Are Magic Mushrooms Legal in Hawaii? Psilocybin Laws (2026)

Psilocybin and psilocyn are Schedule I hallucinogens in Hawaii (HRS 329-14(d)(26), (27)), which makes them "dangerous drugs" under Hawaii's drug-offense law. Knowingly possessing any amount is promoting a dangerous drug in the third degree, a class C felony (HRS 712-1243), and Hawaii has no state psilocybin program that changes that for anyone. For other states, see our guide to psilocybin mushroom laws by state.

Information last verified on 2026-10-11. This article has not been reviewed by a licensed lawyer.

Jurisdiction scope: This article covers Hawaii state law on psilocybin: the Schedule I listing in HRS 329-14, the scheduling powers in HRS 329-11, the drug offenses in part IV of HRS chapter 712, the sentencing provisions they rely on in HRS chapter 706, the overdose-assistance immunity in HRS 329-43.6, the 2025-2026 psychedelic-therapy bills and the driving-under-the-influence statute (HRS 291E-61), with one paragraph on federal law. It does not cover county ordinances or enforcement policies, federal lands, religious-use claims or other states' laws.

Is psilocybin legal in Hawaii?

No. HRS 329-14(d) lists psilocybin and psilocyn in Schedule I:

"(d) Hallucinogenic substances. Unless specifically excepted or unless listed in another schedule, any material, compound, mixture, or preparation that contains any quantity of the following hallucinogenic substances, including their salts, isomers, and salts of isomers, whenever the existence of these salts, isomers, and salts of isomers is possible within the specific chemical designation: ... (26) Psilocybin; (27) Psilocyn;"

The listing is by compound. Chapter 329 does not name mushrooms or spores anywhere; it reaches "any material, compound, mixture, or preparation that contains any quantity" of the two listed compounds. Psilocybin and psilocyn appear in chapter 329 only in these two Schedule I entries. The history line of HRS 329-14 ends with Act 107 of 2025 (L 2025, c 107), an update of the schedules to match federal changes; it did not change these entries.

Hawaii's drug-offense part then sorts drugs into categories. HRS 712-1240 provides:

"'Dangerous drugs' means any substance or immediate precursor defined or specified as a 'Schedule I substance' or a 'Schedule II substance' by chapter 329, or a substance specified in section 329-18(c)(14), except marijuana or marijuana concentrate."

Psilocybin and psilocyn are therefore dangerous drugs.

Penalties for psilocybin possession and sale in Hawaii

Hawaii grades dangerous-drug offenses in three degrees. Every degree is a felony, so possessing any amount of psilocybin is a felony in Hawaii.

The third-degree offense, HRS 712-1243, reads in full:

"(1) A person commits the offense of promoting a dangerous drug in the third degree if the person knowingly possesses any dangerous drug in any amount. (2) Promoting a dangerous drug in the third degree is a class C felony."

The second-degree offense, HRS 712-1242, covers a person who knowingly:

"(a) Possesses twenty-five or more capsules, tablets, ampules, dosage units, or syrettes, containing one or more dangerous drugs; (b) Possesses one or more preparations, compounds, mixtures, or substances of an aggregate weight of: ... (ii) One-fourth ounce or more, containing any dangerous drug; or (c) Distributes any dangerous drug in any amount. (2) Promoting a dangerous drug in the second degree is a class B felony."

The first-degree offense, HRS 712-1241, covers a person who knowingly possesses preparations of an aggregate weight of "One and one-half ounce or more, containing one or more of any of the other dangerous drugs," or who:

"(b) Distributes: (i) Twenty-five or more capsules, tablets, ampules, dosage units, or syrettes containing one or more dangerous drugs; or (ii) One or more preparations, compounds, mixtures, or substances of an aggregate weight of: ... (B) Three-eighths ounce or more, containing any other dangerous drug; (c) Distributes any dangerous drug in any amount to a minor except for methamphetamine; or (d) Manufactures a dangerous drug in any amount, except for methamphetamine; provided that this subsection shall not apply to any person registered under section 329-32. (2) Promoting a dangerous drug in the first degree is a class A felony."

