1. What the law is
A patient in Canada can get psilocybin legally in a clinical trial or when a doctor or other practitioner asks Health Canada's Special Access Program for it. Patients can also apply to the Minister of Health for an individual exemption under section 56 of the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act, with a practitioner's support. When the Program approves a request, the manufacturer sets the price, and in some cases the patient or their family pays it.
2. Trials in Canada
Interventional psilocybin trials with at least one site in Canada, as their sponsors filed them with ClinicalTrials.gov, EU CTIS and ISRCTN. Each row links to the registry record, which sets out who may take part.
Recruiting or opening counts trials recruiting now, not yet recruiting, or enrolling by invitation. Closed counts trials terminated, suspended, withdrawn or left unverified by their sponsors.
| Registry ID | Trial | Phase | Sponsor | Status | Start date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| NCT07211438 | Evaluating the Role of Psilocybin Monitors in Psilocybin Therapy for Treatment Resistant Depression (opens in new tab)Recruiting at two sites in Toronto | Phase Phase 2 | Sponsor Centre for Addiction and Mental Health | Status Recruiting | Start date |
| NCT06943573 | Psilocybin-Assisted Therapy for Treatment-Resistant Depression in Bipolar II Disorder (opens in new tab)Recruiting at Djavad Mowafaghian Centre for Brain Health, Vancouver | Phase Phase 2 | Sponsor Lakshmi N Yatham | Status Recruiting | Start date |
| NCT06386003 | Psilocybin-Assisted Cognitive Processing Therapy for Chronic PTSD (opens in new tab)Recruiting at St. Michael's Hospital, Unity Health Toronto, Toronto | Phase Phase 2 | Sponsor Unity Health Toronto | Status Recruiting | Start date |
| NCT06768944 | Subjective Experience Following Psilocybin (opens in new tab)Recruiting at University of Calgary, Calgary | Phase Phase 2 | Sponsor University of Calgary | Status Recruiting | Start date |
| NCT06818994 | Safety and Efficacy of Psilocybin-assisted Psychotherapy for Demoralization Syndrome in Patients Diagnosed With Advanced Stage Cancer (opens in new tab)Recruiting at Queen's University, Kingston | Phase Phase 1 | Sponsor Gustavo Vazquez | Status Recruiting | Start date |
| NCT07063862 | Psilocybin Microdose for Psychological and Existential Distress in Palliative Care (PSYCHED-PAL-RCT) (opens in new tab)Recruiting in Kingston, Newmarket, Ottawa | Phase Phase 3 | Sponsor Bruyère Health Research Institute. | Status Recruiting | Start date |
| NCT05585229 | Standardized Natural Psilocybin-assisted Psychotherapy for Tapering of Opioid Medication (opens in new tab)Recruiting at University of British Columbia - Okanagan Campus, Kelowna | Phase Phase 2 | Sponsor University of British Columbia | Status Recruiting | Start date |
| NCT07048743 | Psilocybin-assisted Existential, Attachment and RelationaL (PEARL) Therapy for Caregivers of Patients With Advanced Cancer (opens in new tab)Recruiting at Toronto General Hospital, Toronto | Phase Phase 2 | Sponsor University Health Network, Toronto | Status Recruiting | Start date |
| NCT06072898 | A Randomized Neuroimaging Trial of Psilocybin in Depression (opens in new tab)Recruiting at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, Toronto | Phase Phase 2 | Sponsor Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre | Status Recruiting | Start date |
| NCT06615908 | Treatment of Persisting Symptoms After Concussion With Psilocybin Assisted Therapy (opens in new tab)Recruiting at University of Calgary, Calgary | Phase Phase 1 | Sponsor University of Calgary | Status Recruiting | Start date |
| NCT06969170 | Safety, Tolerability, and Preliminary Efficacy of Psilocybin Oral Solution in Adults With Generalized Anxiety Disorder (opens in new tab)Recruiting at Kingston General Health Research Institute, Kingston | Phase Phase 2 | Sponsor Claudio N Soares | Status Recruiting | Start date |
| NCT06512220 | Imaging the Effects of Serotonin 2A Receptor Modulation on Synaptic Density in Treatment-resistant Depression (SYNVEST) (opens in new tab)Recruiting at Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, Toronto | Phase Phase 2 | Sponsor Centre for Addiction and Mental Health | Status Recruiting | Start date |
ClinicalTrials.gov data courtesy of the U.S. National Library of Medicine.
