Psilocybin law in Colorado

Colorado voters approved Proposition 122, the Natural Medicine Health Act, in November 2022. The Legislature filled in the details with SB23-290 in May 2023.¹ The result has two parts: a licensed program where adults can take psilocybin under supervision, and a personal-use law that lets adults 21 and older possess, grow and share it without a license, as long as nothing is sold.^1,5

Licensed healing centers

Adults 21 and older can take psilocybin at a licensed healing center with a licensed facilitator. No diagnosis or prescription is needed. Psilocybin is currently the only natural medicine allowed in healing centers.¹

The state's Natural Medicine Division, part of the Department of Revenue, issued the first healing center license on March 31, 2025.³ As of October 16, 2026, it listed:²

• 11 standard and 36 micro healing centers, 47 in all
• 15 cultivation facilities
• 8 product manufacturers
• 1 testing facility

Healing center sessions aren't cheap. Two of the three centers CPR News toured in early 2026 charged $3,500 for the full three-phase service.⁴ Every production lot of regulated product has to be tested for its psilocybin and psilocin content, and for other tryptamines, before it reaches a client.¹³ Rules that took effect July 1, 2026 also allow healing centers in some private residences.⁹

Personal use, growing and sharing

Separately from the licensed program, Colorado law lets adults 21 and older possess, use, grow and share psilocybin, psilocin, DMT, ibogaine and mescaline (except peyote) for personal use. The law sets no quantity limit for possession.⁵ It comes with conditions:⁵

• Selling is not allowed. Sharing in exchange for payment counts as selling.
• Sharing with anyone under 21 is a crime.
• Home growing must stay within a 12-by-12-foot area in a locked, enclosed space. Going beyond that is a petty offense.
• Using psilocybin in public is a petty offense.
• Synthetic versions of these substances aren't covered.

2025 and 2026 changes

HB26-1325, signed June 4, 2026 and in effect since August 12, 2026, is the biggest change since the program launched.⁶ It:

• Bans advertising natural medicine and natural medicine products, and bars paid "harm reduction" or support services from being used to sell natural medicine.⁶
• Creates a limited sales license, so healing centers can sell products only through a co-located licensee, and lets the division director issue cease-and-desist orders against unlicensed activity.⁶
• Sets up an ibogaine research pilot at up to five sites, if enough gifts, grants and donations come in.⁶

Westword reported that the law is aimed at businesses that used "gifting" or "harm reduction" models to sell psilocybin, including online and from storefronts and booths.⁷

SB26-031, signed April 20, 2026, takes an FDA-approved prescription product that contains a Schedule I substance off Colorado's Schedule I once the DEA reschedules it. That's aimed at an approved psilocybin medicine such as COMP360, and doesn't affect the natural medicine program.⁸ A 2025 law, SB25-297, directs the state to collect de-identified data on natural medicine use and outcomes if gifts, grants or donations cover the cost.¹

Denver went first

Before any of this, Denver voters approved Initiative 301 in May 2019, making Denver the first U.S. city to make psilocybin mushrooms a lowest law-enforcement priority.¹⁰ State law has since gone much further.

What remains illegal

• Selling psilocybin outside the licensed system, under state and federal law.
• Giving psilocybin to anyone under 21, or anyone under 21 using it.
• Using it in public, or driving while impaired.
• Advertising natural medicine, under HB26-1325.

Psilocybin is also a Schedule I drug under federal law, and Colorado's protections don't apply on federal land or against federal enforcement.¹¹

What to watch

• The state's natural medicine data reports, which will show how many people the centers serve. The first healing center completed about 95 sessions in 2025, according to Axios.¹²
• Rules for the new limited sales license, and how the advertising ban is enforced.
• Whether the ibogaine pilot raises enough money to start.

Our news story on the latest license count has more on how the program is growing.