Magic mushrooms in NYC: what's legal and what's happening?
Magic mushrooms are illegal in all five boroughs: psilocybin is a Schedule I drug under New York and federal law, possessing any amount is a crime, and no district attorney or City Council measure has changed that. They're still sold in shops and parks, and police and prosecutors have raided storefronts, warehouses and park sellers from the East Village to the Bronx since 2022.
From our sister shop, My Mushroom Dispensary. Adults 21+ only.
On this page
- The short answer
- Is it any different in Manhattan, Brooklyn, the Bronx, Queens or Staten Island?
- What have police and prosecutors done in NYC since 2022?
- How many people does the NYPD arrest over hallucinogens?
- How many New Yorkers use magic mushrooms?
- Shops, gummies and delivery: what's being sold?
- The law, trials, therapy and help
- Questions people ask
- Sources
The short answer
Magic mushrooms are illegal everywhere in New York City. Psilocybin and psilocyn are Schedule I controlled substances under New York's Public Health Law § 3306 and under federal law, and possessing any amount is criminal possession in the seventh degree, a class A misdemeanor punishable by up to 364 days in jail.1, 2, 3 We found no City Council measure or district attorney policy that decriminalizes psilocybin or treats it differently from other drugs.4, 5
This site is published by the team behind My Mushroom Dispensary, an online shop for adults 21+ that has no storefront, pickup or courier in New York City. Its shipping page sets out how My Mushroom Dispensary ships: orders placed by 2 PM Pacific ship the same business day, with tracking. That doesn't make an order legal. Ordering psilocybin is illegal under federal law and New York law.
Is it any different in Manhattan, Brooklyn, the Bronx, Queens or Staten Island?
No. One state law covers all five boroughs. What differs is how each district attorney handles low-level drug cases, and none of the five has published a policy specific to psilocybin or psychedelics that we could find.5 The declination rates and the Manhattan and Bronx policies below are as the Data Collaborative for Justice reported them in April 2026.5
| Borough and DA | What we found |
|---|---|
| Manhattan Alvin L. Bragg Jr. | In January 2022 the office announced that misdemeanor arrests with a mandatory desk appearance ticket should be offered diversion before arraignment. Its declination rate for misdemeanor drug possession rose from 6% in 2021 to 38% in 2024.5 |
| The Bronx Darcel Clark | A January 2020 list of charges to "presumptively decline to prosecute" named transit fare nonpayment, trespass and marijuana possession, among others. The office declined 40% of misdemeanors in 2024, the city's highest rate.5 |
| Brooklyn Eric Gonzalez | A 2018 release describes a policy of declining most low-level marijuana cases; we found no published policy on other drug possession. The office declined 14% of misdemeanors in 2024.6, 5 |
| Queens Melinda Katz | We found no drug possession policy. The office declined 6% of misdemeanors in 2024, the city's lowest rate.5 |
| Staten Island Michael E. McMahon | The office's HOPE program, launched in 2017, diverts low-level drug offenders to health and treatment services before arraignment. "If someone commits a crime, we're gonna prosecute it," McMahon told amNY in 2025.23, 7 |
Felony drug cases anywhere in the city can also go to the Office of the Special Narcotics Prosecutor, which works alongside the five DAs.8
We found no City Council resolution or local law on psilocybin in the Council's legislation database; psychedelics come up in committee briefing papers for veterans' and smoke-shop hearings. The 2023 landlord law aimed at smoke shops, Local Law 107, covers tobacco and illicit cannabis, not psilocybin.4
What have police and prosecutors done in NYC since 2022?
These are the NYC psilocybin cases we could document from police, prosecutor and news reports. It isn't a complete count, and we don't name the people involved.
| When and where | What happened |
|---|---|
| December 20, 2022 East Village, Manhattan: Come Back Daily and City Clouds | After undercover buys, the NYPD and the Special Narcotics Prosecutor seized about 1,500 psilocybin pills, 59 bags of mushrooms, gummies and chocolate bars. Four people were charged with criminal sale.9 |
| Reported January 18, 2023 Upper West Side, Manhattan: a smoke shop | A city and state task force found apparent psilocybin products "hidden in a safe in the basement," a Council briefing paper said.4 |
| July 2023 Washington Square Park, Manhattan | The NYPD's 6th Precinct arrested a vendor for having "a large quantity" of psilocybin mushrooms and posted a warning that sellers would be "swiftly placed under arrest."10 |
| Announced February 21, 2024 Washington Square Park, Manhattan | Nine people were charged with selling psilocybin mushrooms, cocaine and crack after more than a dozen undercover buys. Several pleaded guilty and got sentences from probation to two and a half years in prison, the Special Narcotics Prosecutor reported in 2025.11, 8 |
| July 16 to 17, 2024 Throggs Neck, the Bronx: a shop and a deli on E. Tremont Ave. | The city Sheriff and NYPD, under Operation Padlock to Protect, found psilocybin edibles and concentrate along with cannabis.12 |
| July 21, 2024 Mott Haven, the Bronx: 516 Timpson Place | The Sheriff and NYPD seized about 200 pounds of "psychedelic mushrooms, mushroom edibles and concentrate," plus cannabis and guns. Four people were arrested.13 |
| August 8, 2024 Astoria, Queens: a warehouse on Second St. | A search that began with a burglary call turned up cannabis products and "mushroom (psilocybin) chocolate bars," the Sheriff's Office said, in boxes with a name like One Up's. Two burglary suspects were arrested; the Sheriff's Office padlocked the warehouse.14 |
| April 30, 2026 The Bronx: an apartment on W. 164th St. | A DEA-led task force with Special Narcotics Prosecutor investigators, the NYPD and State Police seized about 30 pounds of psilocybin mushrooms and other drugs; lab results were pending. Two men were charged with criminal possession in the first and third degrees.15 |
The three 2024 shop and warehouse cases came from the city Sheriff's office, two of them under Operation Padlock to Protect, a crackdown on unlicensed cannabis shops that turned up psilocybin along the way.12 We found no NYC storefront case from 2025.
