Is Psilocybin legal in Saudi Arabia?

Legal status

Psilocybin is a controlled psychotropic substance in Saudi Arabia, placed at Schedule II Category A of the schedules attached to the Law of Combating Narcotics and Psychotropic Substances, Royal Decree M/39 of 1426 AH, in the version of those schedules issued on 4 September 2026, printed as «بسيلوسيبين» under «الجدول الثاني... فئة (أ)», Schedule II Category A. The fungi are listed separately: Schedule IV, the prohibited plants and seeds schedule, names Psilocybe and Conocybe and links them to psilocin and psilocybin. So the mushroom, the prodrug and the active metabolite are each addressed, which is why growing, drying and possessing are all reached without any of them having to be argued from another. That completeness is also why the 4-AcO-DMT row in this table could not be resolved: an ester of psilocin is a different compound again, and the coverage wording read there was stereoisomeric rather than ester coverage. M/39 Article 17 governs the prohibited plants and Articles 70 to 71 keep the attached schedules current.

Consequences if caught

A Schedule II Category A placement with a Schedule IV fungal listing puts psilocybin inside Article 37(I), and that article states no quantity at all. There is no weight threshold in it: the conduct named is smuggling, receipt from a smuggler, and import, export, manufacture, production, extraction or cultivation with intent to promote, together with the repeat promotion histories the article sets out, and cultivation is a named limb, so a growing kit is reached as directly as a bag of dried caps. Death under Article 37(I) is a statutory ta'zir penalty and it is not mandatory, because Article 37(II) gives the court the power to reduce it; where the court does reduce, the substitute is a prison term of not less than fifteen years with the lashes and the fine the article states. No express life imprisonment wording was found anywhere in M/39. Articles 38 to 41 are cited as the tiers below Article 37.

If prescribed or medical

The Saudi traveller rule is a permit rule rather than a prescription rule. A controlled medicine may be brought in only under a clearance obtained from the SFDA before travel through its Controlled Drugs System, and that advance electronic clearance is required rather than optional. Psilocybin sits inside that regime as a Schedule II Category A substance with its source fungi in Schedule IV, and no Saudi dispensing route and no medicinal psilocybin product was recorded, so nothing here should be read as saying a clearance would issue for it. Authorised therapeutic or trial use in another country is not a Saudi authorisation.

Documentation

There is nothing to carry for this substance, because no lawful import route was established for it, and that covers spores, grow kits, dried material and extracts alike. For any controlled medicine, apply through the SFDA Controlled Drugs System before travelling, carry the clearance and not the prescription alone, bring the medicine in its original dispensing packaging with the prescription and a medical report translated into Arabic and dated less than six months before travel, and declare it at customs; advance electronic clearance has been required since 1 November 2025. The permit mechanics stated here are the SFDA traveller rules recorded on the current live cell and were not re-derived from the instrument in this pass. The Schedule II Category A placement and the Schedule IV fungal listing were read in the 4 September 2026 schedules on 17 September 2026.

Drug laws and enforcement change and vary within a country. This is not legal advice. Always confirm with Saudi Arabia’s embassy or official drug authority before traveling; penalties can be severe, including imprisonment.