29 more trials on file for Canada.
The register lists all 41 and filters them by condition, status and phase.
3. History
The legal events behind this entry, dated and oldest first. Our own reviews and corrections are listed under Changes to this record.
The Minister of Health granted 19 section 56 exemptions letting healthcare practitioners possess and consume psilocybin mushrooms for their training, which Health Canada called the complement to the exemptions it had issued to individual patients.
Health Canada's Special Access Program could again authorize restricted drugs, psilocybin among them, and a section 56 class exemption took effect for the practitioners, pharmacists, hospitals and licensed dealers who handle psilocybin under a Program authorization.
In Toth v Canada (Mental Health and Addictions), 2025 FCA 119, the Federal Court of Appeal returned to the Minister for redetermination the requests of 73 healthcare practitioners for section 56 exemptions to take psilocybin themselves, as training to deliver psilocybin-assisted therapy, without ordering the exemptions granted.
The Controlled Substances Regulations, SOR/2025-242, were registered.
The Regulations were published in the Canada Gazette, Part II.
The Controlled Substances Regulations came into force, and sections 237 and 238 repealed Parts G and J of the Food and Drug Regulations and the Narcotic Control Regulations.
4. Proposed laws
Proposals that are not yet law and would change this entry if adopted.
C-286 (45th Parliament, 1st session), a private member's bill from Corey Tochor, would amend the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act and the Food and Drugs Act to allow the medical use of psilocin and psilocybin under the Narcotic Control Regulations, and provide for the automatic approval of requests for priority review for certain new drugs. It had first reading on 16 Jun 2026 and sits outside the Order of Precedence, so no debate is scheduled, and the regulations it names were repealed on 1 Oct 2026.
5. Common questions
Are mushrooms legal in Canada?
Psilocybin mushrooms are controlled in Canada because the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act treats anything containing psilocybin or psilocin as the drug itself, so possessing, selling or growing them is illegal outside a clinical trial or a patient's case-by-case approval from Health Canada.
Magic mushroom dispensaries are open in Canadian cities. Are they legal?
No. Selling psilocybin over a shop counter or online is trafficking under the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act, which leaves the storefronts in Toronto and Vancouver running on police discretion. Licensed dealers sell it legally to a practitioner named in a Health Canada letter of authorization, who may then sell or provide it to a patient in their care.
What is the penalty for possessing magic mushrooms in Canada?
Possession of psilocybin, a Schedule III drug, is a hybrid offence, meaning the Crown chooses how hard to press it. The lighter route, summary conviction, carries up to six months in prison, a $1,000 fine, or both for a first conviction, while indictment lifts the maximum to three years, and selling and growing are separate offences that reach ten years. Each number is a ceiling, and nothing in the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act obliges a court to go that far.
Is microdosing mushrooms legal in Canada?
Dose size counts for nothing under Schedule III, which treats a tenth of a gram of psilocybin exactly as it treats ten grams; no exemption exists for microdosing, and the capsules and gummies sold online as microdoses are ordinary illegal sales.
Can I legally get psilocybin therapy in Canada?
A doctor or other practitioner can ask Health Canada's Special Access Program for psilocybin for a patient with a serious or life-threatening condition where conventional treatments have failed, are unsuitable or are unavailable, and a patient can apply for a section 56 exemption under the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act with a practitioner's support. Health Canada says a clinical trial should be the first route pursued, and that anyone who wants to join one should talk to their health care provider.
Are magic mushrooms legal in Ontario, British Columbia, or any other province?
Drug control in Canada is federal, so the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act reads the same in Ontario, British Columbia and every other province and territory, and no provincial or municipal decision can legalize a drug the federal schedule controls.
