Washington psilocybin laws: penalties, bills and local rules

The law today

Washington lists psilocybin and psilocin in Schedule I of its Uniform Controlled Substances Act, the same category federal law uses (RCW 69.50.204). That covers the mushrooms themselves, fresh or dried, and anything made from them: capsules, chocolates, teas, tinctures.

There are two tiers of offense:

• Possession or public use (RCW 69.50.4013): a gross misdemeanor. Up to 180 days in jail and a fine of up to $1,000. After two or more convictions dated after July 1, 2023, the maximum jail term becomes 364 days.
• Manufacturing, delivering, or possessing with intent to do either (RCW 69.50.401): a class C felony, punishable by up to five years in prison and a $10,000 fine. Growing mushrooms is manufacturing. Handing them to someone, paid or not, is delivery.

How State v. Blake changed things

On February 25, 2021, the Washington Supreme Court struck down the state's felony drug possession law in State v. Blake, because it punished people who didn't know they had drugs at all. A temporary law passed that spring (ESB 5476) brought back penalties for knowing possession, with an expiration date of July 1, 2023.

The Legislature's permanent fix, E2SSB 5536, passed in a special session on May 16, 2023, after an earlier version failed on the last night of the regular session. Since July 1, 2023 it has made knowing possession and public use gross misdemeanors. The statute "encourages" prosecutors to divert cases to assessment and treatment, and police to refer people to services in place of jail booking; pretrial diversion needs the prosecutor's agreement. Psilocybin is treated exactly like any other Schedule I or II drug under it.

What the 2023 psilocybin law did

Washington's one psilocybin law so far, 2SSB 5263, was signed on May 9, 2023 after passing both chambers by wide margins. It set up two things:

• A task force at the Health Care Authority, which reported to the Legislature on December 1, 2023. It made no recommendation on whether to legalize. It did agree unanimously on how a program should look if lawmakers chose to create one, including sliding-scale fees and an equity subcommittee (report).
• A University of Washington pilot study of psilocybin therapy for adults 21 and older, for populations including first responders and veterans. That study, called PsiloStudy, is run by UW's Center for Novel Therapeutics in Addiction Psychiatry. It's designed for about 40 veterans and first responders with PTSD and alcohol use disorder, began in June 2025, is no longer recruiting, and lists November 2026 as its estimated primary completion date (NCT06853912).

Governor Jay Inslee vetoed the sections that would have created a standing Psilocybin Advisory Board and an interagency work group. Reports on the study's funding vary between about $1.4 million and $2 million.

The bills that stalled in 2025 and 2026

SB 5921's January 2026 hearing drew far more opposition than support among people who signed in. Because 2025–26 is one biennium, bills that didn't pass simply died at the end of the 2026 session; a new version would need to be introduced in 2027. No psychedelics initiative qualified for Washington's November 3, 2026 ballot.

The state has also put money into ibogaine research: the 2024 supplemental budget funded a $250,000 UW-led observational study of patients treated at an ibogaine clinic in Mexico, and Sen. Salomon's push to go further has also stalled.

Cities and counties that deprioritize enforcement

Local governments can't legalize or decriminalize a drug in Washington, because criminal law is set by the state. What they can do is tell their own police where to spend their time. Six have done that for entheogens:

Every one of these excludes sales. None of them protects you from the Washington State Patrol, a prosecutor filing a state charge, or a federal agency.

How Washington compares with its neighbors

• Oregon runs the country's first licensed psilocybin services program. Adults 21 and older can take psilocybin at a licensed service center with a trained facilitator, and they don't need to live in Oregon. Personal possession outside that system is still illegal there.
• Idaho is one of the strictest states on drugs, and in November 2026 voters decide on a constitutional amendment that would bar citizen initiatives from legalizing psychoactive substances.
• British Columbia: psilocybin is a controlled substance in Canada too, outside narrow medical exemptions. Carrying mushrooms across the border in either direction is a crime on both sides.

For a state-by-state rundown beyond the Northwest, our sister shop keeps a table of psilocybin laws in every state.

Last checked against the sources above on Oct 20, 2026. Spotted something out of date? Tell us.