DC mushroom dispensaries: what Initiative 81 does and does not allow

Is there a legal mushroom dispensary in DC?

No. No DC or federal law lets a shop sell psilocybin mushrooms, and Initiative 81 only asks police to treat non-commercial conduct by adults as one of their lowest priorities.¹ Psilocybin is still on DC's own Schedule I list, so every DC shop selling it is unlicensed, and regulators have had civil power to padlock such shops since July 15, 2024.²⁸

If you decide to order online anyway, My Mushroom Dispensary, run by the same people who publish this register, ships to DC. Buying psilocybin online or by mail is still illegal under federal law and in every state.

What does Initiative 81 do, and what doesn't it do?

Voters approved Initiative 81 on Nov 3, 2020, with 76.18% of the vote, and it took effect as D.C. Law 23-268 on March 16, 2021.⁴¹ It tells the Metropolitan Police Department to treat the investigation and arrest of people 18 or older for "non-commercial planting, cultivating, purchasing, transporting, distributing, engaging in practices with, and/or possessing" plants and fungi that naturally contain psilocybin, psilocyn, DMT, mescaline or ibogaine "as among its lowest enforcement priorities." It adds that the people of DC "call upon" the DC Attorney General and the U.S. Attorney for DC to stop prosecuting residents for that conduct, a request rather than an order.¹

• It doesn't legalize anything: psilocybin stays in DC's Schedule I, D.C. Code 48-902.04.²
• It doesn't cover selling, as the ABC Board ruled in 2025 (below).⁶
• It creates no gifting rule. DC's gifting law, from Initiative 71, names marijuana only.⁵ Of vendors who labeled mushroom products "I-81 compliant," DC news site The 51st wrote: "That's not actually a thing."⁷

Storefront arguments are checked on the legal claims page.

What are DC's mushroom shops, and what happened to them?

The record shows three kinds of shop: cannabis "gifting" shops that switched to mushrooms (in July 2024 the ABC Board found that a cannabis shop it had warned in April had stopped selling THC products and was selling psilocybin mushrooms, with its website calling it "one of the best mushroom and cannabis dispensaries in DC"),² shops where officers seized only mushroom products, such as Wellshroomness, padlocked on May 28, 2025,⁸ and a business that called itself a church.

The register holds 19 DC records from Nov 3, 2020 to Oct 30, 2026 (every DC record). Twelve are actions against 9 named businesses, eight storefronts and one online delivery business: a warning letter, a cease-and-desist order, seven raids, two closure orders and one federal indictment. Officers or agents seized mushrooms or mushroom products in all 9 cases, and releases report 6 arrests at 5 of the storefronts. Psilocybin is named in the record for 3 of the 9 (two Board orders and the federal release); for the other 6, ABCA's releases say "mushrooms," "entheogenic mushrooms" or mushroom edibles, capsules or concentrate.

ABCA publishes no mushroom-only figure, so 114 is not a count of mushroom dispensaries.³ Its tool is civil padlocking under an emergency act in force since July 15, 2024.⁸ On March 4, 2025 the Council unanimously approved a second emergency bill to close a loophole that had made it "virtually impossible" to shut shops selling only mushrooms.⁷ It took effect on March 21, 2025 as D.C. Act 26-38, which added businesses that sell Schedule I substances to the closure law.¹⁴ None of these acts licenses psilocybin.

The latest closure came on Oct 28, 2026: an unlicensed cannabis retailer in Northwest DC, padlocked with 2,275 grams of "mushroom edibles" (psilocybin content not stated) and one arrest.³

What did the Temple of the Golden Teacher ruling decide?

Temple of the Golden Teacher (GTDC Church, Inc.) presented itself as a church. An undercover officer bought psilocybin there on June 24 and July 17, 2025; on July 17 police searched it, arrested one person on a distribution charge, and ABCA padlocked it.⁹⁶

The Board's order lists 584.26 grams of psilocybin mushrooms, 618.1 grams of psilocybin edibles and 4,670.6 grams of psilocybin pills seized.⁶

On Sept 17, 2025, the ABC Board affirmed the closure. Noting that it is not the final arbiter of federal religious-freedom claims, it found that the business "failed to establish a sincere religious belief as required under RFRA" (the federal Religious Freedom Restoration Act), that it had no DEA or court exemption to distribute a Schedule I substance, and that Initiative 81 is nonbinding and does not cover commercial sales.⁶ A church label, a donation or an Initiative 81 sticker does not make a psilocybin sale legal in DC.

Are DC delivery websites treated any differently?

No. On Sept 10, 2026, ATF announced an unsealed federal indictment against the operator of a DC business that took orders on a website and delivered in person, selling marijuana, mushrooms and DMT; the listed counts name DMT and MDMA. Agents seized about 74 pounds of psilocybin mushrooms.¹⁰ The release doesn't mention Initiative 81, and federal law applies in every part of DC.

What does buying mean for a customer in DC?

Possessing a controlled substance is a misdemeanor under D.C. Code 48-904.01(d)(1), punishable by up to 180 days.⁵ Initiative 81 doesn't change that statute, and federal law (21 U.S.C. 844) separately carries up to 1 year on a first offense.¹¹

Every arrest reported in the register's DC records was made at a shop, and where the charge is stated it was distribution or possession with intent to distribute; the federal case charged a delivery operator. That is no promise about customers: buying is part of an illegal sale, and no state rule tests the product (see what testing found in shop gummies). If someone has a bad reaction, call 911 or Poison Control at 1-800-222-1222; our help page lists more lines.

Where is the nearest legal option for DC residents?

DC has no psilocybin program, and there is no walk-in retail dispensary and no take-home or mail-order sales anywhere in the US. The legal routes are far away:

• Colorado: 47 healing centers (12 standard, 35 micro) approved as of Oct 30, 2026, run supervised sessions for adults 21+; since Aug 12, 2026 a limited license lets a center sell only to session participants.¹²
• Oregon: adults 21+ consume psilocybin "only at a psilocybin service center" under a licensed facilitator, with nothing to take home.¹³
• Federally authorized clinical trials, for enrolled participants.

Compare them on our licensed centers page, or see every state on are mushroom dispensaries legal.

DC mushroom timeline

1. Nov 3, 2020Voters approve Initiative 81.
2. July 15, 2024An emergency act gives ABCA civil power to padlock unlicensed shops.
3. July 31, 2024The ABC Board orders an unlicensed cannabis shop that switched to psilocybin to cease and desist.
4. March 4, 2025The Council approves an emergency bill aimed at shops selling Schedule I substances such as psilocybin; it takes effect March 21.
5. May 28, 2025Wellshroomness is padlocked.
6. July 3, 2025Cap & Stem, where officers seized mostly mushroom products, is padlocked (record).
7. July 17, 2025Temple of the Golden Teacher is searched and padlocked.
8. Sept 17, 2025The ABC Board rejects its RFRA and Initiative 81 arguments.
9. Sept 10, 2026A federal indictment of a DC online delivery operator is unsealed.
10. Oct 28, 2026A Northwest DC retailer holding "mushroom edibles" is padlocked; ABCA's count reaches 114.