Imagine a world where everyone struggling with mood disorders, trauma, guilt, or grief can have legal access to natural plant medicines, shown time and time again to foster healing and personal growth.

While we don’t live in that world yet, the good news is that both society and international authorities finally seem to be opening their eyes to the tremendous therapeutic potential of psychedelic states of consciousness.

At the same time, the legal landscape that surrounds these substances remains nuanced and dynamic. This can lead many people seeking out plant medicines to feel stifled and confused by the regulations and different ways to safely and legally explore these experiences.

In this guide, we’ll walk you through the legal intricacies that surround plant medicines and the evolution of this complex landscape. By the time you’ve finished reading this post, you'll feel even more empowered to search for the ideal psychedelic retreat for you or your loved one.

Some Key Terms to Understand

The first thing we’ll do is break down the different legal statuses that can be given to psychedelics. 

Illegal, Scheduled, or Controlled

Starting with the most common designation, illegal substances are prohibited by law to possess, consume, and distribute. Controlled substances, on the other hand, are typically split into categories based on how a government interprets the substances’ potential harm or lack of benefits.

For example, the US Controlled Substances Act recognizes five categories. Schedule I substances are considered to have no currently accepted medical use and high abuse potential. These substances include most psychedelics, empathogens like MDMA, and even cannabis.

Under Schedule II, we can find substances like cocaine, crystal meth, and fentanyl. These drugs have accepted medical use, but they still have the highest level of control, including no refills and new prescription requirements. Regulations start to ease progressively from Schedule III to Schedule V.

The legal ramifications of possession, use, and sale of controlled substances can be extreme, ranging from hefty fines to imprisonment. 

Why Are Psychedelics Illegal?

Sadly, the classification of psychedelics into Schedule I substances is the result of historical, political, and social factors rather than scientific evidence of harm or benefit.

In the US, this all started with the ‘war on drugs,’ initiated by then-President Richard Nixon to combat the massive influx of cannabis, cocaine, and heroin coming into the country. The international regulatory community saw things similarly, outlawing most known psychedelics in the 1971 UN Convention on Psychotropic Substances.

Now, after more than five decades, this treaty is long overdue for a revision.

Implications for Retreats: If caught, participants and organizers of retreats in areas where psychedelics are illegal may face severe legal consequences. Additionally, since these retreats often operate underground and lack regulatory oversight, they may suffer from safety issues, lack of quality control, and dubious ethical standards.

If you plan to attend a retreat where psychedelics are illegal, carefully weigh the legal risks and potential consequences beforehand. Research alternative retreat options that may offer a safer, more legally compliant, and highly recommended experience.

Decriminalized, Non-Enforced, or Legal Vacuum

Lately, we’ve been witnessing a global wave of decriminalization of psychedelics and plant medicines. While this kind of policy change heralds a more liberal stance towards psychedelic substances, keep in mind that the previous legal status of a substance remains the same even if it is decriminalized.

What does decriminalization do, then?

• It lowers the enforcement priority for a substance offence
• It reduces the legal penalties for possessing or using a substance
• It reclassifies the substance offense from a criminal one to a civil one, resulting in fines or other non-criminal penalties rather than imprisonment.

Some of the most recent examples of decriminalization include psilocybin in the state of Oregon and numerous cities around the United States. While it is still technically illegal to possess and use decriminalized substances, law enforcement chooses to prioritize other issues. Anyone caught with small amounts of these substances is unlikely to face severe, if any, legal consequences.

Take a look at an up-to-date decriminalization map across the USA

The legal standing of psychedelics in the US is not exactly clear-cut. Even if a substance is decriminalized at the municipal or state level, federal regulations take precedence. This means that any federal law enforcement agency can still prosecute a case of psychedelic possession with probable cause. This can also make it more complicated to designate a medical status for certain substances. 

Around the world, quite a few countries have joined the decriminalization club. Most of Europe and South America have reduced the enforcement priority and/or penalties for the possession and use of one or all psychedelics. Other countries are either considering doing the same or have already proposed reform.

Take a look at an up-to-date map of drug regulations across the world

Finally, there are also regions where possession and use of certain psychedelics are not decriminalized but are either officially illegal (but are rarely or never prosecuted) or exist in a legal vacuum (i.e. they are not officially illegal). Examples include cannabis in Vietnam, Cambodia, Nepal, and parts of North India, psilocybin mushrooms in parts of North Thailand and Indonesia, and ayahuasca in Mexico and Guatemala.

Implications for Retreats: Retreats in regions where a particular psychedelic has been decriminalized likely operate in a legal gray area. While the risk of enforcement and severe penalties is lower (sometimes non-existent), there is still a chance of legal consequences.

