Facebook Canada cracking down on ads for illegal magic mushrooms

Purveyors of psychedelic trips can take a hike — at least on Facebook Canada, according to a spokesperson for the tech giant.

The social networking company, owned by Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta, tells CityNews it is removing sponsored ads for so-called magic mushrooms, saying the messages violate Meta’s drug ads policy.

“Ads must not promote the sale or use of illicit or recreational drugs, or other unsafe substances, products or supplements, as determined by Meta at its sole discretion,” the policy states.

While some tout the psychological and spiritual benefits of ingesting mushrooms, it’s not allowed under federal law. Rare exceptions are made for medical research purposes.

“Taking magic mushrooms may cause you to see, hear or feel things that are not there, or to experience anxiety, fear, nausea and muscle twitches accompanied by increased heart rate and blood pressure. In some cases, the consumption of magic mushrooms can lead to ‘bad trips’ or ‘flashbacks.'”

Despite those potentially negative consequences, ads popping up on Facebook had a different, more magical take on the effects.

“After taking this for a few weeks, I became a different person!” one ad purports.

“I was supremely confident — more like I was when I was younger before the depression started and got to its worst.”

The ad includes a link to a website where magic mushrooms can be purchased online.

“I didn’t realize how much better life could be until I started using magic mushrooms and I’m never going back,” another ad states.

That ad offers first-time users a discount of 20 per cent.

Last July, the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) in Toronto became the first organization to be awarded a federally funded grant to study the psychedelic compound in magic mushrooms, psilocybin, as a potential treatment for depression.

Earlier in November, a large-scale preliminary study showed psilocybin may ease depression in some hard-to-treat patients.

But Facebook has made it clear that until magic mushrooms are legalized, ads promoting their sale are not permitted.

“Our ad policies make it very clear that ads must not constitute, facilitate, or promote illegal products, services or activities,” a Facebook Canada spokesperson told CityNews.

“Any time we become aware of illegal content being promoted on Facebook, we remove it and have taken additional measures to minimize the opportunity for these activities to take place on our platform.

“As a result, we’ve removed the ad … along with the rest of the ads associated with the page and have disabled the page as well as associated ad accounts.”

With files from Meredith Bond.