I had jury duty early in December, and I expected the usual: The clerk calls potential jurors including me to the box, the prosecution “thanks and dismisses Mr. Redmond,” and I go home—disappointed, honestly, because I always want to be on a criminal jury: If I was facing charges, I would want someone like me on the panel.
In 40 years, I’ve been accepted once.
In this case, I sat in the courtroom for a few hours, and my name never came up, so I got to just watch as the prosecution and defense picked a jury for a bizarre case that never should have gone to trial.
It was stunning, really: District Attorney Brooke Jenkins had filed multiple felony charges against a 67-year-old man for allegedly selling, or possessing for sale, LSD, ecstasy and mushrooms outside a Phish concert.
It gets worse: According to the defense lawyer, Dan Meyer, as many as 20 cops were on the scene outside of the Civic Center Auditorium April 22, 2025, with a drone overhead, doing “buy-bust” operations.
For psychedelics. At a Phish concert.
As I walked to the courthouse on McAlister Street, I saw two people smoking fentanyl on the street, one of them in obvious distress as two deputy sheriffs tried to prevent an overdose.
Nobody sells fentanyl at a Phish concert. Deaths from ecstasy use are very rare (and generally involve heat and dehydration at crowded dance parties), and I’ve never heard of anyone dying from psychedelic mushrooms, which are effectively legal in San Francisco these days anyway.
The 12 people who were chosen as jurors agreed: Fred McChensey, the defendant, was acquitted on all felony charges.
What a colossal waste of the taxpayers’ money.
McChesney makes no secret of his interest in mushrooms; he rides a bicycle with Christmas lights on it, and in the saddlebags, he has been known to carry a sign that says “shroom guy.”
In this case, he was hanging out in front of the auditorium when an undercover cop asked him if he had any “molly,” or MDMA. McChensey, who has no criminal record, said he did, and the officer bought $40 worth.
A dozen cops came in for the bust, and they found two other pills, some mushrooms, and 15 tabs of what turned out to be LSD. They also found some Tylenol.
Felony charges: Possession with intent to sell. The guy, who has medical issues, could have gone to prison, at 67.
Instead, Meyer, a deputy public defender, took the case to trial.
The prosecution had a problem from the start: Under California state law, MDMA is not actually a controlled substance. That means it’s not technically illegal.
So the cops charge people with the possession of a drug that is an analogue, a drug that has similar chemistry and effects as MDMA, which can be a crime. In this case, they claimed it was an analogue to meth.
MDMA stands for 3,4-Methylenedioxymethamphetamine, which sounds like “methamphetamine.” But it’s not: Meyer put on the stand Dr. Andrea Rosati, a nationally known psychiatrist who works at SF General. Rosati said both the chemistry and the effects of the two drugs are very different. “She said that her staff treats people with meth-related psychosis every day, but none of the attending psychiatrists at SFGH had ever seen a case of MDMA-related psychosis,” Meyers told me.
The prosecution had no answer; they put a chemist on the stand who didn’t address that issue.
McChesney, testimony showed, suffered from chronic headaches, and the drugs he possessed (including the Tylenol) were used to treat his medical issues.
In 2022, the Board of Supes unanimously passed a resolution effectively decriminalizing mushrooms. By law, the cops are not supposed to devote any resources to arresting or prosecuting people for possession of the substance:
Essentially, the San Francisco Police Department has been instructed to treat the possession and distribution of mushrooms as “among the lowest law enforcement priorities.” While arrests had long been relatively uncommon, they are now actively discouraged. You may now grow, consume and “distribute”—in the sense of sharing, not selling—entheogens without fear of criminal prosecution or even incurring a citation or fine.
And yet: The SFPD not only arrested McCheseney, but the DA’s Office filed felony charges against him for something that the city doesn’t even consider a crime. (He was never charged with selling mushrooms, but for “possession with intent to sell.”
By the way: Exactly three months after this bust, Mayor Daniel Lurie actively promoted a series of concerts by Dead & Co. at Golden Gate Park:
“San Francisco is coming alive to celebrate 60 years of the Grateful Dead, and today, we are kicking off the festivities,” said Mayor Lurie. “Our bars and restaurants will be packed, our hotels will be booked, our neighborhoods will come alive, and there will be more revenue to fund the services that benefit all San Franciscans. When we make space for creativity and celebration, the whole city benefits.”
As part of the events, Muni’s worm logo will evolve for a limited time into new Grateful Dead-inspired designs and will be featured on the 5 Fulton and 7 Haight bus routes as well as the N Judah train line and a cable car. The “PsychideliBus” and “TrippyTrain” designs include iconic tie-dye, paisley, and 1960s and ‘70s design elements capturing the cultural phenomenon influenced by the Grateful Dead in San Francisco’s legendary Haight-Ashbury neighborhood. Muni’s online store will also feature a limited-edition tie-dye t-shirt to mark the Grateful Dead’s 60th anniversary.
I don’t think I need to explain what “PsycideliBus” and “TrippyTrain” refer to, but in case you were unclear on the concept, those are celebratory references, directly from the Mayor’s Office, to … LSD and mushrooms.
I have asked the Mayor’s Office for comment, and will let you know if I hear anything.
McChesney still faces misdemeanor possession charges, and will be sentenced Jan. 29. Under any normal circumstances, the DA would dismiss those charges or allow a form of diversion; if McChesney committed no other crimes for six months, the charges would go away.
But under normal circumstances, this bust and this prosecution would never have happened.
Welcome to Daniel Lurie’s and Brooke Jenkins’ San Francisco.
