There's no psilocybin measure on California's November 3 ballot

California's November 3, 2026 ballot has no psilocybin or psychedelics measure. The Secretary of State certified 14 statewide measures on June 25, five placed by the Legislature and nine qualified by petition, and none deals with psychedelics or drug possession. Psilocybin will still be illegal in San Diego after Election Day.¹

What's on the ballot instead

The certified list covers recall rules, public campaign financing, a veterans and affordable housing bond, local tax limits, voter ID, health clinic spending, taxes on high incomes and billionaires, environmental review, an immunology research bond and a ban on certain property and retroactive taxes, among others.¹ The only veterans' measure is the housing bond.

Why psilocybin reform hasn't reached voters

Advocates tried the ballot route first. Decriminalize California's psilocybin initiative fell short of the signatures it needed for 2024, its third failed attempt.²

The Legislature came closer. SB 58, which would have decriminalized adult possession of small amounts of psilocybin and a few other natural psychedelics, passed both houses in September 2023. Gov. Gavin Newsom vetoed it on October 7, 2023, writing that it "would decriminalize possession prior to these guidelines going into place, and I cannot sign it." He asked lawmakers to send him a bill with therapeutic guidelines instead.³

The bills that followed tried to answer that request, and none made it:

• SB 1012 (2024), for supervised adult use with licensed facilitators, was held in committee in May 2024.⁴
• SB 803 (2024), a veterans' pilot in San Diego, San Francisco and Santa Cruz counties, was withdrawn in June 2024.⁵
• SB 751 (2025), UC-run veterans' pilots in up to five counties, died on February 2, 2026.⁶
• SB 1224 (2026), a veterans' research fund, was held in committee on August 13, 2026.⁷

What did pass was narrower. AB 1103, by San Diego Assemblymember Chris Ward, speeds up state approval of federally authorized psychedelic studies, and AB 113 put $4.7 million into veterans' psychedelic research in September 2026.^8,9 Read our story on AB 113 for what that money covers.

The local picture

Seven California cities have passed resolutions making psilocybin a low enforcement priority, most recently Nevada City on August 26, 2026. No city in San Diego County, and not the county itself, has done the same.^10,11 Those resolutions set police priorities only and don't change state law. Our guide to whether mushrooms are legal in San Diego covers the penalties.

What could change next

The next big moves are federal. Compass Pathways expects to finish its FDA application for its psilocybin treatment in the fourth quarter of 2026 and hopes to launch in the first half of 2027, if the FDA approves it and the DEA reschedules it.¹² Executive Order 14401 tells the Attorney General to move quickly on that kind of rescheduling review, though it sets no deadline.¹³

California is already set up for that moment. AB 1021, signed in 2023, lets California health professionals prescribe and dispense a psychedelic drug once it's federally rescheduled, without a new state law. Its author said it "does not decriminalize or legalize any controlled substance for any nonmedical use."¹⁴ That would mean a prescription medicine given under medical supervision, not mushrooms for sale. For what the order does and doesn't change, see our explainer on Executive Order 14401.

This is general information, not legal advice.