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ANN ARBOR, MI — Bengie Smith considers himself a modern-day shaman of sorts.
The manager of the Bongz and Thongz glass and vape shop on Liberty Street in downtown Ann Arbor said he personally partakes in psychedelic shrooms. And now that the store is dabbling in selling shroom products, he takes seriously his role in helping guide others and inform them about the experience.
“I keep an eye out for who I’m giving anything to because, just based off firsthand experiences, jumping into the deep end with this type of stuff is not what you want to do,” he said.
For those looking to take a psychedelic trip responsibly and “experience the magic of natural healing” as advertised, the store sells psilocybin-infused teas in both blueberry and watermelon flavor — $45 for a three-ounce packet.
“With somebody who’s unexperienced, you don’t want to send them off with a whole tea bag and say, ‘Hey, go drink this whole thing and you’re going to be tripping, just for the fun of it.’ That’s the last thing I feel anybody should be doing,” Smith said.
“There’s a lot positives, there’s a lot of negatives, but if you’re in a good space, you’re around the right people and your head space is right, you’re going to have a great trip.”
Bongz and Thongz is just one of several shops in Tree Town where “magic” mushroom products now can be found since Ann Arbor decriminalized entheogenic plants and fungi four years ago — a cultural shift now celebrated each September at Entheofest on the University of Michigan Diag.
Entheofest organizer Jim Salame, who is preparing for this year’s festival coming up soon, said he’s not part of the shroom industry that’s now starting to see the light of day, though he can’t deny there’s a lot of commercial activity. It’s somewhat similar to where the marijuana industry was about 15 years ago as the first dispensaries were opening at risk of getting shut down.
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Despite still being illegal under state and federal law, and despite there being no city regulations permitting commercial shroom businesses, several have sprouted in Ann Arbor in recent years, a number of them just in the last year or so.
Some have brick-and-mortar storefront locations, while some are just doing deliveries while advertising around town, and a number of them have websites openly listing their products.
Those range from raw psilocybin shrooms, sprouts and grow kits to shroom gummies, chocolates and more.
Tree Town Treasures at 1719 Plymouth Road is a rock shop that sells gemstones and other oddities, including a variety of psychedelic shroom products it assures are lab-tested.
The Elevated glass and vape shop at 1123 Broadway St., which has a shroom business logo, also sells a variety of shroom products, as does MF Shrooms, which can be found in the back of the Torn and Frayed vintage clothing store at 1930 W. Stadium Blvd. on the city’s west side.
Customers must be buzzed in through a front security door to enter Torn and Frayed and the shroom products are on display beyond the clothing racks.
Another shroom business called Roundtrip has set up shop on the second floor of a downtown office building at 206 S. Main St. and has a website at roundtripshrooms.com.
“They’ve been great neighbors,” said Chris McCall, who runs a voice and meditation business two doors down the hall.
Shroom business representatives who spoke with MLive/The Ann Arbor News acknowledged they’re in a legally murky area with what they’re doing, but they’re willing to take the risk to make shroom products available to people who want them, including for therapeutic benefits to treat depression, anxiety, PTSD and drug addiction, and so far the city hasn’t hassled them.
From a planning and zoning perspective, the city’s official position would be that the shroom shops are not allowed, said Brett Lenart, the city’s planning manager.
Because City Council passed a resolution in 2020 that de-prioritized police enforcement and investigation, that’s why they are popping up, but they are still not a permitted use that can be affirmatively approved under city code, he said.
Mayor Christopher Taylor said he’s not aware of any movement on council to establish regulations to formally allow them.
Smith said he hopes to eventually offer more shroom products at Bongz and Thongz and his philosophy is to each their own, saying legal or not, people are going to find a way to get them.
For those who haven’t had a shroom trip before, he cautions it’s not to be taken lightly.
“You might have to confront some very uncomfortable truths about yourself, but you always come out like a flower blossoming at the end, honestly,” he said. “And so whether it’s a harsh truth or it was a happy-go-lucky, have-fun-at-the-theme-park type trip, I think mushrooms have use for everybody.”
Kevin Black is one of the latest shroom entrepreneurs to hit the scene in Ann Arbor with his new venture Shmoomi, which has traveling billboards on pedicabs rolling around town advertising a “magical chocolate experience” with psilocybin-infused chocolates available for delivery.
Shmoomi’s mascot is a magical mushroom wizard, which is explained on Shmoomi.com.
“The Shmoomi are powerful wizards from Planet Shmoom, one of the first planets ever born in our universe,” it states. “Planet Shmoom works in a slightly different way than here on Earth. Whereas we eat food and drink water and breathe air to live, Shmoomi’s live by radiating P.U.F.F.F. energy.”
That stands for peace, understanding, forgiveness, friendship and fun, and that’s what Black said he’s hoping to bring to others and why he started his business. He credits shrooms for helping him overcome alcohol addiction and now he wants to help others as they become part of the Shmoomi family.
“My whole mission is to teach people how to forgive and I’m using this trend of the mushrooms to teach people,” he said.
“I have a plan for the next 50 years for a moral, self-governing society and it starts with us, it starts with the people, and it’s heavily involved in forgiving one another and raising our vibration to the reality where we don’t live in resentment anymore.”
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