How Much Do mushrooms Cost? Psilocybin mushrooms — also called magic mushrooms or “shrooms” — are among the most popular psychedelic drugs alongside LSD.
While they remain federally illegal in most countries, they have been available on the black market since their prohibition. Some parts of the US have even moved to decriminalize their use — making them even more abundant than before.
With a largely unregulated market, it’s difficult for some users to identify what a reasonable price for shrooms is. In this guide, you’ll learn the overall average price per gram and per ounce of psilocybin mushrooms, what factors affect the price, and the most affordable ways to procure shrooms near you.
What’s the Average Cost Per Gram for Shrooms?
While the price can vary quite a bit, the average cost per gram of magic mushrooms is around $10. Some of the most affordable grams sell for around $7, while the most you’ll typically spend is about $12.
Most users purchase eighths (3.5 g), which average approximately $32.
If you’re a regular user and purchase larger quantities, average pricing for standard weights are listed below:
- Eighth ounce (3.5 g): $32
- Quarter ounce (7 g): $60
- Half ounce (14g): $100
- Ounce (28 g): $200
- Pound (2.2 kg): $2,400
What Factors Affect the Price of Magic Mushrooms?
The prices listed above are what most people can expect to pay for shrooms, but there are several factors that can quite drastically affect your total. Below are the most significant factors to consider when estimating the cost of your psychedelic mushrooms.
1. Your Location & The Current Legal Status of Magic Mushrooms
Shrooms remain illegal in most countries, so the only option for the majority of users is to purchase them from a dealer. In an unregulated market, prices can fluctuate quite a bit, but you’re unlikely to see inflated pricing due to the sheer abundance of these magical fungi.
For users who live in areas where they have been decriminalized — like in parts of Canada, Washington State, Colorado, California, and several other states — shrooms are available from some online and in-person shops.
Their widespread availability in these places drives the average cost down. You can expect to pay anywhere from 10–30% less for magic mushrooms in cities or states where they’ve been decriminalized.
Related: List of Legal Psychoactive Substances Around The World.
2. Order Quantity
As you might have noticed above, in the average prices by weight, you can usually save money on shrooms when you buy them in larger quantities.
While you might pay up to $12 per gram when buying smaller amounts, buying an eighth leaves you with an average of $9 per gram.
Purchasing a pound will cost more upfront, but you’ll only pay around $5.50 per gram.
3. The Mushroom Species
There are many different species of magic mushrooms that have varying quantities of psilocybin and psilocin.
The most common species of shrooms is Psilocybe cubensis, also called “cubes.” There are other species, but chances are you’re looking for cubes unless you’re a shroom connoisseur. Even within the P. cubensis species, there are many variations, called strains.
Magic mushroom strains each have slightly different effects and potencies. Some of the most common strains you’ll find are Golden Teachers and Penis Envy.
Golden Teachers are the more popular of the cubensis variants and typically dictate the overall average cost per gram (noted above). Penis Envy shrooms are far more potent, so they can cost 1.5 to 2 times as much per gram.
Also see: What Is the B+ Shroom Strain? Everything You Need to Know.
4. Type of Magic Mushroom Products
The traditional way to consume psilocybin is to eat dried mushrooms. With shrooms growing in popularity and becoming decriminalized and more commercially available in some areas, additional delivery methods are becoming more attainable.
The prices above are for dried mushrooms, but many users can now get their hands on chocolates containing psilocybin, teas, beverages, candy, tinctures, and other edibles.
Dried mushrooms are still the most affordable way to buy shrooms, while chocolates and edibles tend to be a bit more expensive per mg of psilocybin.
However, it’s difficult to compare the average cost per milligram because the concentration of psilocybin can vary widely from one mushroom to the next.
What’s the Cheapest Way to Get Shrooms?
The cheapest way to get shrooms is to pick them from the wild — but this isn’t considered safe for most people. The best alternative is to grow them yourself, but the process involves some initial startup costs and a waiting period of about 2 months before your first harvest.
Below are the common ways of procuring shrooms, from least expensive to most expensive.
1. Foraging For Wild Magic Mushrooms
Psilocybin mushrooms grow naturally in many areas, especially in the United States.
The southeast portion of the country offers the highest likelihood of finding shrooms. They primarily grow in humid tropic areas and subtropic climates on rich dirt, dead plant matter, or on cow patties.
The cheapest way to get shrooms is to forage for them — all it takes is a few hours of your time.
Magic mushrooms grow all over the world. If you know what to look for, you can spend an afternoon wildcrafting more magic mushrooms than you’ll know what to do with.
However, “cheap” doesn’t always translate to “better,” especially when it comes to things you plan to consume. It’s dangerous to wildcraft magic mushrooms unless you’re already savvy with mushroom identification, and even then, it’s easy to make mistakes. There are a lot of poisonous look-alikes that make foraging magic mushrooms a bad idea for the majority of users.
2. Growing Magic Mushrooms
Growing psychedelic mushrooms is the next most affordable way to procure them. You’ll have to invest some money in growing equipment, substrate, and spores to get started, but once you’re in motion, the maintenance costs are minimal.
Magic mushroom spores can be bought online from places like Sporeslab or Spores 101 for cheap. You can use these spores to inoculate substrate jars, which will later produce copious amounts of fresh mushrooms.
Growing equipment is simple to find, and you can even buy pre-made kits to get started immediately.
Growing mushrooms isn’t terribly difficult, but it will take some time to get familiarized with the process and learn how to cultivate them successfully. Ultimately, you’ll spend far less on a new substrate, and if you can keep your initial spores fruiting, you can get unlimited yields for very little money.
While every setup is different, it’s totally reasonable to be up and running for as little as $100 dollars on equipment and $30–$60 on spores. This will provide several flushes of magic mushrooms with yields ranging from 20 – 200 grams of dried mushrooms per flush.
3. Buying Magic Mushrooms From Vendors
Finally, you can buy shrooms from a dealer or from a company if you live in an area where they have been decriminalized. Over time, this will be more expensive than the other methods, but it requires very little time investment.
Of course, there are risks associated with buying magic mushrooms on the black market. While extremely rare, it’s not unheard of for some dealers to lace their products with LSD, PCP, or other additives to make them more potent.
It’s important to buy your shrooms from a reputable vendor whenever possible. It’s as easy to test magic mushrooms for purity as it is for other substances, so you’re going on a lot of trust that the vendor or grower you’re buying from isn’t doing anything shady.
Wrapping Up: How Much Should You Pay for Magic Mushrooms?
Magic mushrooms cost around $10 per gram, on average. However, several factors can bring that price up or down. Most people spend between $7 and $12 per gram depending on the strain, quantity, local laws and regulations, and delivery method.
You can save money over time by foraging for magic mushrooms or growing them yourself. However, foraging comes with significant health risks, and growing requires a considerable time investment. Buying shrooms is the more expensive option but tends to be safer than foraging and more accessible than growing.