How many people does the NYPD arrest over hallucinogens?
NYPD arrest data never names psilocybin. The closest measure is the statute: we counted arrests whose top charge was a Penal Law weight offense for a "hallucinogen," the legal category that holds psilocybin and psilocyn.16, 3
| Period | "Hallucinogen" weight charges | All Penal Law 220 drug charges |
|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 125 | 15,701 |
| 2024 | 180 | 18,519 |
| 2025 | 144 | 22,379 |
| January to June 2026 | 79 | 11,103 |
Four limits apply:
- They aren't psilocybin only. "Hallucinogen" in Penal Law § 220.00(9) also covers four other chemicals, including DOM and synthetic THC, so the counts are a ceiling.3
- Small cases are invisible. Possession in the seventh degree, the most common drug charge with 11,050 arrests in 2025, names no drug.16
- Only the top charge is recorded.
- Arrests aren't convictions.
By borough, 2025's "hallucinogen" arrests were Manhattan 39, Brooklyn 38, Queens 30, the Bronx 21 and Staten Island 16.16
How many New Yorkers use magic mushrooms?
About 718,000 New Yorkers aged 12 and older used a hallucinogen in the past year, 4.24% of that population (95% interval 3.60% to 4.98%), according to SAMHSA's model-based state estimates from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health, averaged over 2023 and 2024. The national rate was 3.36%, and among New Yorkers aged 18 to 25 it was 8.10%.17
Those are state figures for all hallucinogens; the survey publishes no NYC-only estimate and no state psilocybin figure. Nationally, 7,890,000 people aged 12 and older used psilocybin in the past year in 2024, 2.7% of that population.17
Shops, gummies and delivery: what's being sold?
Mushroom dispensaries
There's no legal one. New York's Office of Cannabis Management licenses cannabis businesses, and its board's duties in Cannabis Law § 10 cover cannabis and hemp, not psilocybin.18 Our guide to mushroom dispensaries in NYC covers the shops that tried.
Smoke-shop gummies and chocolates
Labels often don't match the contents. In the 2024 outbreak investigation of Diamond Shruumz bars, cones and gummies and other mushroom chocolates, CDC counted 180 illnesses in 34 states, 2 of them in New York, and 118 of the sick reportedly ate a Diamond Shruumz product. FDA found muscimol, 4-AcO-DMT, psilocin and pregabalin in Diamond Shruumz products.19 See what's in NYC smoke-shop mushroom gummies.
Delivery accounts
No licensed psilocybin delivery exists in New York, and under Penal Law § 220.00 "sell" includes "give," so handing mushrooms to someone is a sale even when it's free.3 We found almost no reporting on NYC delivery accounts; the delivery guide covers the legal risk and scam warning signs.
The law, trials, therapy and help
The law
Possession becomes a class C felony at 25 milligrams of psilocybin.3 Albany has seen 20 psilocybin and psychedelic proposals since 2019, and the only one to pass, in 2022, makes New York follow when the federal government moves a drug out of Schedule I; none that would legalize, decriminalize or fund psilocybin therapy has passed either house.20 Read are shrooms legal in New York? for the statutes and the bills.
Clinical trials
Trials are how New Yorkers can receive psilocybin legally today. On ClinicalTrials.gov, 30 trials of psilocybin or a related drug list a New York site, 12 of them recruiting here, and NYU Langone is a site for 16.21 Our New York trials directory lists them.
Therapy
Outside a trial, no psilocybin therapy is legal in New York. The Medical Psilocybin Act (A2142-A/S5303-A) would set up a state medical program from July 1, 2028, but it was amended on May 8, 2026 and stayed in the Health committees, and bills that haven't passed die when the 2025-2026 session ends on December 31, 2026.20 See psilocybin therapy in NYC for the legal options.
Safety and help
In an emergency, call 911. New York's Good Samaritan law, Penal Law § 220.78, bars drug charges, other than for selling for money or other gain, against someone who seeks help in good faith for an overdose or other life-threatening emergency, for themselves or for someone else, and it gives a defense to some sale charges.3 In a crisis, call or text 988. Poison Control is 1-800-222-1222, and the Fireside Project's psychedelic peer support line, 62-FIRESIDE, answers calls and texts daily from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Pacific (2 p.m. to 2 a.m. Eastern).22 More on the safety and help page.
