The Church of Ambrosia—Oakland's controversial church dedicated to the psychedelic sacrament of magic mushrooms—is opening a location in San Francisco. It costs $5/month to join the Oakland church—called Zide Door—and members can buy psilocybin mushrooms and tax-free weed. In 2020, police raided Zide Door for the alleged sale of cannabis without permit. From SFGate:
[Founder/pastor Dave] Hodges has bigger fears than the (SF) church's being overwhelmed by opening-day crowds. There's a chance the cops could shut the whole thing down and arrest Hodges on his first day, since the drugs he considers a religious sacrament are illegal under local, state and federal laws. But to him, it's worth taking legal risks to spread his religion.
"Yes, there is a risk. But for me, it's defending access to God," Hodges told SFGATE. "It's a new city we are dealing with, and I won't be at all surprised if they raid us. But that just means a new court case." […]
There are now hundreds of psychedelic churches around the country, but Zide Door's open distribution of psilocybin puts it in a category of its own. Most American psychedelic churches provide psychedelic drugs to their members only after extensive vetting. Zide Door's approach is the opposite, with open access to almost anyone who is willing to sign up for the church and provide money[…]
"I know what I'm supposed to be doing. This is coming from gods on the other side that want humans to be able to have these experiences and be able to connect and be able to understand what the truth is," Hodges said.
