Agricultural legislation in Florida containing a provision to outlaw psychedelic mushroom spores has proceeded past two more lawmaking panels in the House and Senate.
The proposed ban on spores of mushrooms that create psilocybin or psilocin is part of roughly 150-page companion bills that would make a variety of adjustments to Florida’s agricultural laws, including around agricultural lands, utilities and wildlife management.
With respect to psychedelic mushrooms, both would outlaw transporting, importing, selling or giving away “spores or mycelium capable of producing mushrooms or other material which will contain a controlled substance, including psilocybin or psilocyn, during its lifecycle.”
Violating the proposed law would be a first-degree misdemeanor, carrying a maximum one year in jail and $1,000 fine.
On Wednesday, the House Criminal Justice Subcommittee passed HB 651, from sponsor Rep. Kaylee Tuck (R), on a 14–4 vote. Prior to the vote, the body adopted an amendment that simplifies the language of the psychedelic spore prohibition but doesn’t meaningfully change it.
Tuck explained to members at the hearing that the change “restructures” the language “to simplify the prohibition without changing the substance of the underlying bill.”
Later in the day, the Senate Appropriations Committee on Agriculture, Environment and General Government favorably reported SB 700, by Sen. Keith Truenow (R).
While senators didn’t discuss the bill’s spore provision at the hearing, one public commenter, identified as Daniel Freeman, opposed it.
“I am here on behalf today of century-old Quechua, Nagual as well as North Native American traditions,” Freeman said. “In addition, I am here for spiritual seekers and future generations for whom psilocybin is considered a sacred sacrament. I urge us all here to honor the 1993 Religious Freedom Restoration Act, which holds that that which is considered sacred may be honored.”
Despite the psilocybin spore ban, Rep. Danny Alvarez (R), who chairs the House committee, said at Wednesday’s hearing that he doesn’t believe it’s the generally place of the government to dictate what residents put in their bodies.
Discussing a separate provision on fluoride in local water supplies—a topic that dominated debate and testimony on the bill at both hearings—Alvarez criticized the idea that lawmakers “know better than you, because we happen to be the lucky ones that got elected, that we should tell you what to put in your body.”
“We are Americans. We are the bearers of liberty,” he said, “and if we truly believe that freedom is about freedom, then we give our citizens a choice, and we protect them at the highest level.”
The chairman nonetheless voted to support the overall agriculture bill containing the provision to criminalize sales of psychedelic mushroom spores to consenting adults.
Psilocybin and psilocin are the two leading psychoactive compounds in psychedelic mushrooms. Although spores typically do not contain psilocybin or psilocin themselves, they eventually produce fruiting bodies—mushrooms—that do contain the psychedelic compounds.
Because the spores don’t contain any controlled substances, the federal government deems them legal.
“If the mushroom spores (or any other material) do not contain psilocybin or psilocin (or any other controlled substance or listed chemical), the material is considered not controlled,” Terrence Boos, the Drug Enforcement Administration’s (DEA) Drug and Chemical Evaluation Section chief, said in a memo last year. (Using a similar rationale, Boos has said that marijuana seeds are considered federally legal hemp because they themselves don’t contain THC.)
In Florida, a legislative report for HB 651 similarly notes that “spores do not contain any psilocybin properties themselves and therefore could be considered legal under current law.”
To prevent that, the proposal would clarify as illegal any spores or mycelium that could produce psilocybin or psilocin at any time in their development.
Both bills passed through other legislative panels earlier this month. HB 651 cleared the House Housing, Agriculture and Tourism Subcommittee, and SB 700 passed through Senate Appropriations Committee on Agriculture, Environment and General Government.
Prior to reporting the bill favorably, the House panel adopted a striking amendment to HB 651 that made a number of changes to the underlying bill, though the amendment did not substantively affect the provision dealing with spores and mycelium.
A legislative report for the Senate version of the bill notes that psychedelic mushrooms “became popular in the United States during the 1960s when American researchers first studied their healing properties and medical applications. Now, they are listed as a Schedule I controlled substance by the U.S. government, meaning they have no accepted medical use.”
It further says that “any material, compound, mixture, or preparation that contains the hallucinogenic substance known as Psilocybin has high potential for abuse and is not currently accepted as medical treatment in the United States.”
As for psilocybin and psilocin themselves, the substances are already illegal in Florida. Simple possession is a third-degree felony, carrying up to five years in prison and a $5,000 fine.
Separately, a Florida legislative panel last week began debate on a plan to regulate hemp-derived cannabinoid products, now a multibillion-dollar industry in the state.
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A state judge earlier this month also dismissed a lawsuit from the cannabis company Trulieve against the state Republican Party over last year’s failed constitutional amendment that sought to legalize adult-use marijuana.
The company had argued that the GOP’s opposition campaign was “intentionally deceptive,” with “demonstrably false” claims that were “trying to fool Florida voters” into opposing the reform, but a the judge disagreed.
The campaign behind the failed legalization effort, Smart and Safe Florida is already gearing up for another ballot fight next year, having so far submitted just over 7,500 valid signatures of the 891,523 needed to make the 2026 ballot, according to the Florida Division of Elections.
The campaign’s 2026 iteration includes several changes that seem responsive to issues raised by critics about the 2024 version.
A recent survey from the University of North Florida found that, despite last year’s ballot proposal failing, there’s overwhelming, bipartisan voter support for the reform. 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.
Using Psychedelics Is Tied To 25% Lower Likelihood Of ‘Frequent Bad Headaches,’ Study Shows
Photo courtesy of Wikimedia/Mushroom Observer.
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