Questions people ask
Is psilocybin decriminalized in NYC?
Can you get arrested for shrooms in NYC?
Yes. The NYPD made 144 arrests in 2025 with a "hallucinogen" weight charge as the top charge, a category that includes psilocybin and a few other drugs, and smaller cases are filed under a possession charge that names no drug.16 In Manhattan, where the district attorney announced in 2022 that misdemeanor cases with a desk appearance ticket should be offered diversion before arraignment, prosecutors declined 38% of misdemeanor drug possession arrests in 2024, the Data Collaborative for Justice found.5
Will New York legalize magic mushrooms soon?
Not this year. The Legislature's 2026 session ended in June with every psilocybin bill still in committee. Bills that haven't passed die when the 2025-2026 session ends on December 31, 2026 and must be filed again in the 2027-2028 session.20
Sources
- New York Public Health Law § 3306, Schedule I(d)(18) psilocybin and (19) psilocyn. New York State Senate, revision of October 6, 2023.
- Controlled substances, alphabetical order: psilocybin (7437) and psilocyn (7438), Schedule I. DEA Diversion Control Division, October 21, 2026.
- New York Penal Law: § 220.00 (definitions of "sell" and "hallucinogen"), § 220.03, § 220.09, § 220.78 (Good Samaritan) and § 70.15. New York State Senate, retrieved November 2, 2026.
- Int. 1001-2023 and committee report (Local Law 107 of 2023); Oversight: The Proliferation of Unlicensed Smoke Shops in New York City, January 18, 2023; Legistar legislation search. New York City Council, searched November 2, 2026.
- Borough Contrast: Prosecution and Court Outcomes Across New York City, 2021-2024. Data Collaborative for Justice, April 2026.
- Low-level marijuana prosecutions in Brooklyn plunged by over 91% this year. Kings County District Attorney, July 27, 2018.
- How the Staten Island DA's progressive opioid policy created friction with the "idealistic" legislature. amNY, May 8, 2025.
- 2024 Annual Report. Office of the Special Narcotics Prosecutor for the City of New York, June 2025.
- Report on the arrests at Come Back Daily and City Clouds in the East Village. amNY, December 22, 2022.
- Park psi-ops: 6th Precinct warns of "swift arrests" for selling shrooms in Washington Square. The Village Sun, July 19, 2023.
- Report on nine people charged with selling psychedelic mushrooms in Washington Square Park. amNY, February 21, 2024.
- Release 551-24 on the results of a major illegal cannabis enforcement operation in the Bronx. Office of the Mayor, City of New York, July 17, 2024.
- Report on the Timpson Place seizure in the Bronx. amNY, July 21, 2024.
- That's a lot of pot: major seizure made in Astoria. Queens Chronicle, August 15, 2024.
- Release on a drug stash location uncovered near Yankee Stadium in the Bronx, with two arrests. Drug Enforcement Administration, May 4, 2026.
- NYPD Arrests Data (Historic), dataset 8h9b-rp9u and NYPD Arrest Data (Year to Date), dataset uip8-fykc. NYC Open Data, queried November 2, 2026; counts by statute code are ours.
- 2023-2024 NSDUH state prevalence estimates, Table 11 (hallucinogen use in the past year) and 2024 NSDUH detailed tables 1.1A and 1.1B. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.
- New York Cannabis Law § 10, functions of the Cannabis Control Board. New York State Senate, revision of May 16, 2025.
- Investigation of illnesses: Diamond Shruumz brand chocolate bars, cones and gummies (June 2024). U.S. Food and Drug Administration, final update November 15, 2024.
- Bill pages: S8618 of 2022 (signed as Chapter 777) and A2142-A, the Medical Psilocybin Act, New York State Senate; A2142 actions and memo, New York State Assembly. Retrieved November 2, 2026.
- ClinicalTrials.gov studies with psilocybin as an intervention and a New York location. National Library of Medicine, queried November 2026.
- Help lines: 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline; Poison Help, 1-800-222-1222 (HRSA); Fireside Project Psychedelic Peer Support Line. Retrieved November 2, 2026.
- Our efforts: SI HOPE, Heroin, Overdose Prevention and Education. Richmond County District Attorney's Office, retrieved November 2, 2026.
Keep reading
Are shrooms legal in New York?No: psilocybin is Schedule I in New York, any amount is a crime and nowhere in the state has decriminalized it.
Is there a legal mushroom dispensary in NYC?No. What NYC's shroom shops are, the raids that hit them, what lab tests found and why "licensed" means nothing here.
Where can you get help or drug checking for psilocybin in NYC?Who to call first, the Good Samaritan law, what NYC drug checking can and can't test, and who psilocybin trials exclude.
Reported and checked by the Mushrooms New York desk. Every figure on this page links to its source. If something is wrong or out of date, tell us and we'll correct it in the open, as our editorial standards describe. Mushrooms New York is published by the team behind My Mushroom Dispensary, an online shop. We sell no advertising.