Glossary: the words on dispensary signs and in psilocybin law

Which words cause the most confusion?

Three groups of words do most of the damage in headlines and on shop signs.

• Places. A dispensary is a licensed cannabis store in cannabis states; no state licenses one for psilocybin. Oregon licenses service centers and Colorado licenses healing centers, where adults take psilocybin on site.
• Legal status. Legalized means lawful under a state's own law. Decriminalized and deprioritized often mean police were told to treat personal use as a low priority, while the law stayed the same.
• Money. A gift stops being a gift when anything of value changes hands. Colorado's word for that is remuneration.

Definitions that come from a statute, rule or agency quote it and cite the source at the bottom of the page.

What does each term mean?

4-AcO-DMT (psilacetin)

A synthetic tryptamine, also called acetylpsilocin. It is not a mushroom product, but testing has found it in shop "mushroom" chocolates and gummies, including the recalled Diamond Shruumz line. See what testing found in mushroom gummies.

Administration session

A supervised session in which a participant takes psilocybin with a licensed facilitator. Colorado's rules define it as one "conducted at a Healing Center or another location as allowed" by law,⁸ and Oregon requires its sessions to be held at a service center.⁵ See licensed psilocybin centers.

Amanita muscaria

The red-and-white fly agaric mushroom, whose active compounds are ibotenic acid and muscimol, not psilocybin. In December 2024 the FDA said Amanita and its compounds are "unapproved food additives" in food.¹¹ See mushroom gummies tested.

Certificate of analysis (COA)

A lab report for one batch of a product, listing what was tested and the results. It describes only the batch whose lot number it carries, and it does not make a sale legal. See reading a dispensary menu.

Cease-and-desist order

An order from a regulator to stop an activity. DC's Alcoholic Beverage and Cannabis Board and Colorado's Natural Medicine Division have both sent them to businesses selling psilocybin. See what happens when a dispensary is raided.

Clinical trial

A research study run under federal rules. Outside the state programs, enrolled trial participants are the only people who can legally receive psilocybin. See licensed psilocybin centers.

Closure order (padlock)

A civil order that shuts a business and locks its doors, separate from any arrest. DC regulators have used closure orders against unlicensed cannabis and mushroom shops since July 2024. See DC mushroom dispensaries.

Communication facility

Federal law's term for "mail, telephone, wire, radio, and all other means of communication." Using one to commit or arrange a drug felony is a separate crime under 21 U.S.C. 843(b).³ See online mushroom dispensaries.

Controlled Substances Act (CSA)

The federal law that sorts drugs into five schedules and sets federal drug crimes, beginning at 21 U.S.C. 801. Its main trafficking offense, section 841, makes it a crime to "manufacture, distribute, or dispense" a controlled substance without authorization.² See are mushroom dispensaries legal.

Decriminalization

Removing or reducing criminal penalties, usually for personal possession, without creating a legal market. In psilocybin news, "decriminalized" often describes a city measure that is really deprioritization. See are mushroom dispensaries legal.

Deprioritization (lowest enforcement priority)

A local measure asking police and prosecutors to treat certain conduct as among their lowest priorities. DC's Initiative 81 is one; it covers only "non-commercial" conduct and changes no law.⁹ See the state-by-state table.

Diamond Shruumz

A brand of "mushroom" chocolate bars, cones and gummies recalled in June 2024 after people in many states became seriously ill. FDA testing found muscimol, the synthetic tryptamine 4-AcO-DMT, psilocin and the prescription drug pregabalin, in varying combinations. See mushroom gummies tested.

Dispensary

Originally a place where medicines were given out; in cannabis states, a licensed cannabis store. No state licenses a psilocybin dispensary, so a shop using the word for psilocybin is unlicensed. See mushroom dispensaries near me.

Distribute

To hand a controlled substance to someone else. Federal law does not require a sale for distribution to be a crime, which is why it has a separate, marijuana-only rule for giving away a small amount for free.² See dispensary legal claims.

Entheogenic plants and fungi

The term local measures use for plants and fungi used in spiritual practice. DC law defines "entheogenic plant and fungus" as any plant or fungus in which ibogaine, dimethyltryptamine, mescaline, psilocybin or psilocyn naturally occurs.⁹ See DC mushroom dispensaries.

Facilitator

A state-licensed person who supervises a psilocybin session. Oregon clients may buy and use psilocybin only "under the supervision of a psilocybin service facilitator,"⁵ and a Colorado healing center must employ or contract with one.⁷ See licensed psilocybin centers.

Functional mushrooms

Non-psychedelic mushrooms such as lion's mane and reishi, sold as foods or supplements. Some shops that call themselves "mushroom dispensaries" sell only these. See do dispensaries sell mushrooms.

Gifting

A sales model in which a shop sells an item, such as a sticker, and hands over a drug "free." It comes from DC's Initiative 71, which lets adults transfer marijuana "without remuneration";¹⁰ no such rule covers psilocybin. See dispensary legal claims.

Healing center

Colorado's licensed site for supervised natural medicine sessions. A license "may be issued only to a person that employs or contracts with a facilitator."⁷ See licensed psilocybin centers.

Initiative 71

DC's 2014 cannabis measure, under which adults 21 and older may transfer up to an ounce of marijuana to another adult "without remuneration."¹⁰ It is the basis of DC's cannabis gifting shops and says nothing about psilocybin. See DC mushroom dispensaries.

Initiative 81

DC's Entheogenic Plant and Fungus Policy Act of 2020, approved by voters on November 3, 2020. It asks police to treat adults' "non-commercial" activity with entheogenic plants and fungi as "among its lowest enforcement priorities"⁹ and licenses no sales. See DC mushroom dispensaries.