How weight is counted. The quantity tiers measure "an aggregate weight" of the "preparations, compounds, mixtures, or substances" containing a dangerous drug, as the quoted subsections word it.

Sentencing ranges. HRS 706-660(1) sets the maximum prison term at ten years for a class B felony and five years for a class C felony; for a class C drug felony such as third-degree possession, its subsection (2) provides for an indeterminate term of "five years or less, but not less than one year"; that subsection does not apply to second-degree promoting under HRS 712-1242, which keeps the ten-year term. For class A felonies in the drug part, HRS 706-659 provides that "the court shall impose the maximum length of imprisonment which shall be twenty years." The fine maximums in HRS 706-640(1) are $50,000 for a class A felony, $25,000 for a class B felony and $10,000 for a class C felony.

Recent amendments. Act 4 of 2025, effective on its approval on April 10, 2025, amended HRS 712-1241(1) and 712-1242(1) to add fentanyl to the methamphetamine, heroin, morphine and cocaine group with the lower weight thresholds; the tiers for other dangerous drugs, including psilocybin, are as quoted above. HRS 712-1243's history line ends with Act 44 of 2004.

Manufacturing and growing

HRS 712-1240 defines "manufacture" as "to produce, prepare, compound, convert, or process a dangerous drug, either directly or indirectly by extraction from substances of natural origin, or independently by means of chemical conversion or synthesis." Manufacturing a dangerous drug in any amount is a class A felony under HRS 712-1241(1)(d), which does not apply to a person registered under HRS 329-32, the section that requires a controlled-substance registration issued by the Department of Law Enforcement. Producing or processing material that contains psilocybin can be charged as manufacture under that definition; whether particular conduct meets it is a question for a court.

School-zone, minor and repeat-offense enhancements

School, park and public housing zones. HRS 712-1249.6 makes it a class C felony to distribute or possess with intent to distribute a controlled substance in any amount on school, public park or public housing property, on a school vehicle (or within 10 feet of one parked and in service), or:

"(b) ... within seven hundred and fifty feet of the real property comprising a school, public park, or public housing project or complex; ... (2) A person who violates subsection (1)(a), (b), or (c) is guilty of a class C felony. ... (3) Any person with prior conviction or convictions under subsection (1)(a), (b), or (c) is punishable by a term of imprisonment of not less than two years and not more than ten years."

A person sentenced under subsection (3) is not eligible for parole until the minimum term is served. The section applies to distribution and possession with intent to distribute, not simple possession.

Distribution to a minor. Distributing any dangerous drug in any amount to a minor is a class A felony under HRS 712-1241(1)(c), as quoted above.

Repeat felony offenders. HRS 706-606.5 sets mandatory minimum prison terms, without parole, for repeat felony offenders. For a person with one prior felony conviction, it provides:

"(a) One prior felony conviction: ... (ii) Where the instant conviction is for a class A felony--six years, eight months; (iii) Where the instant conviction is for a class B felony--three years, four months;"

With two prior felony convictions the minimums are thirteen years, four months for a class A felony and six years, eight months for a class B felony; with three or more they are twenty years and ten years. The section also covers a list of named class C felonies, and third-degree possession under HRS 712-1243 is not on that list, so a 712-1243 conviction does not carry these minimums. Under subsection (3), the minimums apply only if the new felony was committed within the periods the section sets after the earlier conviction. Under subsection (6), the court "may impose a lesser mandatory minimum period of imprisonment without possibility of parole than that mandated by this section where the court finds that strong mitigating circumstances warrant the action," and it must state its reasons in a written opinion.

Firearms. Under HRS 706-660.1(1), a person convicted of a felony who possessed, threatened to use or used a firearm while committing it, "whether the firearm was loaded or not, and whether operable or not," may receive, in addition to the indeterminate term for the grade of offense, a mandatory minimum term without possibility of parole or probation of up to ten years for a class A felony, up to five years for a class B felony and up to three years for a class C felony. Under subsection (2), a second firearm felony offense requires a mandatory minimum of thirteen years, four months for a class A felony, six years, eight months for a class B felony and three years, four months for a class C felony.