On the plus side, these retreats often emphasize community and harm reduction, fostering a supportive environment for participants while acknowledging the legal complexities. If you plan to join a retreat in a decriminalized area, you should thoroughly research and understand the local laws and potential risks before attending.

Legalized

A legalized substance is permitted by law to be used in certain ways, abiding by specific regulations. These conditions often involve guidelines and control measures to ensure safe and responsible use.

Legal Psychedelic Retreats

In much of South America, possession and use of ancestral plant medicines such as ayahuasca and mescaline are either legal or non-enforced. Over the last few decades, the favorable status of entheogens in countries like Peru, Colombia, Ecuador, Brazil, and Bolivia has attracted many international visitors on their quests for healing and growth.

This demand eventually catalyzed the emergence of an entire plant medicine retreat economy. Currently, across the continent, there are hundreds of legal retreat centers that serve thousands of people in search of healing, spiritual enlightenment, and growth each year. The same goes for legal psilocybin truffle retreats in the Netherlands and Jamaica.

The Muddled Pathway to Psychedelic Legalization

Elsewhere, if legalization of a certain psychedelic is being considered, it’s typically carried out in two steps: medicalization usually comes first, after which the substance is made legal for recreational use.

In most countries, this is a straightforward process, although it is typically made convoluted and lengthy. We have yet to see any Western country truly deschedule a psychedelic for recreational use on a national level due to the lack of completed clinical trials and other international obligations pertaining to the UN Convention on Psychotropics. In the Netherlands, psilocybin was actually made illegal in mushroom form but was left legal in truffle form, so no descheduling happened. Decriminalization is highly preferred as it doesn’t impact the international treaty.

The US legal landscape is, of course, more complex because of the different municipal, state, and federal regulations. As such, even if a substance is legalized for recreational use in one city or town, its use can still be prosecuted in the rest of the state, other states, or nationwide on a federal level.

Cannabis is the perfect example of a narcotic that has undergone legalization in several countries. Many legal experts consider it a paragon for psychedelics, believing that the steps and challenges of the journey will largely translate.

Still, psychedelics are more complex to legalize than cannabis. Here’s why:

• There are many psychedelic substances, each of which needs to go through the same clinical validation and policy lobbying processes.
• The effects of psychedelics are much more intense and, potentially, dangerous for anyone with a history of mental and/or cardiovascular disorders.
• The idea is to integrate psychedelics with psychotherapy, which necessitates adequate infrastructure and trained personnel to administer this treatment safely and effectively;
• Although their use is on the rise, psychedelics are vastly less popular than cannabis; this means that it will take years, if not decades, to gather enough public support to actually influence policymakers.

Medicalization

Medicalization refers to the legal authorization for a substance to be used for therapeutic purposes.

In the case of cannabis, medicalization was enacted through dispensaries, which require a physician’s prescription in order to obtain a THC or CBD product. However, at the moment, psychedelic medicalization requires the direct involvement of a licensed healthcare provider where the substance can only be used. 

Before a substance can be approved for medical use, researchers must conduct extensive scientific studies that demonstrate its efficacy and safety. Out of all currently scheduled substances, MDMA and psilocybin are the closest to federal approval for treating conditions such as PTSD and depression in the US.

Oregon took the leap of faith and became the first US state to legalize psilocybin use for adults on Jan 1, 2023. Since then, the state has been training cohorts of legal facilitators along with rolling out regulatory and logistical frameworks for the clinical administration of psilocybin.

Licensing

Along this journey, we’ve seen how psilocybin-assisted psychotherapy can be structured and scaled. To maximize benefits and minimize potential harm, every element of the process—the mushrooms, the venues, the facilitators, and the therapeutic protocol—must be standardized and certified.

• Modeled after ketamine-assisted psychotherapy, which has been legally (albeit haphazardly) accessible for years, Oregonians can consume medicinal psilocybin mushrooms only in state-licensed treatment centers. These centers liaise with governmental agencies that are set up to regulate the manufacturing, sale, purchase, transportation, and delivery of psilocybin.
• Psilocybin therapy must be administered by facilitators who have obtained their facilitator license by completing a training program with a state-approved curriculum. While Oregon’s only educational requirement is a high school degree, other states might choose to recruit facilitators who already hold some form of clinical license.
• The treatment includes expansive medical pre-screening and follow-ups. During the latter, facilitators provide integration services and report any post-session adverse effects.
• In Oregon, psilocybin still remains prohibited outside of the licensed service centers, and commercial sales are illegal. However, other states might consider allowing mushroom cultivation or the sale of approved psilocybin products in specialized dispensaries.

Religious Exemption or Church Status

Lastly, the narrowest niche of legal psychedelic use is the sacramental consumption of a specific substance within the container of a religious organization.

