Military will now drug test troops for psychedelic mushrooms by adding psilocin to Pentagon drug panels

Psilocin will be added to U.S. military drug testing panels for service members starting Oct. 1, 2025, following a Pentagon memo. The policy change targets psychedelic mushrooms, often called “shrooms.” The article explains that psilocybin is converted in the body to psilocin, producing hallucinogenic effects. Psilocin and psilocybin are described as Schedule I drugs under federal law, despite legal clinical and state-level activity elsewhere. The Pentagon frames the updates as part of improving drug detection to address new threats, while the Department of Defense uses urinalysis data for longer-term study of drug abuse among troops.