Police raided Livermore smoke shop for allegedly selling flavored tobacco and ‘magic’ mushrooms

LIVERMORE — Police and the California Tax and Fee Administration seized hundreds of products from a local smoke shop, ranging from flavored tobacco products now deemed illegal to sell by state law, to edibles containing the psychedelic drug psilocybin, court records show.

The late May operation focused on a smoke shop on Contractor Street in Livermore, where police say they found flavored tobacco products and psilocybin edibles stashed in a warehouse area at the back of the store. The operation began as a routine tobacco license check but escalated after police discovered the products.

California’s flavored tobacco ban was enacted in 2023 and upheld by the supreme court earlier this year. It has remained controversial, with increasing evidence that many retailers have simply ignored it. Similarly, some jurisdictions — like nearby Oakland and San Francisco — have passed laws defying state and federal bans on psilocybin and passed ordinances decriminalizing the substance, which is found in so-called “magic” mushrooms.

Police say the hundreds of products seized in Livermore included nicotine liquid for vaporizer pens, cigar wraps, as well as chocolate bars and “gummies” containing psilocybin. No criminal charges have been filed, court records show.