NATURAL MEDICINE HEALTH ACT
Are Magic Mushrooms Legal in Colorado?
Mostly yes, but there are some exceptions. It comes down to how the mushrooms are being accessed and by whom.
Colorado’s Natural Medicine Health Act of 2022 (also known as Prop 122) established a state-level system for adults aged 21 and older to access certain psychedelic medicines legally, including fungi containing psilocybin and psilocin.
Unfortunately, these laws are not easily understandable by the average person without a law degree, nor do they seem to be written with the input of an informed mycologist. We created this simple guide to help people understand these new laws. Keep in mind this is our current understanding and opinions on the laws and their evolution since Prop 122 passed. We do our best to err on the side of caution because we aren’t lawyers ourselves. If you have any pressing legal questions about any of these state laws, please contact an actual lawyer.
For the most current and up-to-date information regarding natural medicine in the state of Colorado, please visit:
The Natural Medicine Health Act: https://www.sos.state.co.us/pubs/elections/Initiatives/titleBoard/filings/2021-2022/58Final.pdf
Senate Bill 23-290:
https://leg.colorado.gov/bills/sb23-290
Official Natural Medicine Licensure Program:
https://dpo.colorado.gov/NaturalMedicine
What is Natural Medicine?
The Natural Medicine Health Act of 2022 currently defines “Natural Medicine” as “Psilocybin; or Psilocyn” and excludes synthetic versions of these compounds. For the sake of keeping this article focused on fungi, we will ignore Dimethyltryptamine, Ibogaine and Mescaline for the rest of this article. Although Colorado has also decriminalized these substances, the Natural Medicine Health Board is still reviewing them as a natural medicine and is expected to weigh in on or after June 1, 2026.
How Can I Legally Access Natural Medicine?
The Natural Medicine Health Act outlines three avenues for individuals over the age of 21 to access natural medicine: (1) Healing Centers, (2) Religious, Cultural & Indigenous Use, and (3) Personal Use.
Healing Centers
Licensed healing centers are the only place that can legally sell natural medicine to the public. These centers employ licensed and highly trained professionals to produce natural medicine products and facilitate preparation, administration, and integration sessions for their clients. So far, there are four types of license available: the Natural Medicine Healing Center License, the Natural Medicine Cultivation Facility License, the Natural Medicine Product Manufacturer License, and the Natural Medicine Testing Facility License.
Religious, Cultural & Indigenous Use
Senate Bill 23-290 clarifies that these new laws do not prohibit a person from performing a bona fide religious, culturally traditional, or spiritual ceremony as long as: (1) that person informs participants that he or she is not a licensed facilitator, and (2) the ceremony is not associated with commercial, business, or for-profit activity.
The Religious Freedom Restoration Act federally protects religious ceremonial use of these substances as long as the use of the substance is (1) central to your sincerely held religious beliefs, and (2) safe. For more information on legal, religious use of psychedelics, even if you live in a state where the substance is criminalized, please visit: https://www.thedivineassembly.org/freedom
Personal Use
The third path to access natural medicine, and the most important for the public to understand, is personal use (also known as “recreational use”). These rules apply to all unlicensed use of natural medicine by adults aged 21 and up regardless of reasoning. These rules are not straightforward or easy to understand, so we will do our best to break everything down so it is easier to digest and also point to the legal gray areas to be mindful of.
Let’s start with what personal use allows:
- Possessing natural medicine.
- Storing natural medicine.
- Using natural medicine.
- Transporting natural medicine.
- Purchasing natural medicine.
- Obtaining natural medicine.
- Ingesting natural medicine.
- Giving away natural medicine without remuneration to adults over the age of 21 for personal use.
- Growing, cultivating, and processing natural medicine. Must be kept in a private residence and secured from access by persons under 21 years old.
- Assisting others in the above-mentioned actions or conduct.
- Allowing property to be used for the above-mentioned actions or conduct.
Now let’s cover what personal use does NOT allow:
- NO giving away natural medicine for any form of remuneration.
- NO giving away natural medicine as part of a business promotion or other commercial activity.
- NO paying for advertising related to natural medicine, sharing of natural medicine, or services intended to be used concurrently with a person’s consumption of natural medicine.
Now let’s cover the gray areas:
What exactly is “remuneration”? The original text of proposition 122 used the term remuneration five times, yet it never defined what it legally meant. The completion of Senate Bill 23-290 finally provided clarification. It says:
“‘Remuneration’ means anything of value, including money, real property, tangible and intangible personal property, contract right, chose in action, service, and any right of use or employment or promise or agreement connected therewith, business promotion, or commercial activity.”
For us, this boils down to: No “this for that” if natural medicine is involved. The law, interpreted literally, could prohibit us from trading mushroom strains with friends. This doesn’t seem to be deliberate, but it is definitely something we need to be careful of until the Natural Medicine Advisory Board and/or the Department of Regulatory Agencies (DORA) clarifies otherwise. However, there is nothing preventing you from gifting a friend some mushrooms and nothing stopping your friend from gifting you some similar mushrooms (or cultures). The gift simply can’t be conditional.
Bona Fide Harm Reduction and Support Services
The Natural Medicine Health Act (Prop 122) establishes that under these personal use laws, persons over the age of 21 may receive payment for bona fide harm reduction services, bona fide therapy services or support services, maintaining personal or professional websites related to natural medicine services, and dissemination of educational materials related to natural medicine.
Senate Bill 23-290 reaffirmed that nothing prevents remuneration for bona fide harm reduction services or bona fide support services used concurrently with the sharing of natural medicine or natural medicine product, provided there is no advertisement related to the sharing of natural medicine, natural medicine product, or the services provided, and provided the individual providing services informs all participants in the services that they are not a licensed facilitator.
What is a bona fide harm reduction service or support service? The state has not defined what those terms mean and we do not expect them to clarify it anytime soon. This loophole was petitioned to intentionally be left open before SB 23-290 was established as law. The state seems almost entirely focused on licensing and regulating the new natural medicine centered businesses. We think it was intended to include any sort of therapy, counseling, emotional support, and/or life coaching services. If you need a definitive and clear answer, contact a lawyer.
Where do psilocybe mushroom cultures fit into all of this?
This question highlights the most glaring problem we see with the language of the Natural Medicine Health Act. The safest answer we can give is: “it depends.” Since the Natural Medicine Health act defines natural medicine as “psilocybin” and/or “psilocyn,” that would include dikaryotic cultures of psilocybin/psilocin producing fungi. The only cultures of psilocybin/psilocin producing fungi that are clearly safe to sell or trade are spores and monokaryotic cultures until the Natural Medicine Advisory Board and/or the Department of Regulatory Agencies (DORA) clarify otherwise. Fun fact: you can even legally possess spores and monokaryotic cultures in 47 of the 50 United States, excluding California, Georgia, and Idaho, where it is still either illegal or questionable.
Further Assistance or Support
If you have additional questions or need help with any of the permitted actions or conduct surrounding personal use, please contact us. We are here to serve and educate the public on all things fungi.