On August 13th, 2020 Oakland Police Department illegally raided Zide Door aka The Church of Entheogenic Plants, aka the first and only “Mushroom Church.” in the nation. They called in the firefighters to cut through a large safe on the premises—during a city-wide crime spree—and allegedly seized $200,000+ in cannabis and psilocybin mushroom products. They made zero arrest and the club reopened 24 hours later.
We had a chance to talk with one of the founders of the Church, Dave Hodges, about what led up to the raid. He also shares with us his harrowing ordeal. And how the club was reopened a day later.
We also dive into why he founded a weed and mushroom church in the first place, his use plant-based religious sacraments, and his relatively new practice of taking massive doses of magic mushrooms—we’re talking 15, 20, 25, even 30 grams. That’s a lot of shrooms.
Hodges and Zide Door plan to sue OPD with a civil lawsuit in federal court based on the Religious Freedom Restoration Act. If they win—churches like this will be allowed to operate nationwide without the fear of being raided by local law enforcement.
