While walking along Dunlop Street East in downtown Barrie, passersby can expect to see signs indicating illegal drug shops have reopened for business, despite recent raids by police and in the face of the city’s proposed ‘zero-tolerance’ policy.
At the Five Points, one of the buildings houses not one but three shops dedicated to psilocybin (magic mushrooms), LSD, unlicensed cannabis and more.
Police raided all three businesses on May 13, some in the same location, while others were farther east on Dunlop Street.
The top-floor window shows a sign advertising that Shroomyz is open for business, while on the ground floor, Funguyz and Blaze District share a counter.
The door is locked and one must press a buzzer to be let inside.
Behind that counter is Jennifer, who is the retail clerk for both businesses. She wasn’t working at the previous locations prior to the city and the police shutting them down, but remains defiant in the face of the city’s new policy.
We’re just waiting to be raided again,” she says. “And they can keep doing it. We are hooked up with one of the best lawyers – completely amazing lawyer. No charges ever stick.”
It’s not the first time that downtown shops are openly defying the city, as Funguyz stood their ground last summer after a similar raid.
Jennifer says that police raids are a “pain in the ass,” when they take their products, signs and rip down everything that the owners put into the business.
“And so, they have to start over and over again,” she says.
She claims their store was open just six hours after the last police raid.
“When we looked closed, we were never closed,” Jennifer insists. “The owners of this company truly, truly believe in the health products and how this can actually be, you know … your focus is in the wrong area. This is not the problem.
The problem, she says, is the open use of harder drugs everywhere in the downtown core.
“What bugs me the most is I can sit here for my 12-hour shift and administer CPR twice to somebody who’s had a fentanyl overdose on my bench out front,” she says. “I pull them down, I do what I need to do, (then the) ambulance and police come.”
Jennifer says she used to be a drug addict herself, and also worked for the Busby Centre, Youth Haven and the Elizabeth Fry Society.
“So, I see it and I understand it,” she says. “And I’ll never stop helping somebody. I’ll give them CPR. Everybody turns a cheek, right? I couldn’t live with myself if I didn’t. So I’ve had to do this a few times just walking down the street, even with my kids, but where’s the help? If they don’t want help then put them in jail.”
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