What is San Diego's psychedelic scene actually like?

Who's who in San Diego's psychedelic scene?

We list only public organizations and officials, each with its official site and the latest activity we could confirm as of October 21, 2026. Anything we couldn't confirm is marked.

Who does psychedelic research in San Diego?

UC San Diego's Center for Psychedelic Research (CPR) is the hub. Its start date depends on the source: CPR's site says it began "in 2020, initially as the Psychedelics and Health Research Initiative"¹, while UC San Diego Today ties the initiative's launch by Patrick Coleman and colleagues to the FDA's 2018 breakthrough designation for psilocybin, and says it was renamed and approved as an academic center in the School of Medicine in July 2023³. Its team page lists Mark A. Geyer as director, with Adam Halberstadt (psychopharmacology), Fadel Zeidan (neuroscience) and Timothy Furnish (medical) as division directors².

UCSD-led studies. ClinicalTrials.gov lists three psilocybin studies led by UC San Diego, for anorexia (completed), phantom limb pain (active, not recruiting) and physician burnout (recruiting), plus an IV DMT study in healthy volunteers registered by Jon Dean, who directs CPR's DMT division. That record still says "not yet recruiting," though its estimated start, Sept 1, 2026, has passed²⁵. The burnout study is open only to eligible UCSD physicians aged 21 to 70⁴. The phantom limb pilot, published Aug 7, 2026, randomized 9 people and reported "No emergent suicidality or serious adverse events"⁶.

VA San Diego is the only listed site for two MDMA studies: a completed couples-therapy pilot and a massed prolonged exposure study that's active but not recruiting⁵. The registry labels both phase 3, though both are small single-site studies. The pilot's results, with eight veterans and their partners, reported "large pre-post PTSD symptom reductions" and no serious adverse events⁷.

The most frequent trial site is Kadima Neuropsychiatry Institute in La Jolla, a private research site listed on 18 of the 25 psychedelic and entactogen trials, and 2 of the 20 psychiatric ketamine trials, with a San Diego County site⁵. Each study is in our San Diego clinical trials directory, and our therapy cost table compares trials with paid options.

Is there a mushroom club, and is it about psychedelics?

The San Diego Mycological Society is about all fungi. Its stated aim is to "educate and disseminate scientific information about mycology, the study of fungi," and its site makes no statement about psychedelic mushrooms⁸.

Its next monthly meeting is Monday, Nov 2, 2026, at Casa del Prado in Balboa Park: "Fungi of New Zealand" with Christian Schwarz in Room 101, with mushroom identification at 6:30 p.m. and the talk at 7 p.m., "free and open to everyone"⁸. Its annual Fungus Fair, in its 29th year, was held Feb 1, 2026, at Casa del Prado⁹; no 2027 date was posted as of October 21.

Where do people meet for peer support and harm reduction?

The San Diego Psilocybin Society appears in a provider directory offering in-person "support circles," workshops and integration coaching. It says, "While we cannot supply the product, we can help you navigate the integration of microdosing"¹⁰. We couldn't confirm it's active: we found no website, and its listed "December 6th" meeting has no year.

For harm reduction, the County's crisis line is the local anchor: call or text 988 or call the Access and Crisis Line at 1-888-724-7240, and call 911 in an emergency¹⁸. Fireside Project's psychedelic peer line, 62-FIRESIDE (623-473-7433), is open daily from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Pacific and "is not a suicide hotline"¹⁹. Our bad trip help guide has the full list.

Which local officials shape psychedelic policy?

Sen. Brian Jones (R, Senate District 40) has co-led or carried three psychedelic bills¹²¹³¹⁴:

• SB 803 (2024 version, the "Heal Our Heroes Act"): would have let public health officers in San Diego, San Francisco and Santa Cruz counties approve up to 5 centers each to give psilocybin to screened veterans and former first responders over 21. Its Assembly Health hearing was canceled at the author's request on June 25, 2024, and it died with the session¹².
• SB 751 (2025): would have asked the University of California to run veterans' psilocybin research pilots in up to 5 counties. It died on Feb 2, 2026¹³.
• SB 1224 (2026): as amended June 11, would have funded UC-anchored trials of psilocybin, ibogaine, MDMA, DMT and ketamine from federal grants and private gifts. It was held in Assembly Appropriations on Aug 13, 2026¹⁴.

Asm. Chris Ward (D, Assembly District 78) wrote AB 1103, which requires the state Research Advisory Panel to review in-state research that administers Schedule I or II drugs and lets it fast-track some federally approved projects until Jan 1, 2028. It passed the Assembly 75 to 0 and the Senate 39 to 0, cleared Assembly concurrence 79 to 0 and was signed Oct 10, 2025, as Chapter 571, Statutes of 2025¹⁵. Its final text covers Schedule I and II research in general; the word "psychedelic" appeared only in early versions¹⁵. Votes and status are in our California psychedelics bill tracker.

Is there a mushroom church in San Diego?

We found none based here. Searches for "mushroom church San Diego" mostly surface groups elsewhere or online. One, Psanctuary, calls itself "a non-profit mushroom church and psilocybin is our sacrament," holds online and hybrid services, names no city and reported 262 active members, "verified October 2026"¹¹. We list it to answer the question, not to recommend it.

Calling psilocybin a sacrament doesn't make it legal in California. In Employment Division v. Smith (1990), as the Court later summarized it, the justices upheld "a state law of general applicability criminalizing peyote use" against a free exercise challenge. Congress answered with the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, but in City of Boerne v. Flores (1997) the Court held that "RFRA exceeds Congress' power" as applied to the states¹⁶. So the federal act can't shield anyone from California's drug laws. Our penalties guide lists what those laws carry.

What else around here is called "mushroom"?

The best-known is La Jolla's "Mushroom House," an "architectural landmark buried into the cliffs above San Diego's Blacks Beach" below the Torrey Pines Gliderport. It dates to 1968 and was under renovation in February 2026, according to FOX 5²⁰. It has nothing to do with psychedelics. For terms that get mixed up, such as decriminalized versus legal, see our glossary.

What's coming up from October to December 2026?

Only events with a confirmed date and place:

• Monday, Nov 2: San Diego Mycological Society meeting, "Fungi of New Zealand," Casa del Prado Room 101, Balboa Park; identification 6:30 p.m., talk 7 p.m.; free⁸.
• Tuesday, Nov 3: General election. None of the statewide measures on California's ballot concerns psilocybin or psychedelics¹⁷; we cover psychedelic measures in other states separately.

Left off: the San Diego Psilocybin Society's "December 6th" meeting, because its listing gives no year¹⁰. CPR's own news page posted no upcoming events when we checked.