Florida House of Representatives and Senate approved agriculture legislation, which among other things, explicitly prohibits the distribution of mycelium and spores from psychedelic mushrooms.
At a Tuesday hearing, members of the House Housing, Agriculture and Tourism Subcommittee voted to approve HB 651, a bill sponsored by Rep. Kaylee Tuck. This nearly 150-page bill would amend Florida’s agriculture laws in a number of areas, such as agricultural land, utilities, and wildlife management.
In the case of psychedelic mushrooms, this would prohibit “the transport, importation, sale, offering for sale, furnishing, or giving away spores and mycelium that can produce mushrooms or other materials which contain controlled substances, including psilocybin during their lifecycle.”
A violation of this proposed law could result in a criminal offense with a maximum sentence of one year and a fine up to $1,000.
Keith Truenow (R) has introduced a companion bill in the Senate that contains the mushroom-related provisions. Last week, the Senate Appropriations Committee on Agriculture, Environment and General Government approved this bill after it was modified and passed unanimously.
The House committee adopted an amendment on Tuesday before reporting favorably the bill. This amendment made several changes to the original bill. However, it did not affect in any way the section dealing with mycelium and spores.
Psilocybin (the main psychoactive compound) and psilocin (the second most common one) are found in the majority of psychedelic mushrooms. Although spores typically do not contain psilocybin or psilocin themselves, they eventually produce fruiting bodies—mushrooms—that do contain the psychedelic compounds.
The federal government considers the spores legal because they don’t have any controlled substances.
Terrence Boos of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Drug and Chemical Evaluation Section said that if the mushroom spores or any other materials do not contain psilocybin, psilocin, or any other listed or controlled chemical, then the material will not be controlled. Boos used a similar reasoning to say that marijuana seed is federally legal because it does not contain THC.
Florida’s HB 651, a report by the Florida legislature, also notes “that spores don’t contain any psilocybin and can therefore be considered to be legal under existing law.”
The proposal clarifies that any spores, mycelium or other organisms that can produce psilocybin at any stage of their growth are illegal.
On Tuesday, members of the House panel failed to mention the provisions regarding psilocybin in the broad agricultural legislation.
The Senate’s version of the bill includes a report that states, “Psychedelic mushrooms became popular in the United States around the 1960s after American researchers studied their medicinal properties.” The U.S. federal government has now classified them as Schedule I controlled drugs, which indicates that they don’t have an accepted medical purpose.
Further, it states, “Any material, compound mixture or preparation that contains Psilocybin, a hallucinogenic chemical, has a high abuse potential and is currently not accepted as a medical treatment in the United States.”
Psilocybin, psylocin and their derivatives are illegal substances in Florida. Possession is considered a third degree felony punishable by up to five-years in prison or a fine of $5,000.
A Florida legislative committee began debating a proposal to regulate cannabinoid-derived hemp products this week. This industry is now worth billions of dollars in Florida.
A judge dismissed, earlier in the month, the lawsuit filed by the Trulieve cannabis company against state Republican Party regarding the unsuccessful constitutional amendment of last year which sought to legalize the adult-use use of marijuana.
The judge agreed with the company that GOP opponents were misleading, making “consistently false” statements that “tried” to “fool Florida voters”.
Smart and Safe Florida, the campaign that failed to legalize marijuana, is already preparing for a new ballot battle next year. According to the Florida Division of Elections, the group has submitted over 7,500 signatures of 891 523 required to qualify the ballot in 2026.
The campaign’s 2026 iteration includes several changes that seem responsive to issues raised by critics about the 2024 version.
According to a recent University of North Florida survey, voters are bipartisanly in favor of the reform despite the fact that last year’s ballot measure failed. It showed that 67 percent of Florida voters now back legalization, including 82 percent of Democrats, 66 percent of independents and 55 percent of Republicans.
The results conflict with another recent poll from the Florida Chamber of Commerce, a proactive opponent of legalization, that found majority support for the reform among likely voter (53 percent) but not enough to be enacted under the 60 percent requirement.
Meanwhile, Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) said in January that the latest version of the legalization initiative is in “big time trouble” with the state Supreme Court, predicting it will be blocked from going before voters next year.
A new study says that Psilocybin assisted therapy is effective in treating methamphetamine addiction.
Image courtesy Wikimedia/Mushroom observer.