When will magic mushrooms be legal in Canada?
Nothing on the calendar legalizes psilocybin. The Controlled Substances Regulations that came into force on 1 Oct 2026 left the medical routes open, and a sale through the Special Access Program still needs a letter of authorization issued under the Food and Drug Regulations, as it did before. Parliament has one bill on the subject, C-286, which would open medical use under the Narcotic Control Regulations, repealed on 1 Oct 2026, and it has had only a first reading, in June 2026, with no debate scheduled.
Are psilocybin spores and grow kits legal in Canada?
Schedule III names the compounds, psilocybin and psilocin, and spores contain neither, which is why the kits are sold openly. Cultivation is where the law arrives: the Act counts "cultivating, propagating or harvesting" anything the substance can be extracted from as producing it, and production of a Schedule III drug carries up to ten years.
Are magic mushrooms ("shrooms") legal in Canada?
"Magic mushrooms" and "shrooms" are common names for fungi that contain psilocybin, and this entry states the law on psilocybin itself, which some laws treat separately from the fungus. Psilocybin is legal in Canada only inside a clinical trial or for a patient whose case Health Canada approves. Possessing, selling or growing it any other way is illegal, and no dispensary or website is an exception.
Read the law
Controlled Drugs and Substances Act, Schedule III: psilocin is item 11 and psilocybin item 12. Since 1 Oct 2026 the Controlled Substances Regulations, SOR/2025-242, supply the authority for what a practitioner and a licensed dealer named in a letter of authorization may do with the drug, and the letter is still issued under section C.08.010 of the Food and Drug Regulations. Health Canada said it would revoke the January 2022 class exemption that day, and on 6 Oct 2026 its exemption page still said it would.1
Controlled Drugs and Substances Act (opens in new tab). Schedule III lists psilocin and psilocybin and any salt of either, and section 56 lets the Minister grant individual exemptions, which the 2026 Regulations do not amend.
Justice Laws Website · laws-lois.justice.gc.ca
Controlled Substances Regulations, SOR/2025-242 (opens in new tab). In force 1 Oct 2026 under section 239. Part 1 of Schedule 4 lists psilocin and psilocybin as restricted drugs. Sections 130(2) and 131(2) let a practitioner named in a letter of authorization sell, provide or administer a restricted drug to a patient they are treating, and section 50 and subsection 58(2) let a licensed dealer sell one to that practitioner.
Canada Gazette, Part II · gazette.gc.ca
Food and Drug Regulations, section C.08.010 (opens in new tab). The Special Access Program provision under which Health Canada issues the letter of authorization, as it did before 1 Oct 2026.
Justice Laws Website · laws-lois.justice.gc.ca
Special Access Program: information for patients (opens in new tab). Health Canada's own account of the Program, including who may make a request.
Health Canada · canada.ca
Psilocybin and psilocin (magic mushrooms) (opens in new tab). Health Canada's page on the drug, which sets out the three legal routes to it.
Health Canada · canada.ca
Subsection 56(1) class exemption for psilocybin and MDMA under the Special Access Program (opens in new tab). The January 2022 exemption that covered the handling of psilocybin authorized through the Special Access Program; Health Canada said it would revoke it on 1 Oct 2026.
Health Canada · canada.ca
Toth v Canada (Mental Health and Addictions), 2025 FCA 119 (opens in new tab). The Federal Court of Appeal's judgment of 18 Jun 2025 on 73 practitioners' requests for section 56 exemptions to take psilocybin as training.
Federal Court of Appeal · decisions.fca-caf.gc.ca
Bill C-286, 45th Parliament, 1st session (opens in new tab). Parliament's page for the private member's bill, with its text and its progress through each stage.
Parliament of Canada (LEGISinfo) · parl.ca
Sources
This entry's status is checked against the primary sources below, and the methodology explains how each entry is graded for confidence.