Church Status is rarely granted and recognition of the substance's historical and cultural significance in specific spiritual practices is required. Getting it often involves lengthy and complex legal proceedings.

Some examples of psychedelic use receiving legal protection under religious freedom laws include natural psychedelic use within the Native American Church and ayahuasca use within the Santo Daime and União do Vegetal churches. The two Brazilian syncretic religions have, so far, won the right to use ayahuasca in California and Oregon, Canada, and a few European countries.

Aside from these fully legal religious organizations, many other churches operate throughout the US under the auspices of the Religious Freedom Act. These include the Oklevueha Native American Church (ONAC), which incorporates a variety of natural plant sacraments in their ceremonies, and between 200 and 2,000 relatively new psychedelic churches. The two most prominent ones being the Hummingbird and Soul Quest ayahuasca churches.

While the Native American and Brazilian churches require people to become members to participate in rituals, the US-based psychedelic churches often run retreats in many states nationwide. Typically, anyone is welcome to join, provided they are over 21 and pass the intake screening. While some of these churches have built up cooperative relationships with law enforcement, others are occasionally challenged by local authorities.

Implications for Retreats: Legal psychedelic therapies and retreats operate within a clear regulatory framework, which often includes rigorous oversight. This can ensure that the psychedelics and plant medicines used are safe and of high quality.

Legal therapies and retreats are usually held in facilities that pass health and safety standards, providing participants with a more secure and controlled environment. Their facilitators are properly trained, their intake protocols usually include a thorough medical history evaluation, and they often provide aftercare through integration sessions.

Religious ceremonies and retreats may infuse a unique spiritual undertone with the psychedelic experience. Typically rooted in indigenous tradition, psychedelic churches often synergize ancestral beliefs and practices with other religious, spiritual, or cultural elements, resulting in a compelling syncretic setting and connective communal rituals.

However, retreats held by organizations that haven’t officially been awarded a religious exemption status can pose certain legal risks. If you’re interested in joining such retreats, you should be well informed of the potential consequences and any existing agreements between the church in question and local authorities.

The Evolution of the Legal Landscape: Rescheduling & Descheduling

Rescheduling or descheduling a psychedelic refers to reclassifying it to a lower-ranked schedule or removing it from the list of controlled substances altogether (legalizing it). These regulatory reforms can happen only after extensive and expensive clinical trials have been conducted to prove a substance's therapeutic safety and efficacy.

Unfortunately, for Schedule I substances in the US such as psychedelics, these policy changes are extremely rare and can be a long and arduous process. This is because the FDA requires serious research to approve a drug for treating a certain condition, but the very designation of Schedule I substances makes obtaining the licenses to study them exceptionally difficult and costly.

By now, however, many clinical trials are underway to prove the therapeutic potential of substances such as MDMA, psilocybin, ayahuasca, DMT, and ibogaine. Some of the notable research organizations spearheading rescheduling efforts and approaching FDA approval include:

• The Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS)
  • Study: MDMA-Assisted Psychotherapy for Treatment-Resistant PTSD
  • Status: Phase 3
  • Potential Impact: Positive results could lead to FDA approval and reclassification of MDMA as a prescription medication for PTSD treatment.
    
    
• COMPASS Pathways
  • Study: Psilocybin for Treatment-Resistant Major Depression
  • Status: Phase 3
  • Potential Impact: Successful outcomes may lead to regulatory approval and integration of psilocybin into mainstream psychiatric treatment.
    
    

• Usona Institute

• Study: Psilocybin for Major Depressive Disorder
• Status: Phase 3
• Potential Impact: Positive results could influence FDA approval and shift the perception of psilocybin’s medical utility.
  
  

• Johns Hopkins Center for Psychedelic and Consciousness Research

• Study: Psilocybin for Major Depressive Disorder
• Status: Phase 2
• Potential Impact: The researchers suggested that if phase III clinical trials are cleared, psilocybin should be re-categorized from a Schedule I drug to a Schedule IV drug.
  
  

• New York University (NYU)

• Study: Psilocybin for Alcohol Use Disorder
• Status: Phase 2
• Potential Impact: If effective, this could provide a new treatment option for substance use disorders, influencing drug policy towards more supportive and rehabilitative approaches.
  
  

• MindMed

• Study: LSD for Anxiety
• Status: Phase 2
• Potential Impact: Success could lead to renewed interest in therapeutic LSD use and potential changes in its legal status.
  
  

• Small Pharma

• Study: DMT for Depression
• Status: Phase 1/2a
• Potential Impact: Positive results could introduce DMT as a novel treatment option for depression, influencing drug policy and therapeutic practices.
•  

Aside from clinical research, many organizations are also involved in activism and lobbying for drug policy reform. Some of the major ones include:

• Drug Policy Alliance (DPA) — this US-based nonprofit organization advocates for state and federal-level decriminalization of all drugs, the legalization and regulation of marijuana, and the rescheduling of psychedelics.
  
