Are magic mushrooms legal in Ontario? What the law means in Toronto

If you live in Toronto, the question “are magic mushrooms legal in Ontario?” is really three questions. What does Canadian law say? Does Ontario change any of it? And how has the law actually been handled in Toronto? This guide takes them in that order, says where we checked the text of the law itself, and flags what is unsettled.

It is about mushrooms that contain psilocybin and psilocin, the two controlled substances. It is general information, not legal advice, and it says nothing about how to avoid enforcement.

Are magic mushrooms legal in Ontario?

No. Health Canada states that the production, sale and possession of magic mushrooms are illegal in Canada, and that these activities are illegal unless authorized by Health Canada, for example through a licence, an exemption or the regulations (Health Canada). Nothing in that statement is limited to one province. Ontario is covered like every other.

The legal hook is the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act (CDSA). Its Schedule III lists psilocin and psilocybin, each “and any salt thereof” (Justice Laws, CDSA). Section 4(1) says that, except as authorized under the regulations, no person shall possess a substance in Schedule I, II or III. Section 5 prohibits trafficking, and possession for the purpose of trafficking, and section 7 prohibits production (CDSA).

What is federal law, and what does Ontario add?

The short version: Parliament makes the rules about the drug itself; Ontario adds consequences in the areas it controls, such as driving licences, and has not created any psilocybin exemption or program that we could find.

Why can’t Ontario or Toronto make magic mushrooms legal?

Because the exemption power sits with the federal Minister. Section 56(1) of the CDSA lets the Minister exempt any person, class of persons or controlled substance from the Act where the exemption is necessary for a medical or scientific purpose or is otherwise in the public interest (CDSA). There is no equivalent provision for a province or a municipality.

Toronto tested this route for drugs generally, not psilocybin specifically. In 2021 the Toronto Board of Health directed the Medical Officer of Health to start a process with Health Canada, and Toronto Public Health asked for a section 4(1) exemption covering all controlled drugs held for personal use in the city. A March 2023 letter to the federal Minister was signed by the Medical Officer of Health, the City Manager and the Chief of Police (City of Toronto, 2023). On 17 May 2024 the federal government refused the request, saying it did not adequately protect public health and public safety, and citing, among other things, lack of support from the Province of Ontario (Global News, 17 May 2024). The province had said a day earlier that it was “100 per cent opposed” (Global News).

So the practical position is simple. Ontario cannot opt out of the federal rule, Toronto has tried to get an exemption and been refused, and no other Ontario exemption for psilocybin exists that we could find.

What does the federal law provide for Schedule III offences?

These are statutory maximums, not predictions. A court sets any actual sentence on the facts, and charging decisions are individual. Under the CDSA as read on 4 October 2026 (current to 21 September 2026) (CDSA):

• Possession (section 4(1)) of a Schedule III substance: on indictment, up to three years’ imprisonment; on summary conviction, a fine of up to $1,000 or up to six months for a first offence, or up to $2,000 or one year for a subsequent offence.
• Trafficking or possession for the purpose of trafficking (section 5): on indictment, up to ten years; on summary conviction, up to eighteen months.
• Production (section 7): the same ranges as trafficking for a Schedule III substance.

Parliament has also written a policy statement into the Act. Part I.1 says problematic substance use should be addressed primarily as a health and social issue (section 10.1), and section 10.2 directs a peace officer, instead of laying an information for simple possession, to consider whether to take no further action, warn the person or refer them to a service (CDSA). That is a duty to consider, not a legal exemption: possession remains an offence. Federal prosecutors have a separate guideline, issued 17 August 2020, directing them to focus on the most serious possession cases and otherwise pursue alternative measures and diversion (PPSC Deskbook 5.13). Again, that is prosecutorial policy, not a change to the law. Our penalties guide goes further into this.

Did the new federal regulations of 1 October 2026 change anything?

