Is it legal to buy magic mushrooms online in New York?

The short answer

It isn't legal. Psilocybin is a Schedule I controlled substance under federal law and under New York's Public Health Law § 3306, so no one in New York can lawfully order it, and possessing any amount once it arrives is a crime under Penal Law § 220.03.^{1, 2, 3} The seller who ships it commits more federal crimes on top of distribution: the Postal Service says mailing a controlled substance whose distribution is unlawful is also unlawful under 18 U.S.C. § 1716, the federal law on nonmailable matter, and using the mail or a phone to commit a drug felony is a separate offense under 21 U.S.C. § 843(b).^{4, 5}

Mushrooms New York is published by the team that runs My Mushroom Dispensary, an online shop for adults 21+. If you're an adult who has read this far and still means to buy magic mushrooms online, that's the shop we run: orders placed by 2 PM Pacific ship the same business day. Ordering psilocybin from it, or from anyone else, is illegal under federal law and New York law, and nothing on this page says otherwise.

What does federal law say about mushrooms in the mail?

Several federal laws apply, and most of them fall on the seller who ships:

• Mailing it. The Postal Service's rules say that if distributing a controlled substance is unlawful under the Controlled Substances Act, "then the mailing of the substance is also unlawful under 18 U.S.C. § 1716." Controlled substances are mailable only under narrow conditions, such as when both the mailer and the addressee are registered with the DEA or exempt from registration.^{4, 5}
• Using the mail or a phone to commit a drug felony. 21 U.S.C. § 843(b) covers any "communication facility," which "includes mail, telephone, wire, radio, and all other means of communication." Each use is a separate offense, with up to 4 years in prison.⁵
• Selling it. Distributing a Schedule I drug carries up to 20 years under 21 U.S.C. § 841(b)(1)(C).⁵
• Advertising it online. 21 U.S.C. § 843(c)(2)(A) bars using the internet to advertise or offer unauthorized sales of controlled substances.⁵
• Possessing it. This is the buyer's federal exposure: simple possession under 21 U.S.C. § 844 carries up to a year in prison for a first offense and a mandatory minimum fine.⁵ The Supreme Court held in 2009 that a buyer who uses a phone to make a misdemeanor purchase doesn't "facilitate" the seller's felony under § 843(b), so that offense is aimed at sellers.⁶

We found no recent release from New York's four U.S. attorney's offices about psilocybin mailed into the state, though some Justice Department search pages wouldn't load for us. The federal online case we did find was in Ohio: in May 2021, prosecutors in the Southern District of Ohio charged six people with selling psychedelic mushroom products on the dark web to customers across the country, paid in cryptocurrency, with each facing up to 20 years.⁷

What happens under New York law when a package arrives?

Receiving it is possession. Any amount is criminal possession in the seventh degree, a class A misdemeanor with up to 364 days in jail, and it becomes a class C felony at 25 milligrams of psilocybin.³ Splitting an order with friends is a sale, because Penal Law § 220.00 says "sell" includes "give."³

New York's leading court decision on psilocybin weight began with a shipment. In the case, State Police found a box of mushrooms, ordered through a contact in San Francisco, at a Federal Express warehouse in Binghamton, opened and resealed it under a warrant, and had an investigator posing as a courier deliver it. The person who signed for it was arrested, and so was the man who had asked for the mushrooms; he was convicted of attempted possession in the second degree and sentenced, as a second felony offender, to 10 years to life. In 1993 the Court of Appeals threw out that indictment because nothing showed he knew how much psilocybin the mushrooms held, leaving prosecutors free to pursue a lesser attempted-possession charge.⁸ The Legislature has since written Penal Law § 15.20(4), so prosecutors no longer have to prove a defendant knew the weight.³

Our penalties guide has every charge and sentence range, and are shrooms legal in New York? covers the bills that would change the law.

What can go wrong with an online order?

• You pay and nothing comes. The payment request is often the giveaway: the FTC says "anyone who insists that you pay by gift card is always a scammer" and "only scammers demand payment in cryptocurrency."^{9, 10}
• You get something else. Tests of "mushroom" gummies have found psilocin, ephedrine and kratom's mitragynine that the labels didn't list, and FDA found 4-AcO-DMT, muscimol and the prescription drug pregabalin in one recalled brand of bars, cones and gummies. In one 2025 study of 8 gummy products, one labeled psilocybin-free contained psilocybin.^{11, 12, 13} DoubleBlind reported in 2024 that a website using the Polka Dot name appeared to sell counterfeit bars, and that the brand's own channel warned buyers about fakes.¹⁴
• The package is seized, or delivered under police control, as in the case above.⁸
• Nobody can check it for you. NYC's drug-checking sites test powders and pills, and "plant matter and most liquids cannot be tested"; the state's program says its machine "cannot test organic matter like cannabis or mushrooms."^{15, 16}

For warning signs specific to people who sell by text or app, see magic mushroom delivery in NYC.

What can a seller show you, and what can't it?

This is information for adults deciding for themselves. None of it makes an order legal.

• A batch lab report (certificate of analysis). It should name the testing lab, carry a batch number that matches the package, give the test date and list psilocybin and psilocin separately. It describes the sample that was tested, not every package from the batch.
• Plain product descriptions. The species and strain, the form (dried mushrooms or capsules) and the net contents, without claims that the product is legal, approved or a treatment for anything.
• An age check. A seller can confirm that a buyer is 21 or older before taking an order.

What no seller can show you: that the purchase is legal, that the package won't be stopped, or how a product will affect you. A seller that claims "legal psilocybin" in New York is wrong about the first of those.²