Psilocybin law in Washington and Seattle

Psilocybin is illegal in Washington. State law treats it as a controlled substance, and possessing, growing or selling it is a crime.² What has changed is local enforcement: Seattle, Tacoma, Olympia, Port Townsend, and King, Pierce and Jefferson counties have each made it a low priority for police.²

Seattle's 2021 resolution

On October 4, 2021, the Seattle City Council adopted Resolution 32021. It declared that investigating and arresting people for non-commercial activity involving entheogens, including psilocybin mushrooms, should be among the city's lowest enforcement priorities. That covers growing and sharing, not selling.¹

The resolution is a statement of city policy. It doesn't change state law, it doesn't bind the King County Sheriff, the Washington State Patrol or federal agents, and it doesn't make possession legal.^1,2

Other cities and counties

What the state has done

Washington's main psilocybin law, 2SSB 5263, passed in 2023. As enacted, it:⁶

• Directed the Health Care Authority to set up a Psilocybin Task Force to review the clinical evidence and other states' rules, with a final report due December 1, 2023.
• Directed the University of Washington's Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences to set up a psilocybin therapy pilot for veterans and first responders 21 and older with PTSD, mood disorders or substance use disorders, by January 1, 2025, if the Legislature funded it. Services have to follow FDA-approved pathways.
• Protects Washington-licensed health professionals from licensing discipline for recommending psilocybin therapy.

Governor Jay Inslee vetoed the sections that would have created a Psilocybin Advisory Board and an interagency work group to build a regulated program.⁶

Recent bills

Bills to create an Oregon-style services program and a veterans' pilot were introduced in 2025 and didn't pass.² In 2026, SB 5921 would have created a medical psilocybin program starting July 1, 2028. It cleared the Senate Health and Long-Term Care Committee on February 3, 2026, then stalled in Ways and Means, and the session ended without a vote.⁷

What remains illegal

Possessing, growing, giving away and selling psilocybin are crimes under Washington law, including in cities that have deprioritized enforcement. Psilocybin is also a Schedule I drug under federal law.¹⁰ The local measures cover personal, non-commercial activity only. Selling psilocybin is illegal everywhere in Washington, under both state and federal law.

Research in Washington

Seattle has a part in the federal story too. Seattle physician Sunil Aggarwal's petition to move psilocybin out of Schedule I is the one the Ninth Circuit sent back to the DEA in 2023.⁹ The Department of Veterans Affairs' Phase 3 psilocybin trial, PIVOT, is enrolling veterans at its Seattle site, among others.⁸ More on that in our PIVOT story.

What to watch

• Whether SB 5921 or a similar medical program bill returns in the 2027 session.
• More county measures in the Puget Sound region, following King and Pierce.
• FDA action on COMP360, which would put an approved psilocybin medicine on a federal track. See the research tracker.

More about Seattle

For background on the city's local scene, My Mushroom Dispensary, an online retailer, describes its Seattle-area options on its Seattle page. Our disclosure explains how Norshroom is connected to it.