Psilocybin and psilocin are Schedule I controlled substances under the federal Controlled Substances Act of 1970, meaning federal authorities classify them as having no accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse. Both claims are at odds with the clinical literature; the scheduling has not caught up.
Federal law applies in every state, on federal property, and in interstate transport. A state can decide not to enforce possession or cultivation under its own laws — as Oregon and Colorado have — but federal agencies (DEA, FBI, U.S. Postal Inspectors) retain jurisdiction. In practice, federal prosecutions of small-scale personal use have been rare; federal enforcement focuses on trafficking, interstate commerce, and activity on federal land.
Spores themselves — which contain no psilocybin — occupy a narrow federal gap and are legal to possess federally for microscopy purposes, though a handful of states (CA, GA, ID) specifically criminalize them.
On 18 April 2026, the President signed an executive order titled Accelerating Medical Treatments for Serious Mental Illness, directing the FDA to prioritize psychedelic review, instructing the DEA to reduce research barriers, and allocating $50M in ARPA-H match funding for state psychedelic research. The order does not reschedule psilocybin, but it signals expansion of Right-to-Try pathways to Schedule I substances. On 24 April 2026, the FDA awarded Commissioner's National Priority Vouchers to Compass Pathways' COMP360 (treatment-resistant depression) and Usona Institute's psilocybin (major depressive disorder), the first concrete federal actions implementing the order.