Golden Teacher mushrooms are illegal in the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Germany and under US federal law, because they contain psilocybin and psilocin. The cultivar name makes no difference. What differs per country is the status of the grow kit and the spores: in the Netherlands a kit can be bought legally, but the mushrooms are illegal as soon as they appear. Checked on 10 October 2026; this lesson is information, not legal advice.
6.1Overview
| Country | The mushrooms | Kit and spores | Since |
|---|---|---|---|
| Netherlands | illegal, Opium Act List II | kit legal to buy; mushrooms illegal once they appear | 1 December 2008 |
| United Kingdom | illegal, Class A, fresh or prepared | no explicit rule found; producing mushrooms is an offence | 18 July 2005 |
| Germany | illegal, Narcotics Act (BtMG) Annex I | covered when intended for intoxication | listed in Annex I |
| United States | illegal under federal law, Schedule I | spores without psilocybin not federally controlled; some states stricter | federal schedule |
6.2The Netherlands
Since 1 December 2008, mushrooms that naturally contain psilocin or psilocybin are on List II of the Opium Act, and the list names Psilocybe cubensis (Opium Act). Golden Teacher is a cubensis cultivar, so it is covered. The pure substances psilocybin and psilocin are on List I. The Jellinek, the Amsterdam addiction care organisation, adds that dried mushrooms fall under List I again (Jellinek).
The grow kit is a different matter. The Trimbos Institute states that containers for growing psychedelic mushrooms can still be bought legally, because you are not buying mushrooms, and that the mushrooms become illegal as soon as they appear above the surface (Trimbos, drugsinfo.nl). Buying the kit is legal; letting it fruit is not.
The Public Prosecution Service's guideline on the Opium Act defines up to 5 grams of fresh or 0.5 grams of dried mushrooms as a user quantity, and in principle does not prosecute possession up to those amounts (OM, Aanwijzing Opiumwet). A guideline on prosecution is not permission.
Visitors to the Netherlands sometimes confuse mushrooms with magic truffles. Truffles are sclerotia, a different part of the fungus, and fresh truffles fall outside the Opium Act according to the Jellinek. Golden Teacher is a mushroom cultivar; the truffles in Dutch smartshops are sclerotia of other Psilocybe species, such as P. tampanensis and P. mexicana.
6.3The United Kingdom
Section 21 of the Drugs Act 2005 placed "fungus (of any kind) which contains psilocin or an ester of psilocin" in Class A of the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971, from 18 July 2005 (legislation.gov.uk). The Home Office's explanatory memorandum states that it is an offence to import, export, produce, supply or possess magic mushrooms "whatever form they are in, whether prepared or fresh".
We found no statute or Home Office guidance that deals with spores or colonised grow kits directly. A kit that produces mushrooms produces a Class A drug, and producing one is an offence.
6.4Germany
Psilocin and psilocybin are listed in Annex I of the Narcotics Act, the category that cannot be traded or prescribed (BtMG, Annex I). The same annex covers fungi and their parts that contain these substances, as well as biological material suitable for reproducing them, when misuse for intoxication is intended. Spores and mycelium sold to grow Golden Teacher fall under that wording.
6.5The United States
Psilocybin and psilocyn are Schedule I hallucinogens under federal law (21 CFR 1308.11). A laboratory study found no psilocybin or related tryptamines in cubensis spores (Gotvaldová et al., 2021). In a letter of January 2024, the Drug Enforcement Administration confirmed that spores without psilocybin or psilocin are not federally controlled, and that material becomes controlled once it contains them, for example after germination. This is why Golden Teacher spores are widely sold in the US "for microscopy", while growing them is a different matter.
State law varies. California's Health and Safety Code, section 11390, makes it an offence to cultivate spores or mycelium capable of producing such mushrooms with the intent to produce psilocybin. Oregon runs a state-licensed programme in which clients can take psilocybin at licensed service centres, created by Ballot Measure 109 in November 2020, with the first centres opening in 2023 (Oregon Health Authority). Such state programmes do not change federal law, and they do not make home cultivation legal.
6.6Ordering from the Netherlands
Dutch shops ship grow kits abroad, but the law that applies is the law of the country where the kit is delivered and grown, including its rules on importing. For readers in the United Kingdom and Germany, that means a kit sent from the Netherlands does not become legal by being legal to sell there. This site does not recommend ordering, importing or growing where it is against the law.
?Review questions
Answer for yourself first, then open the answer.
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Is a Golden Teacher grow kit legal in the Netherlands?
Answer Buying it is legal, according to the Trimbos Institute. The mushrooms are illegal as soon as they appear.
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Since when have fresh psilocybin mushrooms been illegal in the United Kingdom?
Answer Since 18 July 2005, when the Drugs Act 2005 placed them in Class A, whether fresh or prepared.
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Why are Golden Teacher spores sold openly in many US states?
Answer They contain no psilocybin, and the DEA has said such spores are not federally controlled. Germination changes that, and some states such as California forbid cultivation.
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A kit is sent from the Netherlands to Germany. Which law applies?
Answer German law, where the kit is delivered and grown. The BtMG covers material for growing such fungi when intoxication is intended.