The legality of psychedelic mushrooms – commonly known as magic mushrooms – has always been a hotly debated topic. For a long time, under US law, any type of mushroom containing the substance Psilocybin has been illegal to own or grow. Of course, there are other places in the world where this isn’t the case. For instance, in Brazil, owning magic mushrooms is legal, albeit it is not legal to extract parts of them containing Psilocybin or other substances that trigger psychedelic effects.

Fortunately for fans of the mushrooms, things are changing. Owning the spores and using them for research purposes without allowing them to germinate has always been legal, since the spores don’t contain the substance and only begin using it after they germinate. However, even though the move came long after the legalization of marijuana, some states have actually already began decriminalizing Psilocybin mushroom spores as early as two years ago.

Colorado was the first state that allowed people at age 21 and older to actually own and use magic mushrooms. Oakland and California followed just a month later, and then Santa Cruz decriminalized naturally occurring species of psychedelic mushrooms in 2020. Later that year, Oregon actually took the step to allow licensed practitioners to legally administer the mushrooms to people over the age of 21.