MP wants doctors to prescribe psilocybin to help deal with Canada's mental health 'epidemic'
https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/magic-mushrooms-drug-legalization-conservatives-9.7236254
Conservative MP Corey Tochor introduced new legislation on Tuesday to legalize prescribing psychedelics like psilocybin (colloquially known as magic mushrooms), which researchers and patients say can effectively treat some mental health disorders.
Under Canada's federal drug laws, psilocybin is a controlled substance and possession, production and distribution are illegal without authorization.
These psychedelics were criminalized during the so-called war on drugs, when many Western countries like Canada cracked down on substances seen as dangerous, addictive and a source of crime.
Defenders argue this classification doesn't fit given the scientific and anecdotal data suggesting psilocybin can ease major depression and help with substance abuse like alcoholism.
Health Canada allows a limited number of patients to access psilocybin through its application-based Special Access Program, but advocates say the process is cumbersome, involving a tangle of red tape that can sometimes take over a year to navigate.
Plus, Health Canada has started rejecting more psilocybin applications than in the past. Approval rates dropped to about 30 per cent in recent months, according to data gathered by the Conservatives.
A spokesperson for the department said it has issued just 354 authorizations for psilocybin since January 2022. "As an experimental drug, its safety and efficacy have not been established," the spokesperson said in a statement.
Tochor's private member's bill would clear away those hurdles by allowing physicians to prescribe psilocybin and psilocin without needing approval from federal bureaucrats.
It would also direct Health Canada to give psilocybin "priority review status," which would allow it to be better studied after what some advocates say has been a half-century-long "psychedelic research winter."
In an interview with CBC News, Tochor said Canada is grappling with a "mental health epidemic" and that it's unconscionable for patients to jump through so many hoops to alleviate that anguish.
The Saskatoon MP said he was inspired to act after one of his constituents, Thomas Hartle, approached him when Health Canada revoked his access to psilocybin, which Hartle had been using to treat the severe anxiety he experienced during oncology treatments.
Tochor said Hartle ended up travelling to the Caribbean three times a year to access the psilocybin he couldn't legally get at home before passing away in 2024 at age 56.
While Hartle had access to medical assistance in dying (MAID), the federal government cut him off from a drug that was making his life more tolerable while he fought to survive.
Conservative member of Parliament Corey Tochor rises during question period in House of Commons on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Friday, Nov. 29, 2024.
Conservative member of Parliament Corey Tochor tabled the legislation on Tuesday. (Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press)
"The state will help you end your life but won't grant you legal access to a plant that is non-toxic and non-addictive. It makes no sense what we're doing in Canada," Tochor said.
"There's been an explosion of research that shows it can be an effective treatment for mental health and addiction patients. There is a body of science out there that's showing this is safe and there's no reason why we manage it the way we do."
Tochor noted that a grey market exists in Canada with storefronts illegally selling psilocybin outside the Special Access Program. These stores have been the subject of police raids, and in Ottawa's case, a series of suspicious arson attacks.
He said patients in need shouldn't be forced to turn to such places and risk criminal penalties to get psilocybin.
A police vehicle parked outside a magic mushroom store in a city's downtown. The store has yellow tape around it and its front is slightly blackened.
Ottawa police are seen parked near a magic mushroom shop last year that was hit by an arson attack. (CBC)
Psychedelics use can produce serious side effects.
There can be "bad trips" where a person experiences hallucinations, paranoia, extreme fear, confusion or panic attacks. There are also neurological and cardiovascular conditions that can result from drug use.
Impairment from psychedelics can also lead to dangerous behaviour and psychosis.
That's why, Tochor said, the drug is best administered in a clinical setting under a doctor's care, something that's difficult now given it's a controlled substance akin to drugs like heroin and cocaine.
What's also difficult is getting a bill like this through Parliament.
Private member's bills usually fail, especially without the support of the government of the day.
"We're hopeful," he said regarding possible Liberal support.
Conservatives have railed against illicit drug use in the past, particularly the Liberal move to create "safe supply" to address the opioid overdose crisis.
Opioid deaths dropped 23% in 2025 — bringing 'cautious optimism' from Canada's top doctor
Dread and anxiety as Ottawa's last supervised injection sites prepare to close
Tochor sees psilocybin in a different light. "This is right up the Conservatives' alleys. This is about freedom of choice," he said.
Josh Veinotte, a Canadian Armed Forces veteran who served in Afghanistan, was diagnosed with PTSD after witnessing the horrors of war while deployed as part of Operation Medusa in 2006.
In an interview with CBC News, Veinotte said he carried on and served in the CAF for another 10 years after that tour but "inside, I was unravelling."
"I found it much harder to sustain a professional life. It was just getting really messy. I felt so empty inside," he said.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/magic-mushrooms-drug-legalization-conservatives-9.7236254
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