried, blended into chocolate bars, or as a tea. They\u2019re all <em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.sciencedirect.com\/topics\/neuroscience\/psilocybe-cubensis\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><span>cubensis<\/span><\/a><\/em>\u2014which can be cultivated efficiently indoors\u2014but like cannabis strains they come with a wide selection of colorful names. On this day the menu offered 14 varieties, including Avery\u2019s Albino, Golden Teachers, and Cambodian.<\/p>\n<p> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.leafly.com\/learn\/psychedelics\/how-to-dose-mushrooms\" class=\"wp-block-leafly-blocks-leafly-single-inline-block leafly-inline-related-story\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"border border-deep-green-alt border-l-0 border-r-0 my-xl p-md font-bold\">\n<p>Related<\/p>\n<p>How to dose psychedelic mushrooms<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/a> <\/p>\n<p>According to the knowledgable and attentive church members behind the counter, the most common questions are: <em>How will this make me feel<\/em>?<em> How much should I take?<\/em><\/p>\n<p>The answers: \u201cthat depends\u201d and \u201cthat depends.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>A church pamphlet goes into greater detail on everything from the history of religious use, to proper dosage, set and setting, setting intentions, and the church\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/zidedoor.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Doctrine of Religious Evolution<\/a> which borrows heavily from Terrence McKenna\u2019s \u201cStoned Ape Theory.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\">\n<p>\n[embedded content]\n<\/p>\n<\/figure>\n<h2 id=\"h-entheogens-legalized-but-not-yet-legal-to-sell\">Entheogens: legalized, but not yet legal to sell<\/h2>\n<p>With government-licensed, taxed, and regulated cannabis now well established in many US states, it\u2019s important to remember that the movement to end cannabis prohibition has a long history of engaging in civil disobedience\u2014including providing cannabis as a medicine and even a religious sacrament in what can best be described as grey-market conditions.<\/p>\n<p>Psychedelic mushrooms and other entheogenic plants and fungi appear to be taking that same journey.<\/p>\n<p>In May 2019, voters made Denver the first city to decriminalize psilocybin, the active ingredient in \u201cmagic\u201d mushrooms. Over the next two years other cities followed: Oakland,Santa Cruz, Washington, DC, and a few small towns in Massachusetts all passed similar laws. Other municipalities\u2014including large cities like Denver and Detroit\u2014have enacted measures making laws against psilocybin and other entheogens the lowest priority for law enforcement. <\/p>\n<p>While these laws effectively decriminalize possession and consumption, there\u2019s currently no state or municipality that permits or regulates commercial cultivation, distribution, or sales. <\/p>\n<p> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.leafly.com\/news\/science-tech\/potential-risks-microdosing-psychedelics\" class=\"wp-block-leafly-blocks-leafly-single-inline-block leafly-inline-related-story\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"border border-deep-green-alt border-l-0 border-r-0 my-xl p-md font-bold\">\n<p>Related<\/p>\n<p>What are the potential risks of microdosing psychedelics?<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/a> <\/p>\n<h2 id=\"h-pioneers-already-appearing\">Pioneers already appearing<\/h2>\n<p>Despite that, however, a number of underground \u201cbrands\u201d have popped up in areas with decrim laws, many of which supply value-added products like mushroom chocolates.<\/p>\n<p>In Oregon\u2014where all drugs have been decriminalized\u2014a separate law (<a href=\"https:\/\/ballotpedia.org\/Oregon_Measure_109,_Psilocybin_Mushroom_Services_Program_Initiative_(2020)\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Oregon Measure 109<\/a>) passed by voters in Nov. 2020 actually legalized psilocybin statewide. The Oregon Health Authority is currently <a href=\"https:\/\/www.oregonbusiness.com\/article\/manufacturing\/item\/19298-firm-eyes-psychedelic-mushroom-market\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">working out regulations<\/a> for sales and distribution, which per the voter initiative will allow psilocybin for \u201cpersonal development\u201d with the mushrooms grown and administered only in licensed environments.<\/p>\n<p>A state advisory board overseeing implementation of the new law has a Jan. 2023 deadline to have the program up and running. <\/p>\n<h2 id=\"h-zide-door-founder-got-his-start-in-cannabis\">Zide Door founder got his start in cannabis <\/h2>\n<p>The church\u2019s founder, Dave Hodges, dresses and speaks very much like the computer repair technician he once was, before diving into California\u2019s \u201cwild west\u201d grey-market medical cannabis industry back in 2009.<\/p>\n<p>When Hodges opened The San Jose Buyer\u2019s Collective that year, he operated without a local license because no such license existed.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMy business plan,\u201d he says, \u201cwas that we were going to get raided within the first six months, and then fight a legal battle to change the law. But it didn\u2019t happen like that.