Not the basic position, as far as we could find. The Controlled Substances Regulations (SOR/2025-242) were registered on 28 November 2025 and, under their section 239, came into force on 1 October 2026. They consolidate several older federal regulations and repeal certain class exemptions. The regulatory impact statement says the initiative does not change the overall policy intent or the key elements of the framework (Canada Gazette, Part II, 17 December 2025).

Two points matter here. First, psilocin and psilocybin are listed in Schedule 4 (Restricted Drugs) of the new Regulations, and section 6 authorizes possession of such drugs for named kinds of people, such as licensed dealers, practitioners named in a Special Access Program letter of authorization, and an individual who obtained the drug for their own use from such a practitioner (Canada Gazette). Second, the old class exemption for Special Access Program psilocybin and MDMA is among those repealed, and the Regulations instead let a licensed dealer sell a restricted drug to a practitioner whose letter of authorization has been granted through the Program (Canada Gazette). The offences themselves are in the CDSA, which those Regulations did not amend. We did not find anything in them that makes possession, sale or production by the general public lawful, or that gives Ontario or Toronto any role. Health Canada’s psilocybin page was updated on 20 October 2026, and its one change names the new Regulations in a sentence on clinical trials (Health Canada); check it for any later update.

What are the Ontario driving penalties after using magic mushrooms?

Driving is where Ontario law adds the most. Two layers apply at once: the federal Criminal Code, and Ontario’s Highway Traffic Act (HTA).

The Criminal Code layer

Section 320.14(1)(a) makes it an offence to operate a conveyance while your ability to do so is impaired to any degree by alcohol or a drug (Justice Laws, Criminal Code s. 320.14). Separately, paragraph (1)(c) makes it an offence to have, within two hours after ceasing to operate a conveyance, a blood drug concentration at or above the level prescribed by regulation. For psilocybin and psilocin the Blood Drug Concentration Regulations prescribe “any detectable level” (Blood Drug Concentration Regulations). A first offence under section 320.14(1) carries a minimum fine of $1,000 (Criminal Code s. 320.19).

The Ontario layer

The HTA, on the Ontario e-Laws consolidation current to 30 September 2026, adds consequences that do not wait for a trial (Highway Traffic Act, R.S.O. 1990, c. H.8):

• Section 48.0.1: where an officer reasonably believes a driver’s ability is impaired by a drug (or drug and alcohol) and certain criteria are met, including that the driver has performed physical co-ordination tests under Criminal Code section 320.27, the driver’s licence is suspended for 7 days on a first suspension, 14 on a second and 30 on a third or later.
• Section 48.3.1: where the driver has been evaluated by an evaluating officer under the Criminal Code and the officer reasonably believes drug or drug-and-alcohol impairment, the licence is suspended for 90 days.
• Section 48.4: where an officer must request the licence under section 48.3.1(1) (or 48.3(1)), the vehicle being driven is detained and impounded for seven days, at the owner’s cost and risk.
• Section 41: on conviction under Criminal Code section 320.14 or 320.15 committed in relation to a motor vehicle, the licence is suspended for one year on a first conviction, three years on the first subsequent conviction and indefinitely on the second or a later subsequent conviction. Convictions more than 10 years apart are treated differently under subsection 41(3), and a court can extend a suspension.

The HTA also has separate short suspensions where a roadside oral-fluid screening result indicates a drug in the body of a novice driver (section 48.0.2), a young driver under 22 (section 48.0.3) or a commercial motor vehicle driver (section 48.0.4). We have not summarized their details here; check the Act. Psilocybin’s effects on driving are covered in our safety guide. Nobody should drive while impaired.

How have Toronto Police and the City described enforcement?

We looked for what officials and the police have said in public and dated each item. We did not find a Toronto Police policy or City by-law specific to psilocybin, and we did not find the outcome of the charges below. Charges are allegations.

