New Jersey funds a $6 million psilocybin pilot at three hospitals
New Jersey enacted a law on January 20, 2026 that puts $6 million into a hospital-based psilocybin research pilot, $2 million each for three hospitals, one of them meant to come from a northern region that takes in Hudson and Bergen counties, across the river from Manhattan. It's research, not legalization: the law creates no place for New Jerseyans or New Yorkers to buy psilocybin.
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Trenton, January 20, 2026. New Jersey's Senate Committee Substitute for S2283 was approved and became P.L.2025, chapter 296, which creates the "Psilocybin Behavioral Health Access and Therapy Pilot Program" in the state Department of Health.1 The law firm McCarter & English reported that Gov. Phil Murphy signed it.2
What the law does
- Money. It appropriates $6,000,000 from the General Fund to a new Psychedelic Therapy and Research Fund, and the department must give $2,000,000 to each of three hospitals it selects.1
- Three regions. The department picks one qualified hospital from the northern region (Bergen, Essex, Hudson, Hunterdon, Morris, Passaic, Somerset, Sussex and Warren counties), one from the central region (Middlesex, Monmouth, Mercer and Union) and one from the southern region, if qualified hospitals apply from each. A "hospital" can also be a community-based organization formally partnered with a licensed health care facility.1
- Federal rules first. The Legislature says the funded research is to comply with FDA and DEA regulations, and the department can't set any requirement that conflicts with FDA protocols for psychedelic clinical trials.1
- An advisory board. The 11-member Psychedelic Therapy and Research Advisory Board has two nonvoting health officials and nine public members appointed by the governor and legislative leaders, drawn from fields that include medicine, psychedelic clinical trials, drug policy law and Indigenous uses of natural medicines.1
- Data and an end date. Participating hospitals must report data on patient outcomes but don't have to disclose who the patients are. After year two, the department and the board each report to the governor and Legislature, and the act expires once those reports are in.1
The enacted text doesn't say which conditions will be studied or who can enroll; that would come from each hospital's research protocol.1
What lawmakers cut
Earlier versions were titled the "Psilocybin Behavioral Health Access and Services Act." The struck-out text in the chapter law shows they aimed at psilocybin service centers for residents 21 and older and at licensing manufacturers and facilitators.1 Those sections were removed. McCarter & English summed up the result: the law "does not create a regulated marketplace comparable to New Jersey's cannabis program."2
Why it matters across the Hudson
New Jersey now has state money behind psilocybin research, and one of its three hospitals is to come from a region that includes Hudson and Bergen counties, next door to New York City. Albany's comparable bills haven't moved: the $5 million veterans pilot and the Medical Psilocybin Act are still in committee, as our bill tracker shows.
The law doesn't legalize adult-use psilocybin in New Jersey.2 Our guide to where psilocybin is legal near New York covers New Jersey's status alongside the licensed programs out west, and the therapy guide lists what's available legally in the city today.
Sources
- P.L.2025, chapter 296 (Senate Committee Substitute, Second Reprint, for S2283). New Jersey Legislature, approved January 20, 2026.
- New Jersey enacts Psilocybin Behavioral Health Access and Therapy Pilot Program. McCarter & English, January 22, 2026.
- 2026 news releases. New Jersey Department of Health, checked November 2, 2026.
- Executive Order 14401, Accelerating Medical Treatments for Serious Mental Illness, section 3. Federal Register, 91 FR 21709, April 22, 2026.
Keep reading
Where is psilocybin legal near New York?Nowhere in the Northeast. Each neighbor's status, dated and sourced, plus road miles to Colorado and Oregon.
Can you get legal psilocybin therapy in NYC?Trials, Spravato and ketamine clinics, Oregon and Colorado: what's legal for New Yorkers now, and what isn't.
Where do New York's psilocybin bills stand?Every psilocybin and psychedelic bill filed in Albany since 2019, with sponsors, stage reached and last action.
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.