Subsection (3) applies when the weapon was a semiautomatic or automatic firearm, which the section excludes from its definition of "firearm." That added term is required, not optional: a mandatory minimum without possibility of parole or probation of fifteen years for a class A felony, ten years for a class B felony and five years for a class C felony. The section defines a "semiautomatic firearm" as "any firearm that uses the energy of the explosive in a fixed cartridge to extract a fired cartridge and chamber a fresh cartridge with each single pull of the trigger," and "automatic firearm" has the meaning defined in HRS 134-1.

Probation for first- and second-time possession

Under HRS 706-622.5(1), a person convicted for the first or second time of a felony offense under part IV of chapter 712 "involving the possession or use of any dangerous drug" is eligible to be sentenced to probation if the person meets the criteria the section lists. The route excludes offenses "involving the distribution or manufacture of any such drugs" and methamphetamine offenses. Under subsection (2), it is open even to a person who would otherwise be sentenced as a repeat offender under HRS 706-606.5, if the court determines the person can benefit from substance abuse treatment and should not be incarcerated to protect the public.

Overdose assistance immunity

HRS 329-43.6(b) protects a person who seeks medical help in good faith for someone experiencing a drug or alcohol overdose, and the person overdosing. They "shall not be arrested, charged, prosecuted, or convicted; have their property subject to civil forfeiture; or otherwise be penalized for: (1) Possession of a controlled substance or drug paraphernalia under this chapter or part IV of chapter 712; ... if the evidence for the arrest, charge, prosecution, conviction, seizure, or penalty was gained as a result of the seeking of medical assistance."

Does Hawaii have a psilocybin program or pending reform?

No Hawaii statute creates a psilocybin therapy, research or decriminalization program, and no 2025 or 2026 act changes psilocybin's Schedule I entry. The 2025-2026 Legislature considered three related measures:

• SB 1042, a Mental Health Emerging Therapies Pilot Program in the Office of Wellness and Resilience, reached conference in 2025 and was carried over to 2026. Its conferees were discharged on March 20 and April 1, 2026, and the bill did not become law.
• SB 3199 would establish a Mental Health Emerging Therapies Task Force within the University of Hawaii at Manoa John A. Burns School of Medicine "to prepare the State for the integration of breakthrough therapies," as its status page describes it. The bill's findings state that "the United States Food and Drug Administration has granted breakthrough therapy designation to several emerging treatments, including ... psilocybin-assisted therapy for treatment-resistant depression." It passed the House on April 9, 2026; its status page records that the Senate disagreed on April 10, 2026; and the last entry on its status page is an April 29, 2026 notice that the conference committee would reconvene on May 1, 2026. No conference draft was posted, and the bill did not become law before the 2026 session ended.
• SCR 171 (2026), a task-force resolution, was referred to the Senate HHS committee on March 19, 2026 and was not adopted.

None of these appears on its status page as an act, so none has created a task force, working group or report under Hawaii law. In the 2023-2024 session, psilocybin working-group bills SB 1454 and HB 1337 were deferred or carried over and not enacted.

How Hawaii law could change psilocybin's status

Chapter 329 mentions psilocybin and psilocyn only in their Schedule I entries, so it has no psilocybin-specific provision tied to FDA approval of a drug. Two general mechanisms in HRS 329-11 could still change its status without a new statute, each only temporarily:

"The department of law enforcement shall similarly designate the substance as added, deleted, or rescheduled under this chapter, after the expiration of thirty days from publication in the Federal Register of a final order, and this change shall have the effect of law."

Under subsection (d), that designation is temporary and is nullified if the next regular legislative session does not make the corresponding change in chapter 329. Subsection (e) separately lets the administrator emergency-schedule a substance on a temporary basis after public notice 30 days before the effective date, subject to the same legislative condition. A federal rescheduling of psilocybin by final order would therefore reach Hawaii through subsection (d), for a limited time unless the Legislature acts.

