Magic truffles are legal in the Netherlands because Dutch drug law lists psilocybin mushrooms, and truffles are a different part of the fungus. Since 1 December 2008 the Opium Act has banned "paddenstoelen die van nature de stof psilocine of psilocybine bevatten", mushrooms that naturally contain psilocin or psilocybin. Truffles grow underground as sclerotia and were not added to that list. Checked on 17 October 2026.
What the Opium Act lists
The Dutch Opium Act (Opiumwet) works with two lists. List I, the "hard drugs" list, names psilocine and psilocybine as substances. List II contains a heading "Paddo's", and under it the mushrooms that naturally contain those substances, with the species named one by one.
That heading was added by a decree that took effect on 1 December 2008 (Staatsblad 2008, 486). It covers the mushrooms, the fruiting bodies above ground, and does not mention sclerotia. The Dutch drug information service DRUGSinfo summarises the result in one line: because truffles are not mushrooms, they do not fall under the Opium Act and are freely sold in smart shops (DRUGSinfo).
The Supreme Court ruling of 10 April 2026
The most recent statement from a Dutch court is a ruling of the Supreme Court (Hoge Raad) of 10 April 2026, ECLI:NL:HR:2026:450. The case was about VAT: a seller of magic truffles argued that they were food and should be taxed at the reduced rate. The court disagreed and upheld the standard rate.
In setting out the facts it took as its starting point that "magische truffels vallen niet onder de Opiumwet zodat zij vrij kunnen worden gekweekt en verhandeld": magic truffles do not fall under the Opium Act, so they can be freely grown and traded. It describes truffles as fungal structures that grow underground between the threads of certain mushrooms. The ruling is a tax judgment and creates no new rule. It does show the highest Dutch court treating the legal sale of truffles as settled ground.
The UK government says the same
The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office tells British travellers that "the sale of dry and fresh psychoactive mushrooms is illegal. However, the truffle (sclerotium) form of psychoactive (psilocybin) mushrooms is not covered under Dutch law (Opium Act) and is still sold in regulated 'smart shops'" (FCDO travel advice).
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View at Avalon, Atlantis Magic Truffles - 15 grams
What stays illegal in the Netherlands
- Mushrooms, fresh or dried. They are on the Opium Act lists, whatever a seller calls them.
- Dried truffles, to be safe. No court has ruled on them, and Jellinek, the Amsterdam addiction service, classes dried truffles under List I (Jellinek). Buy fresh, keep them in the fridge and do not dry them.
- Driving or cycling under the influence. Article 8 of the Dutch Road Traffic Act forbids driving a vehicle under the influence of a substance that impairs your ability to drive (Wegenverkeerswet 1994), and in the Dutch traffic rules a bicycle counts as a vehicle (RVV 1990, article 1). Jellinek is direct about it: taking part in traffic after truffles is a bad plan and forbidden.
- Anything from the street. The FCDO advises avoiding confrontation with anyone offering you drugs. A street seller is not a smart shop, and what is offered may be something else entirely.
- Other drugs at airports. The FCDO notes that buying or possessing prohibited drugs outside designated places, "including when transiting through airports, is illegal", and that Dutch airports scan the baggage of transiting passengers.
Age
No minimum age for truffles is written into Dutch law that we could find. Shops set one themselves: Avalon sells only to adults, and by ordering you confirm that you are at least 18 (Avalon terms).
Growing truffles in the Netherlands
The Supreme Court's wording covers growing as well as trading, and truffle grow kits are sold openly. Mushrooms are a different matter. List II names well over a hundred species, Psilocybe mexicana and Psilocybe tampanensis among them, and growing their mushrooms is not legal, fresh or dried. A truffle kit is sold to produce truffles only. For a visitor the question does not come up in practice: Avalon's truffle kit needs at least four weeks (ordering).
Where Dutch law stops
The Dutch rule applies inside the Netherlands only. On the way home a train or car may pass through Belgium and France, and at the end of every route is the UK border, where the same truffles are a Class A drug. Bringing them home sets out what that means.