World's largest "psychedelic church" to shut down San Francisco location
The world's largest psychedelic church is about to close its doors in San Francisco.
The Church of Ambrosia is blaming the move on what it calls harassment by the city's planning department and religious discrimination.
A gray building on Howard Street in SOMA is the home of the Church of Ambrosia, but it's not your typical place of worship.
"We are an entheogenic church," said Pastor Dave Hodges with the Church of Ambrosia. "We provide cannabis, mushrooms and dmt as sacrament to our members."
The church has roughly 120,000 members.
They come to either the location in San Francisco or the other in Oakland to buy their sacrament. Pastor Dave Hodges said the sacrament truly enlightens his members.
"The point of what we do is to provide access to your soul," he explained. "Our faith is that these tools allow you to access what you truly are and that's where you can get all the answers that you need in life."
Pastor Hodges though said he is now forced to close the San Francisco location due to run ins with the city's planning department. He contends the planning department mandated two structural fixes.
One was to replace a sliding glass door on the second floor which they did. The other was to replace boards that were put up on the windows for security purposes on the ground level. A project that he said would cost a couple thousand dollars.
"If we had the money to spend to make the modifications that they are currently asking for, we have no guarantee that they would just find another problem," he said.
The Planning Department disputes the pastor's claims. It said the property has three open code violations which include electrical and plumbing violations. A complaint from the department also says alterations to the building were made, without a permit, and with the department's approval.
In a statement sent to KPIX, Planning Department Chief of Staff Dan Sider wrote.
"We've made significant strides to reduce process and fees for small business of all kinds in San Francisco, and the Church of Ambrosia is no exception. We've worked closely with the Church for the last six months to legalize their occupancy and no structural work is required. Our staff is currently reviewing architectural plans that they submitted last week, so today's closure announcement was surprising."
As of now, the church says Dec. 28 will be the last day it will be open for business but the hope is to return to the city in the future. The Oakland location will remain open.
