Dana Larsen
Dana Albert Larsen (born 1971) is a Canadian author, businessman, philanthropist and activist for cannabis and drug policy reform. Larsen currently operates businesses and non-profit societies in Vancouver including The Medicinal Cannabis Dispensary, The Medicinal Mushroom Dispensary, The Coca Leaf Cafe, Pothead Books, and the Get Your Drugs Tested centre. Businesses and non-profits In 2006, Larsen co-founded the Vancouver Seed Bank, a business which sold many seed varieties from their storefront and also across Canada by mail-order, including those for banned and controversial psychoactive plants such as marijuana, poppies, peyote and coca. In November 2008, Larsen announced the opening of The Medicinal Cannabis Dispensary, located almost next door to the Vancouver Seed Bank, on East Hastings Street in Vancouver. The cannabis dispensary is operated by a non-profit society of which Larsen is a Director. In July 2010, the cannabis dispensary opened a second location, in Vancouver's West End. In June 2019, Larsen closed the Hastings location of the dispensary due to a court order after a long legal battle with the city. In October 2019, the West End dispensary location was raided by the BC "Community Safety Unit" who confiscated all the cannabis in the shop. The dispensary location re-opened three hours later. In May 2019, Larsen opened a community service called Get Your Drugs Tested, offering free analysis of any street drug using a FTIR spectrometer, fentanyl test strips and other tools. Larsen moved the service into the empty dispensary location on Hastings a few weeks after it had been forced to close. In February 2021, Larsen announced they had analyzed 10,000 samples so far. In June 2019, Larsen announced the opening of The Medicinal Mushroom Dispensary online, providing microdoses of psilocybe mushrooms for medical purposes across Canada by mail. A Vancouver city councillor cited concerns about people injecting mushrooms and the involvement of drug gangs, and introduced a motion to ban mushroom dispensaries in Vancouver. The motion was defeated. In October 2020, Larsen opened The Coca Leaf Cafe in Vancouver, with a focus on coca tea drinks made with imported Peruvian coca leaf. The location also sells herbs and plants including peyote, kratom, san pedro and psychedelic microdoses. In February 2021, Larsen added The Medicinal Mushroom Dispensary storefront into the cafe. Get Your Drugs Tested Get Your Drugs Tested is a free public drug checking service located in Vancouver, Canada. It was founded by Dana Larsen in May 2019, accepting samples in person at their storefront and by mail from all across Canada. It is well aware it is unlawful to Canada to mail illegal drugs in the mail, yet encourages people to do so anyways. Get Your Drugs Tested receives no public funding, and is entirely supported by The Medicinal Cannabis Dispensary. They use FTIR Spectrometers and fentanyl test strips to offer free analysis of any drug or substance at their storefront or by mail. In January 2021 they announced they had analyzed over 10,000 samples. Political parties and candidacies Larsen was a founding member of both