TAMPA, Fla. — A mushroom and hemp dispensary in Ybor City is changing how it markets and sells its mushroom products after being told it couldn’t sell them at the end of last year.

What You Need To Know

  • A Ybor City dispensary is selling mushroom extracted products for educational and spiritual purposes

  • Originally, the dispensary's owner was selling the product for consumption, but the state stepped in and said he was not allowed to do that

  • Health experts say that if this product is consumed, it should be under supervision and correctly dosed

  • If you're dealing with negative side effects, they recommend going to the hospital

Carlos Hermida has a lot of inventory.

He’s packaging gelatin gummies, capsules and even chocolate that contains the compounds that are found in mushrooms with psychedelic properties.

As the owner of his store, Chillum, business is going well right now. So much so that he’s opening a new store in St. Pete.

But he’s also working with the state when it comes to selling those mushroom products.

“This is something that’s never really been done before,” Hermida said.

There’s a lot that still needs to be figured out legally about consuming these mushroom products.

At the end of last year, he received notice from the state that he could no longer sell them.

“I told people to consume it and they’ll trip and that’s a no-no,” Hermida said.

A ‘no-no’ because things with potentially hallucinogenic properties are not approved by the Food and Drug Administration for consumption.

So far, only a couple of states have legalized the recreational consumption, but Florida is not one of them.

Hermida said he worked with the state on testing the product and proper packaging.

In the meantime, he sells these products for people to “study” or to use “spiritually.”

“If you consume this product, then it’s an abuse of product,” Hermida said.

Naturally, this poses some health risk questions.

Dr. Deepa Verma, who is based in Clearwater, said people should be cautious if they ever decide to consume a product like this due to its unpredictable nature.

“It’s very hard to predict,” Verma said. “A lot of these things can bring out inner PTSD and trauma that they’ve experienced. They have to do it under a supervised setting.”

She said most people who tend to consume these products are secretive and it can be dangerous to do so, which is why supervision is key.

“If you have a negative side effect, the best thing to do is call 911 and you have to go to the emergency room,” Verma said.

Ultimately, Hermida said the best thing to come out of selling this is furthering education about the product.