Federal psilocybin law

Psilocybin and psilocyn are also federal Schedule I hallucinogens, reaching any material, compound, mixture or preparation containing any quantity of them (21 CFR 1308.11(d)(29), (30), October 6, 2026 version). Federal simple possession of a controlled substance is a misdemeanor under 21 U.S.C. 844(a), with a term of up to 1 year and a minimum $1,000 fine for a first offense. No psilocybin drug is FDA-approved, and no DEA or HHS notice to reschedule psilocybin appears in the Federal Register through October 11, 2026. Executive Order 14401 (April 18, 2026) directs federal agencies to act on psychedelic drugs, including a review of rescheduling Schedule I products that complete Phase 3 trials, but it does not reschedule psilocybin and creates no enforceable right. Our psilocybin mushroom laws by state hub covers the federal layer in more detail.

Driving after taking psilocybin in Hawaii

Hawaii's impaired-driving statute, HRS 291E-61(a)(2), covers operating a vehicle "While under the influence of any drug that impairs the person's ability to operate the vehicle in a careful and prudent manner," which includes Schedule I drugs. The per se test in subsection (a) is the 0.08 alcohol limit; subsection (a) has no per se clause for the presence or concentration of a drug. See our guide to Hawaii DUI laws.

Clearing a psilocybin conviction

A conviction for promoting a dangerous drug is a felony record. Our guide to Hawaii expungement laws explains which records can be expunged and how.

Related

• Psilocybin mushroom laws by state
• Hawaii DUI laws
• Hawaii expungement laws
• Hawaii kratom laws

This article provides general legal information about Hawaii state law as of October 11, 2026. It is not legal advice. Hawaii drug sentencing has several overlapping provisions, and the outcome of any case depends on its facts and prior record. For advice about a specific situation, contact a lawyer licensed in Hawaii.

Last updated: 2026-10-11.

Frequently Asked Questions

Are magic mushrooms legal in Hawaii?

No. Psilocybin and psilocyn are Schedule I substances under HRS 329-14(d)(26), (27), and knowingly possessing any amount is promoting a dangerous drug in the third degree, a class C felony under HRS 712-1243.

Is possessing a small amount of psilocybin a felony in Hawaii?

Yes. HRS 712-1243 makes knowing possession of any dangerous drug in any amount a class C felony, with a maximum prison term of five years under HRS 706-660. First- or second-time felony possession offenders may be eligible for probation under HRS 706-622.5 if they meet its criteria.

What is the penalty for selling psilocybin in Hawaii?

Distributing any dangerous drug in any amount is a class B felony under HRS 712-1242 (maximum ten years). Distributing three-eighths ounce or more, 25 or more dosage units, or any amount to a minor is a class A felony under HRS 712-1241 (maximum twenty years under HRS 706-659).

Are psilocybin mushroom spores legal in Hawaii?

Hawaii's controlled-substances chapter does not mention spores. It lists psilocybin and psilocyn and reaches any material containing any quantity of them; how that applies to a particular item is a question for a Hawaii lawyer.

Does Hawaii have a psilocybin therapy program?

No. No Hawaii statute creates a psilocybin therapy, research or decriminalization program. Bills for an emerging-therapies pilot program (SB 1042) and a task force at the John A. Burns School of Medicine (SB 3199) did not become law.

Would FDA approval of a psilocybin drug change Hawaii law?

Chapter 329 has no psilocybin-specific provision tied to FDA approval. If federal law reschedules a substance by a final order, HRS 329-11(d) has the Department of Law Enforcement make the same change 30 days after the order is published, and that designation lapses unless the next regular legislative session enacts it.

Can you get a DUI after taking psilocybin in Hawaii?

Yes, if the facts fit HRS 291E-61(a)(2), which covers operating a vehicle under the influence of any drug that impairs the person's ability to operate it in a careful and prudent manner. Subsection (a) has no per se drug-concentration clause; its per se test is the 0.08 alcohol limit.