How do you read a mushroom dispensary menu?

What does a mushroom dispensary menu actually tell you?

Less than it seems. A menu line usually gives a species, a strain name, a form and sometimes a potency figure, and only a lab report for that exact batch can back any of it up. No storefront or website menu is licensed, either: Oregon's tested, labeled psilocybin products are sold only to clients inside licensed service centers, for use there.¹

Here's how the parts fit together. The online menu of My Mushroom Dispensary, the shop run by the people who publish this register, lists Albino Bluey Vuitton mushrooms: the species is Psilocybe cubensis, and Albino Bluey Vuitton is the strain, a cultivar name. Ordering from any menu by mail is illegal under federal law and in every state.

What's the difference between a species and a strain?

A species is a biological category; a strain is a name. Many menus list Psilocybe cubensis, the only species Oregon's licensed program allows. Oregon makes manufacturers prove it: the first harvest lot each year, and then the first batch harvested each month, must be tested to show it contains Psilocybe cubensis, and a batch that doesn't is a failure.²

Strain names such as Golden Teacher or Penis Envy are cultivar names that growers and sellers use for a line of mushrooms. They aren't tested categories. Oregon's testing rules cover species, potency, solvents, pesticides, contaminants and heavy metals; none of them tests or certifies a strain name.³

Lab measurements show why the name can't tell you potency. In a 2026 study of 14 Psilocybe cubensis strains produced under the same controlled conditions, psilocybin ranged from 2.03 to 19.60 mg per gram of dried mushroom between strains, and total tryptamines differed more than 7.8-fold. Within a single strain, psilocybin varied between individual mushrooms, with a coefficient of variation of 12.81% to 23.39%.⁴

So a strain name tells you a seller's label for a line of mushrooms. Only a test of that batch tells you what's in it, and even then individual mushrooms differ.

Dried, capsules or edibles: what's the difference?

Oregon's labeling rule names four product types: whole fungi, homogenized (ground) fungi, psilocybin extract and edible psilocybin product. Its labels must state the measured psilocybin content from lab results, that onset is "variable and cannot be accurately predicted," and that the "risks, benefits, and drug interactions of psilocybin are not fully understood."⁵ Unlicensed menus use the same forms with none of those checks.

Edibles are where labels fail most clearly. When researchers tested 12 "magic mushroom" edibles bought at Portland shops, none contained psilocybin, including one gummy labeled with 100 mg of psilocybin per piece; 8 of the 12 contained ingredients the label didn't list.⁸ Our testing guide covers those studies and the 2024 illness outbreak.

What should "lab-tested" mean?

It should mean a certificate of analysis (COA): a lab report for one specific batch. A credible one shows all of these:

1. The lab's name and accreditation. Oregon requires psilocybin testing labs to be accredited by its environmental lab accreditation program, ORELAP.⁹ Colorado's health department certifies testing facilities by category and asks for an ISO/IEC 17025 accreditation scope "if available."¹⁰ A report from an unnamed lab can't be checked.
2. A batch or lot number that matches the package. Oregon tests every batch of finished product.⁶ A report for some other batch proves nothing about yours.
3. A test date. Colorado repeats its tryptamine content analysis every nine months.⁷
4. The method. Potency results should name a chromatography method, such as HPLC or LC-MS. The 2025 edibles study used a state-accredited HPLC method.⁸
5. What was measured. At minimum, psilocybin and psilocin. Colorado also requires baeocystin, norbaeocystin and aeruginascin, plus a screen for the synthetic drug 4-AcO-DMT; any amount found fails the product.⁷ A report giving only a vague "mushroom extract" figure doesn't show psilocybin content.
6. Contaminants. Microbes (Colorado requires Salmonella and Shiga toxin-producing E. coli to be absent) and heavy metals (Oregon sets limits for lead, cadmium, mercury and arsenic).⁷¹¹
7. Pass or fail against stated limits, with a way to contact the lab.

We found no published study that has checked the reports unlicensed sellers hand out, so a report is only as good as its match to your package. And a real report doesn't make a sale legal; our guide to online mushroom dispensaries explains the federal law.

What are the red flags on a mushroom menu?

• "Legal," "compliant" or "licensed in Oregon" or "Colorado," next to shipping or counter sales. Neither state's license allows either; Oregon keeps purchase and use inside the service center.¹ Our guide to the claims shops make goes through each one.
• Amanita sold as a magic mushroom. The FDA calls Amanita muscaria and its compounds "unapproved food additives."¹² In one Portland study, two products sold as Amanita contained no muscimol but did contain psilocin and other tryptamine compounds.¹³
• Synthetic drug names on the label, such as 4-AcO-DMT ("psilacetin"), 4-AcO-MiPT or 4-HO-DET. These turned up in tested gummies,⁸¹³ and Colorado's program fails any product with a synthetic tryptamine.⁷
• A "psilocybin-free" label on a product sold as psychedelic. One tested gummy labeled psilocybin-free contained psilocybin.¹³
• Potency figures with no batch report behind them. A number on a menu is a claim until a matching lab report backs it.
• Packaging that copies candy or brand-name foods. In a 2025 study of Canadian psilocybin stores, 30 of the 46 stores whose products it assessed (65.2%) sold products resembling brand-name foods.¹⁴
• Medical claims. In the same study, 19 of the 22 store websites with health content (86.4%) made mental-health claims.¹⁴