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Instead, within six months, Hodges watched as dozens of other clubs popped up in his wake. When local officials decided to push back against the tide, he was among their first targets. In 2010, the San Jose Cannabis Buyer\u2019s Collective sued the city, accusing them of illegally coercing landlords to evict medical cannabis collectives from their properties. That lawsuit was not successful, but Hodges managed to hold the line until 2015, when San Jose adopted a strict ordinance governing medical cannabis that pushed him out of town. <\/p>\n<p> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.leafly.com\/news\/strains-products\/strains-and-songs-for-reaching-your-2022-goals\" class=\"wp-block-leafly-blocks-leafly-single-inline-block leafly-inline-related-story\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"border border-deep-green-alt border-l-0 border-r-0 my-xl p-md font-bold\">\n<p>Related<\/p>\n<p>15 strains and songs for reaching your 2022 goals<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/a> <\/p>\n<h2 id=\"h-oakland-is-the-cradle-of-progress-once-again\">Oakland is the cradle of progress once again<\/h2>\n<p>Four years later Hodges resurfaced in Oakland. In Jan. 2019, he opened the doors at Zide Door. At first he supplied only cannabis. For the previous 15 years, unlicensed cannabis clubs had been operating in Oakland under the auspices of Measure Z\u2014a local, voter-approved ordinance that directs the police to treat marijuana enforcement as their lowest priority.<\/p>\n<p>But Hodges went a step further by setting up a church and claiming religious freedom under federal law to consume and supply cannabis on the premises. The church is decidedly non-denominational, and wholly free of dogma, but they do hold sermons and provide educational outreach. Hodges says his church is 100% sincere, even if it did begin as a Halloween costume.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s true: He first dressed up as a preacher from his self-proclaimed Church of More Pot for a costume party. But when he took the act to Burning Man the next summer, something unexpected happened.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPeople wanted the religion to be a real thing.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In time, so did Hodges.<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"h-june-2019-oakland-decriminalizes-entheogens\">June 2019: Oakland decriminalizes entheogens<\/h2>\n<p>Six months after Zide Door opened, an unrelated psychedelic activist group called <a href=\"https:\/\/www.decriminalizenature.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Decriminalize Nature Oakland <\/a>convinced the city council to unanimously pass a resolution to effectively decriminalize psychedelic mushrooms and certain other entheogenic plant medicines as part of a growing wave of successful local efforts to decriminalize psychedelics, along with the decriminalization of all drugs in Oregon.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEntheogenic means for religious use,\u201d Hodges says. \u201cSo when Oakland passed that resolution, it was a sign. I had been interested in mushrooms for a long time, but still hadn\u2019t tried them.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>You\u2019ll forgive a seasoned cannabis reporter for double checking on that.<\/p>\n<p>Here\u2019s the founder of America\u2019s only openly operating psychedelic mushroom church, who defiantly re-opened the doors a day after a traumatizing and expensive police raid, saying he tried mushrooms for the first time less than three years ago?<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI felt drawn to them for a long time, but the reason I hadn\u2019t tried them was I wanted to prove to myself and anybody looking at me that cannabis doesn\u2019t lead to other drugs.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Entheogenic, by the way, actually does come from the Greek word <em>entheos<\/em>, which means divinely inspired, filled with the spirit of god.<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"h-they-say-things-align-with-the-mushrooms\">\u2018They say things align with the mushrooms\u2019<\/h2>\n<p>After decades of smoking \u201cup to two ounces of cannabis a day,\u201d Hodges decided he\u2019d disproven the gateway theory. And anyway, he couldn\u2019t very well have the church start supplying mushrooms and incorporating them into its sermons without trying them first.<\/p>\n<p>And so began a journey that took him from micro doses to macro doses to heroic doses and beyond. He describes a series of encounters with \u201centities on the other side,\u201d who he says offer him guidance and support in his own life and in operating the church.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMy intent is to try to understand religion and where it comes from. It\u2019s now clear to me that our quick evolution from monkeys to what we are today was guided not only by these mushrooms, but by entities on the other side who wanted to offer aid. They say things align with the mushrooms, and they definitely do when you\u2019re on the right path.