- 1.Controlled Substances Regulations, SOR/2025-242 (Canada Gazette, Part II, 17 Dec 2025)Canada Gazette (opens in new tab) · gazette.gc.ca
- 2.Controlled Drugs and Substances Act, full text (Justice Laws Website)Justice Laws Website (opens in new tab) · laws-lois.justice.gc.ca
This entry is for information only and is not legal or medical advice. Laws change, and enforcement can differ from the letter of the law, so check the current position against the primary sources above before relying on it.
Changes to this record
10 changes on file, the latest on . Show allHide
Every change we have made to this record, dated, corrections included. Nothing changes silently.
Canada's entry said nobody in Canada buys psilocybin legally, no license to sell it has ever existed, and a doctor asks for an individual section 56 exemption. Health Canada's pages and the Controlled Substances Regulations say otherwise. Under the Special Access Program the manufacturer sets the price and in some cases the patient or their family pays, licensed dealers sell to practitioners named in a letter of authorization, and patients apply for section 56 exemptions themselves, with a practitioner's support. The entry also dated the Federal Court of Appeal's judgment in Toth v Canada, 2025 FCA 119, to 26 June 2025; the judgment was delivered on 18 June 2025. Its account of the case now sits under History, without four details that the judgment does not bear out as written or that no source confirms.
Correction. Canada's entry said that since 1 October 2026 the Special Access Programme route had "a new legal footing", and that access continues under the new Controlled Substances Regulations. That claimed too much. The Programme's letter of authorization is still issued under the Food and Drug Regulations, as it was before. What the new regulations supply since 1 October is the authority for what the practitioner and the licensed dealer named in that letter may do with the drug. Until then that part was covered only by an exemption dating from January 2022.
Canada's new Controlled Substances Regulations came into force on 1 October 2026 and now supply the authority for what the practitioner and the licensed dealer may do with psilocybin. Access through the Special Access Programme still opens with a letter of authorization issued under the Food and Drug Regulations, as it did before. Health Canada said it would revoke the older exemption on the same day. Its website had not been updated to confirm that when this entry was reviewed on 5 October 2026.
Health Canada has released how many psilocybin applications its Special Access Program received, approved and denied each year. In a reply tabled in the House of Commons on 21 September 2026 it reported none before 2022, then 71 applications in 2022 (58 approved, none denied), 152 in 2023 (112 approved, 5 denied), 177 in 2024 (119 approved, 21 denied), 109 in 2025 (51 approved, 2 denied) and 30 in 2026 (14 approved, none denied). The figures leave out requests that were cancelled, withdrawn or incomplete. Canada's legal status is unchanged.
Canada's entry was reviewed before new federal regulations take effect on 1 October 2026, and two details were corrected. The regulations were registered on 28 November 2025, not 17 December, which is when they were published. And the regulations do not themselves cancel the exemption that links psilocybin to the Special Access Programme: Health Canada has said it will do that on the same day. The route continues under the new regulations, and individual section 56 exemptions are unaffected. We will check again once 1 October has passed.
Canada's entry now cites the regulation that actually carries the 1 October 2026 date, and corrects what it said would happen next. The exemption is being folded into new regulations rather than simply ending, so the Special Access Programme route is carried forward past that date.
Canada's entry now shows that the exemption connecting psilocybin to the Special Access Programme is revoked on 1 October 2026. The route is open until then.
Canada's record said there were no bills before Parliament. There is one: C-286, a private member's bill introduced on 16 June 2026 that would allow psilocin and psilocybin to be used for medical treatment. It is not scheduled for debate, and the entry now says so.
Canada's record now carries a date it was missing: the exemption that links psilocybin to the Special Access Program is revoked on October 1, 2026, when new regulations take effect.
Canada's medical access route was checked and left as it stood. Two things had moved around it during 2025: approvals slowed under a new government, and the Federal Court of Appeal ruled in June 2025 on exemptions for practitioners training to deliver the therapy.
Psilocybin Media Group. "Canada: psilocybin legal status." The Psilocybin Record, accession CA-001, version of 06 Oct 2026. https://psilocybinlegalization.com/record/canada