  
• Decriminalize Nature — this US-based grassroots organization creates local initiatives that aim to decriminalize the use and possession of natural psychedelics such as psilocybin mushrooms, ayahuasca, and peyote. Their efforts have led to the decriminalization of natural psychedelics in several municipalities, setting a precedent for broader policy reform.
  
  
• Students for Sensible Drug Policy (SSDP) — this international grassroots network of students is dedicated to ending the war on drugs by raising awareness and promoting policy changes at universities and local governments.
  
  
• International Drug Policy Consortium (IDPC) — this global network of over 190 NGOs advocates for drug policies grounded in health, human rights, and development. They provide a platform for diverse organizations to collaborate and push for progressive drug policy reforms worldwide.
  
  
• Horizons — this organization hosts the longest-running annual conference that gathers researchers, clinicians, activists, and psychedelic enthusiasts. These conferences help bridge the gap between scientific research and public understanding of psychedelics, providing a platform for policy reform initiatives that seek to decriminalize and legalize psychedelics.
  
  
• Psychedelic Society — this UK-based organization hosts events, provides education, and runs campaigns to promote the benefits of psychedelics and push for legal reform.
  
  
• Mind Medicine Australia — this Australia-based nonprofit organization is dedicated to expanding the psychedelic treatment options available to medical practitioners and their patients; they are instrumental in promoting the medicalization of psychedelics in Australia.

Know the Legality of a Psychedelic or Plant Medicine Before a Retreat

If you’re interested in attending a psychedelic or plant medicine retreat, the first thing you should do is check its regional legality. A good preliminary step is visiting an up-to-date regulation tracker such as Psychedelic Alpha’s global or USA-specific psychedelic legal status maps.

As a general rule of thumb, United Nations member states tend to align their domestic drug laws with the UN Convention on Psychotropic Substances, which bans most known psychedelics. However, like in the US, regional policies may differ from national ones, and, as we’ve covered, many regions and countries have already decriminalized or medicalized one or more psychedelics.

To cross-reference the tracker information, consider visiting the retreat country's official government websites, such as the Ministry of Health, Drug Enforcement Agency, or equivalent regulatory bodies. Sections on drug policy and controlled or therapeutic substances will typically contain lists of regulated compounds and their legal standings.

Additionally, for the US, legal databases like Westlaw, BillTrack50, LexisNexis, Ballotpedia, and similar serve to provide comprehensive legal information, including drug laws and regulations. Some other countries also have online legal databases accessible to the public, as well as public information services or hotlines for drug-related inquiries.

Finally, by communicating with relevant individuals, such as the retreat organizers or local plant medicine community members, you can gain more insight from their recent personal experiences navigating the nuances of psychedelic legality.

Where to Go For a Psychedelic Retreat

Now that you have a better understanding of the dynamic legal landscape of psychedelics and plant medicines, you might be feeling ready to start looking for a retreat center that aligns with your values and practical constraints. The first step is to explore the available options and consider whether an international trip would be a possibility.

Due to their explicit legality, most people opt for an ayahuasca retreat in one of several Amazon countries, a San Pedro retreat in Andean countries, or a psilocybin retreat in the Netherlands or  Jamaica. The popularity of these options is followed closely by various psychedelic retreats in countries with lax drug laws, such as Costa Rica, Mexico, Guatemala, Portugal, and Spain.

Finally, many US residents unwilling or unable to travel abroad have been dipping their toes into the ripples of decriminalization by attending retreats in the states that have seen recent drug policy reform. Others choose clinical treatments or retreats organized by some of the many churches using psychedelics under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act.

Whichever path you choose, it’s vital to do your due diligence, as described in the previous sections, and make sure you’re fully informed on the legal underpinning of the specific medicine in the particular region you’re planning for.

How to Find a Good Retreat Center

Once you’ve settled on a substance and location, scrutinizing the available retreat listings individually boils down to looking for the telltale signs of a well-run center. These include:

• Clarity of communication and information provided.
• Transparency about compliance with local laws, if applicable.
• The retreat itinerary, transfer logistics, accommodations, and amenities.
• The staff and facilitators’ levels of experience and training.
• The presence of safety measures and, ideally, medical staff during retreats.
• The thoroughness of the intake process and preparation guidelines.
• Whether integration services are provided and what they constitute.

You can obtain much of this information from the retreat center listing and its reviews, as well as by communicating directly with the staff or facilitators. Feel free and empowered to contact the organizers and allow your intuition to express whether their messaging resonates with you.

Once you find the right fit, all that’s left to do is book it and arrange your journey to the center, where your spiritual travel will be taken care of by the facilitators.