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"h-welcoming-the-legal-challenge\">Welcoming the legal challenge <\/h2>\n<p>Assuming these otherworldly entities encountered after eating 30 grams of psychedelic mushrooms don\u2019t produce evidence that\u2019s admissible in court, the question of whether or not the practices carried out within the Church of Entheogenic Plants will meet the standards of the religious freedom exemption enshrined in federal law remains an open question.<\/p>\n<p>Case law on the matter is <a href=\"https:\/\/www.jayleiderman.com\/htm\/presentations\/Religious_Use_Marijuana_Cases_Aspen.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">far from settled<\/a>, as Hodges readily acknowledges. Which is another reason he\u2019s eager to sue the city of Oakland over the 2020 raid. In that action, police seized money, cannabis and mushrooms\u2014but in the 18 months since there have been no criminal charges filed.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf we can win a federal ruling against a local police department for going after our church, then we can open anywhere in the nation,\u201d says Hodges. \u201cAnd we plan to.\u201d <\/p>\n<div class=\"my-xxl wp-block-leafly-blocks-leafly-related-articles\">\n<p><h2>Learn about psychedelics<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"author-box\" class=\"p-lg my-xxl bg-white rounded border border-light-grey elevation-low\">\n<div class=\"mb-lg\"> <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/thcinct.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/americas-only-psychedelic-mushroom-store-is-a-church-in-oakland-we-observed-the-sacrament.jpg\" alt=\"David Bienenstock's Bio Image\" class=\"lazyload inline-block mr-md rounded-full border border-light-grey\"> <\/p>\n<p>David Bienenstock<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p class=\"text-sm\">Veteran cannabis journalist David Bienenstock is the author of “How to Smoke Pot (Properly): A Highbrow Guide to Getting High” (2016 – Penguin\/Random House), and the co-host and co-creator of the podcast “Great Moments in Weed History with Abdullah and Bean.” Follow him on Twitter @pot_handbook.<\/p>\n<p> <a class=\"text-sm font-bold underline text-green\" href=\"https:\/\/www.leafly.com\/news\/author\/david-bienenstock\">View David Bienenstock’s articles<\/a> <\/div>\n<div class=\"leafly-sailthru-signup p-lg my-xl bg-white rounded elevation-low border border-light-grey\">\n<p class=\"text-xs pt-lg\">By submitting this form, you will be subscribed to news and promotional emails from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.leafly.com\">Leafly<\/a> and you agree to Leafly’s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.leafly.com\/company\/tos\">Terms of Service<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.leafly.com\/company\/privacy-policy\">Privacy Policy<\/a>. You can unsubscribe from Leafly email messages anytime.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p> <!-- Chartbeat --> <!-- End Chartbeat --> <!--\nPerformance optimized by W3 Total Cache. Learn more: https:\/\/www.boldgrid.com\/w3-total-cache\/ Served from: _ @ 2022-02-03 21:36:19 by W3 Total Cache\n--><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>America’s only psychedelic mushroom store is a church in Oakland. We observed the sacrament | Leafly Link copied to your clipboard Leafly Leafly \u00ae Loading\u2026 Where are you from? noyes Remember me for 30 days. I confirm that this is not a shared device. Darn! You’re not old enough to use Leafly. Redirecting you to By accessing this site, you accept the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Zide Door\u2019s front door faces the street in an industrial section of Oakland, California. But the portal into America\u2019s only openly operating psychedelic mushroom access point is completely unmarked. Because this self-described… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4063,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4062","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-marijuana_information"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/thcinct.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/americas-only-psychedelic-mushroom-store-is-a-church-in-oakland-we-observed-the-sacrament.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thcinct.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4062","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thcinct.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thcinct.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thcinct.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thcinct.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4062"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thcinct.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4062\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thcinct.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4063"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thcinct.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4062"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thcinct.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4062"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thcinct.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4062"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}