Legalization

Making an activity lawful under a jurisdiction's own law. Colorado legalized adults' personal possession and free sharing of psilocybin under state law;⁶ no state has legalized retail sales, and federal law still applies. See are mushroom dispensaries legal.

Limited Regulated Natural Medicine Sales License

A Colorado license, in effect since August 12, 2026, that "must be at the same Licensed Premises as a Healing Center with Common Ownership."⁸ It sells only to people in an administration session there and is not a retail license. See licensed psilocybin centers.

Mail order

Buying a drug to be shipped. The Postal Service says that if distributing a controlled substance is unlawful, "the mailing of the substance is also unlawful."¹⁴ No state allows mail-order psilocybin. See online mushroom dispensaries.

Maintaining drug-involved premises

A federal crime under 21 U.S.C. 856: knowingly opening, leasing, renting, using or maintaining a place for distributing a controlled substance. It can reach owners, managers, employees and landlords.⁴ See dispensary raids.

Measure 109

Oregon's 2020 ballot measure that created the licensed psilocybin services program, now ORS chapter 475A.⁵ See Oregon mushroom dispensaries.

Measure 110

Oregon's 2020 ballot measure that reduced possession of small amounts of drugs to a violation. A 2024 law, HB 4002, made possession a crime again from September 1, 2024. See Oregon mushroom dispensaries.

Microdose

Sellers' and researchers' term for an amount of a psychedelic meant to be too small to cause noticeable effects. The same laws apply to microdose products as to any other psilocybin product. See microdose dispensaries.

Muscimol

The main psychoactive compound in Amanita muscaria. It is not in the federal drug schedules,¹ but the FDA treats it as an unapproved food additive.¹¹ See mushroom gummies tested.

Natural medicine

Colorado's legal term for psilocybin, psilocyn and certain other plant and fungus psychedelics under the Natural Medicine Health Act. Adults may possess and share it for personal use, but not sell it outside the licensed system.⁶ See Denver mushroom dispensaries.

Natural Medicine Division

The Colorado Department of Revenue office that licenses healing centers, cultivators, product manufacturers and testing labs, and acts against unlicensed sales. See Denver mushroom dispensaries.

Nuisance abatement

A civil action to stop a property being used for an illegal purpose. Detroit sued a psychedelic church for nuisance abatement in 2023, and DC's Board treats unlicensed sales as a public nuisance. See dispensary raids.

Opt-out

An Oregon city or county ban on psilocybin manufacturers or service centers, referred to local voters under ORS 475A.718.⁵ See Oregon mushroom dispensaries.

Personal use

In Colorado law, possessing, consuming, sharing or cultivating natural medicine "for the purpose of personal use and without remuneration." The statute says personal use "does not mean the sale of natural medicine."⁶ See Denver mushroom dispensaries.

Proposal E

Detroit's November 2, 2021 ballot measure making adults' personal possession and therapeutic use of entheogenic plants the city's lowest enforcement priority. Detroit's Law Department has said it does not override state law. See Michigan mushroom dispensaries.

Proposition 122

Colorado's Natural Medicine Health Act, approved by voters on November 8, 2022. It made adults' personal use and free sharing legal under state law and created the healing center program. See Denver mushroom dispensaries.

Psilocin

The compound psilocybin becomes in the body, and itself psychoactive. Federal law lists it, spelled psilocyn, in Schedule I alongside psilocybin.¹ See mushroom gummies tested.

Psilocybe cubensis

A psilocybin mushroom species, and the only one Oregon's licensed program allows: its rules require periodic lab tests of harvest lots to confirm the species. Named varieties sold under strain names are a seller's label, not a test result. See reading a dispensary menu.

Psilocybin

The main psychedelic compound in psilocybin mushrooms. It is in Schedule I, and the listing covers any material that contains "any quantity" of it, which includes the mushrooms.¹ See are mushroom dispensaries legal.

Qualified patient

New Mexico's status for patients with listed conditions under the Medical Psilocybin Act. The law protects a qualified patient "taking psilocybin in an approved setting,"¹³ and the program had not opened as of November 2, 2026. See licensed psilocybin centers.

Regulated program

A state system that licenses who may make, test and provide psilocybin, and where. Oregon and Colorado run the only two. See licensed psilocybin centers.

Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA)

A federal law that makes the government justify burdens on sincere religious exercise. In Gonzales v. O Centro (2006) the Supreme Court upheld an order protecting one church's sacramental use because the government had not justified applying the drug law to that specific use;¹⁵ it is not a license to sell to the public. See dispensary legal claims.

Remuneration

Payment of any kind. Colorado law defines it as "anything of value, including money,"⁶ so a fee, a donation or a purchased item turns a "gift" into a sale. See dispensary legal claims.

Schedule I

The most restricted federal drug schedule. Psilocybin and psilocin are listed in it at 21 CFR 1308.11,¹ and selling any amount is a federal felony.² See are mushroom dispensaries legal.

Service center

Oregon's licensed site where clients buy and use psilocybin with a facilitator. Clients may buy, possess and use it "Only at a psilocybin service center," and nothing goes home.⁵ See Oregon mushroom dispensaries.

Spores

The reproductive cells of a mushroom. The DEA says spores that contain no psilocybin or psilocin are not controlled under federal law, while material that contains them is.¹² See dispensary legal claims.

Synthetic tryptamines

Lab-made compounds related to psilocin, such as 4-AcO-DMT, 4-HO-DET and 4-AcO-MiPT. Testing has found them in "mushroom" gummies and chocolates from shops, often without a mention on the label. See mushroom gummies tested.

Unlicensed establishment

DC's term for a business doing commercial cannabis business without a license. DC regulators have used their powers over these businesses, including closure orders, against shops selling psilocybin. See DC mushroom dispensaries.