Canada has given approval for assisted psychotherapy using psilocybin, to help treat end-of-life patients. A two-year battle by politician and activist Lisa Robertson has resulted in the country’s health regulator, Health Canada, allowing the use of psilocybin-assisted therapy for patients who are terminally ill.
Robertson’s husband, Clayton Thomas, died of cancer in 2015. After his death, Robertson sought a treatment to help deal with her grief. She says that on a psilocybin trip she was able to “heal” and came to terms with her husband’s death.
Allowing doctors to prescribe psilocybin for assisted therapy could offer hope for people facing similar situations. Palliative care doctor Nathan Fairman says that current treatments for conditions such as depression and anxiety are not necessarily designed to help patients at the end of their lives. Psychedelics like psilocybin, which can be fast-acting and have few long-term side effects, could offer an alternative.
You can read more about the plans in this surprisingly poignant piece in Freethink.