• 13 November 2022: Toronto Police announced that two men, aged 20 and 23, were arrested and charged with possession of a Schedule III substance for the purpose of trafficking and possession of proceeds of crime over $5,000, after a search warrant at a Queen Street West commercial premises. Police said they seized dried psilocybin and edibles (CBC News, 13 November 2022).
• 24 March 2023: in the joint letter to the federal Minister, the Chief of Police said Toronto had seen initial success under what he called de facto decriminalization for personal possession, guided by a federal prosecution directive and direction to officers to minimize personal-possession charges. That letter was about drugs generally and was a request, not a policy covering magic mushrooms (City of Toronto, 2023).
• 24 May 2024: a Toronto Police spokesperson told Global News that police enforce the CDSA, that psilocybin is illegal under it, and that anyone selling or producing it would need a Health Canada exemption. The spokesperson also said enforcement is largely focused on trafficking of illegal drugs resulting in overdose deaths. The City said it has no authority to issue business licences for substances controlled under the CDSA or to investigate and enforce the Act, and that it cannot monitor such shops because they operate outside any business licensing structure (Global News, 24 May 2024).
• 20 September 2025: CTV News (republished by CP24) reported that Toronto Police said officers are largely responding to community complaints about psilocybin dispensaries and that a report is investigated, and that closed shops often reopen shortly afterwards under the same or different names. CTV also reported that officers raided a Kensington Market store that was operating illegally on 19 August 2025, and that an employee was arrested and faced drug trafficking charges (CP24, 20 September 2025).

What these statements show is a pattern: police say the drug is illegal, say sales need a Health Canada authorization, and describe their priorities and complaint-driven practice. What they do not do is create a licence, exemption or safe harbour. Statements about priorities are not law, can change, and do not bind any officer, prosecutor or court in an individual case.

What is unsettled?

• Bill C-286. A Conservative private member’s bill, introduced by MP Corey Tochor, would allow physicians to prescribe psilocybin and psilocin and give psilocybin priority review (CBC News, 16 June 2026). On LEGISinfo it was introduced and read a first time on 16 June 2026, and its status was “Outside the Order of Precedence” when we checked. It is not law. See our explainer.
• Special Access Program volumes. A Health Canada spokesperson told CBC the department had issued 354 authorizations for psilocybin since January 2022. The same report says approval rates dropped to about 30 per cent in recent months, according to data gathered by the Conservatives; that is a party figure, not a Health Canada figure, and we could not verify it independently (CBC News, 16 June 2026).
• Any future exemption. Toronto’s request was refused in 2024. Whether any future federal exemption would apply to Ontario or to psilocybin is unknown.
• Enforcement practice. It varies by service and over time, and we found no published Toronto rule that sets it. We did not rely on any Ontario court decision here, and this article does not assess how any court would treat a particular case.
• Provincial therapy rules. We found no Ontario statute, program or funding framework for psilocybin therapy. Absence of evidence on a government website is not proof, so check with the Ministry of Health and the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario if it matters to you.

Is there a legal route to psilocybin therapy in Ontario?

Health Canada says that, with the support of a regulated health care practitioner, it may be possible to legally access psilocybin through clinical trials, the Special Access Program or an individual subsection 56(1) exemption. It adds that there are currently no approved therapeutic products containing psilocybin in Canada or elsewhere, and that clinical trials are the most appropriate way to advance research with unapproved drugs (Health Canada). Those routes are the same in Ontario as everywhere else, and they involve a practitioner and an application, not a purchase. Our guide to psilocybin-assisted therapy in Canada explains them. Whether any treatment works is a separate question; the evidence is still being gathered.

Where should you check the current law?

• Health Canada’s psilocybin page, for the federal position and the three access routes.
• Justice Laws, for the CDSA, the Controlled Substances Regulations, the Criminal Code and the Blood Drug Concentration Regulations, each of which states how current it is.
• Ontario e-Laws, for the Highway Traffic Act, which states its own currency date.
• LEGISinfo, for the status of Bill C-286.
• A licensed Ontario lawyer, for any actual situation.

Shroomverse sells mushroom products. This article is general information about Canadian and Ontario law. It is not legal or medical advice, and it does not encourage anyone to use drugs.