Canada Supports
Psilocybin-Assisted Therapy

New Democrats are encouraged by the expanding evidence base confirming the safety and benefits of psychedelic therapies, particularly for palliative and end-of-lifecare, as well as those suffering with treatment-resistant depression and post-traumatic stress disorder.

To date, the federal government has only authorized patient access to psilocybin assisted therapy on a case-by-case basis. This approach is arbitrary and inconsistent. It’s particularly inappropriate to force palliative care patients to wait for months hoping to receive a decision from the Minister of Health.

New Democrats believe that therapy should be accessible through the authorization of health care professionals, not through case-by-case exemptions granted by elected officials. We support safe and equitable patient access to psychedelic therapy in Canada.

Furthermore, a New Democratic government will adopt a fully-health based approach to substance use in Canada. That means moving towards a consistent framework for regulating substances through evidence-based assessments of their risks and benefits. This would align with the advice of Canada’s leading public health experts, including the federal government’s Expert Task Force on Substance Use.

Sincerely,
Canada's New Democrats

There are not currently any approved therapeutic products containing psilocybin in Canada, however, there is research looking at the potential of psilocybin to treat various mental health disorders.

According to the Government of Canada Clinical Trials Database there are two clinical trials that have been authorized in Canada, currently.

Health Canada advises that clinical trials are the most appropriate and effective way to advance research with unapproved drugs such as psilocybin, and that they ensure that the best interests of patients are protected and that a product is administered in accordance with national and international ethical, medical, and scientific standards. Clinical trials also provide important information on the safety of a drug and whether it may be an effective treatment option for patients.

I believe it important to see the results of these clinical trials before Canada makes any policy decisions on approval of therapeutic products containing psilocybin in Canada.

However, I can assure you that Canada’s Conservatives consider the mental health of Canadians’ as a top priority. Mental health is health and should be treated as such,  and we need a plan. That’s why we will introduce the Canada Mental Health Action Plan that will:
- Propose to the provinces that they partner with us by dedicating a significant portion of the stable, predictable health funding to mental health to ensure that an additional million Canadians can receive mental health treatment every year;
- Encourage employers to add mental health coverage to their employee benefit plans by offering a tax credit for 25% of the cost of additional mental health coverage for the first three years;
- Create a pilot program to provide $150 million over three years in grants to non-profits and charities delivering mental health and wellness programming; and
- Create a nationwide three-digit suicide prevention hotline

Thank you again for writing to me.

I hope I can count on your support on Election Day.

Sincerely,
Blake Richards
Conservative Candidate for Banff-Airdrie

The Green Party is calling for a shift to the regulation of drugs using an evidence-based public health approach to harms and benefits. We support the use of the UK model here in Canada, given the rapidly growing body of evidence that psilocybin therapy provides therapeutic benefits with extremely low risk. It has been used safely to treat people suffering from addictions, common mental health issues such as depression and anxiety, as well as for end of life care. Major research institutions are involved in this research, including John Hopkins University, Yale University, the University of Toronto, and others.

The Green Party has long been calling on the federal government to improve access to mental health and addictions care. Controlled, legal access to psilocybin therapy should be part of our system. Research shows that psilocybin therapy is a promising method to treat patients suffering from mental health issues and addictions, as well as terminally ill patients.

We commend the government’s decision last year to start approving psilocybin-assisted therapy on a case-by-case basis for terminally ill patients. This is a step in the right direction. However, we know there is now a backlog of patients who have waited months for approval. Currently, approvals are made at the discretion of the Minister of Health. A controlled legal pathway would ensure safety and predictability in accessing psilocybin therapy, and would put decision-making into the hands of medical professionals instead of elected officials.

Green MPs have been advocating for expanded access to psilocybin therapy. We have written to the Minister of Health in support of specific case-by-case requests for access, on the recommendation of clinical therapists. Our caucus has also written to the Minister of Health calling for more permanent measures to grant medical professionals access to psilocybin treatment options. More broadly, the Green Party is calling for a shift away from the criminalization of drugs towards a public health approach and decriminalization.

Sacramental and medicinal plants have been used for millennia by Indigenous cultures for healing. Criminalizing Indigenous peoples’ use of traditional medicines with psychoactive ingredients is part of Canada’s colonial legacy that sought to destroy Indigenous cultures and ways of life.

Greens support the use of traditional medicines by Indigenous peoples in Canada. As MP for Nanaimo-Ladysmith, Paul Manly sponsored parliamentary petition e-2534, signed by almost 15,000 Canadians, calling for the decriminalization of psychoactive plants and fungi that have traditionally been used for medicinal and ceremonial purposes by Indigenous peoples.

Controlled, legal access to psilocybin therapy should be accompanied by provisions that allow treatment in therapy centres under medical supervision. We also need to increase the knowledge and awareness of medical professionals to counsel patients on psilocybin therapies in a comprehensive and safe manner.

Health Canada should be working with the leading experts to help guide the path forward on psilocybin therapies. Moreover, Health Canada should be including the lived experiences of patients who are seeking access to psilocybin therapies, as well as those who have received these treatments for various health issues.

Green Party of Canada

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