Saskatoon man approved for end-of-life treatment with magic mushrooms
SASKATOON Thomas Hartle never thought he’d be the kind of person to take magic mushrooms, let alone grow them.
“Honestly, it isn’t exactly where I pictured my life taking me,” the 52-year-old father said. “But having stage four cancer isn’t exactly where I pictured life taking me either.”
Hartle is one of four Canadians with terminal health conditions who was recently given the green light by Health Canada to use psilocybin, the hallucinogenic compound found in magic mushrooms.
The drug is normally illegal in Canada.
But a special exemption from the federal government means Hartle and three other patients are allowed to grow them for personal use, something he hopes will help relieve the anxiety that’s been weighing on him since his diagnosis in 2016 and let him focus on enjoying time with his wife and two children.
“We only have so much time left. And I really want to spend my time making memories and enjoying my time with my family.” Hartle said.
Psilocybin is best known as a recreational drug.
But some recent and ongoing studies suggest therapy incorporating a high dose of the drug could help alleviate anxiety and depression in cancer patients with terminal diagnoses.
Spencer Hawkswell, the executive director of the non-profit organization Therapsil, which supported the four appeals to Health Canada for an exemption to section 56 of the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act, says that, to his knowledge, this is the first time psilocybin has been approved for medical use in the country.
The process took 104 days, which Hawkswell says is remarkably fast.
“I think what’s important when working with the government is that they’re not a big bad monster … they just work quite pragmatically through allowing new drugs into our medical system.” he said.
A study conducted by the New York University Langone Medical Center found that 60 to 80 per cent of tested patients saw longterm improvements in anxiety and depression after a single dose of psilocybin, combined with psychotherapy.
Hawkswell says his organization is currently focused on getting exemptions for psilocybin to be used in palliative treatment, where research is strongest.
Since psilocybin “isn’t something you can just pick up at the drugstore,” Hartle is growing it himself and plans to use it for the first time next month.
He says he’s never done psychedelics before and is adamant about doing it in a legal, supervised setting.
“Unless you want to source psilocybin from a questionable source and unless you want to use it in an unsafe setting, you have to try and find a legal pathway and find people who are experienced and support the process as you’d like it to be.” he said.
He’s aware he might have what’s colloquially called a “bad trip,” or a negative experience while on the drug. But he believes the potential long-term benefit to his mental health outweighs the discomfort.
His hope is that his experience, and those of other patients, might pave the way for future exemption applications.
“It sounds a little weird to be excited, but the part I’m excited about is getting some relief from the anxiety, not the actual use of the psychedelics,” Hartle said.
The part I’m excited about is getting some relief from the anxiety, not the actual use of the psychedelics.