As we head into 2022, the lingering question remains, will mushrooms be legal in California this year? There are various factors at play when determining the state’s future with psychedelic reform, but we can say that the initiative to legalize psilocybin may appear on the ballot in California as an initiated state statute on November 8, 2022. 

If passed, the ballot measure would legalize psilocybin, including psilocybin mushrooms, truffles, sclerotia, and mycelium, in California. More specifically, it would decriminalize cultivation, manufacture, processing, distribution, transportation, possession, storage, consumption, and retail sale of psilocybin mushrooms for adults 21 and older.

It would also do the same for the hallucinogenic chemical compound in magic mushrooms, edible products, and extracts derived from psilocybin mushrooms. If legalized in California, this would also authorize research and the use of psilocybin for treatment by qualified healthcare practitioners.

That said, beginning psilocybin treatments requires an “independent professional certifying body” to establish qualifications and create protocols for these therapies to occur. Then state agencies will have to adopt and implement these qualification requirements and protocols into their practices.

In California, the state requires a certain number of signatures needed to implement an initiated state statute. This number is equal to 5% of the votes cast in the preceding gubernatorial election.

Petitions can circulate for 180 days from the date the attorney general creates the petition language. Additionally, signatures need to be certified at least 131 days prior to the general election. The secretary of state provides suggested deadlines for these ballot initiatives, seeing as the verification process can take months.

Here are the requirements to get initiative state statutes certified for the 2022 ballot:

• 623,212 valid signatures
• Meet the deadline for signature verification, which is 131 days before the general election, around June 30, 2022. Proponents are recommended to file signatures at least two months before the verification deadline, a process that can take months to complete. 

The signatures will be filed with local election officials that determine the total number of signatures submitted. From there, election officials will determine how many signatures are valid, and based on their findings, the initiative to legalize psilocybin mushrooms might be eligible for the 2022 ballot.