Subcommittee on Veterans Affairs Chair Senator David Richards and Deputy Chair Senator Pierre-Hugues Boisvenu at a news conference releasing the committee’s report on the need for psychedelic-assisted therapy for veterans on Nov. 8, 2023 in Ottawa.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld
Taking MDMA can raise our body temperature higher than it should be. Extreme heat may compound this effect.
Psychologist and professor Monnica Williams, on the left with a patient, is advocating for psychedelics in therapy to heal racial trauma. Right: Psilocybin mushrooms sit on a drying rack in the Uptown Fungus lab in Springfield, Ore.
(Left: Monnica Williams | Right: AP/Craig Mitchelldyer)
Clinical psychologist and professor Monnica Williams is on a mission to bring psychedelics to therapists’ offices to help people heal from their racial traumas. To do this, she’s jumping over some big hurdles.
From July 1, authorised psychiatrists will be able to prescribe MDMA and psilocybin in some circumstances. Here’s what we’re excited and concerned about.
Australia is the first country in the world to legalise the medical use of psychedelics. But without a public subsidy, few Australians will be able to afford them.
Psilocybin and other psychedelics could help patients process the challenges of a cancer diagnosis.
Kateryna Kon/Science Photo Library via Getty Images
Receiving a cancer diagnosis and undergoing cancer treatment can be a traumatizing experience. Psychedelics like LSD, psilocybin and MDMA could help alleviate symptoms from cancer-related PTSD.
There are some possible health issues with the drugs, including cardiovascular risks.
wildpixel/iStock via Getty Images Plus
From July this year, some psychiatrists will be able to prescribe psychedelics to some patients. Responses from experts working in the field are mixed.
A supervised consumption site in the Downtown Eastside of Vancouver, in 2021. B.C. has decriminalized simple possession of drugs, including methamphetamines and opioids.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck
As British Columbia begins a new era in drug policy, the drug poisoning crisis continues without an end in sight.
Psychedelics are being held up as a potential solution to the growing need for mental health treatment. But, magic mushrooms are not magic bullets.
(AP Photo/Peter Dejong)
Alberta’s new policy on psychedelic-assisted therapy for mental illness may set a precedent that moves Canadians one step closer to accepting psychedelics as medicinal substances.
B.C. Minister of Mental Health and Addictions Sheila Malcolmson holds a copy of exemption documents that enable British Columbia to decriminalize possession of small amounts of ‘hard’ drugs for personal use. B.C.’s bold experiment will be closely watched as a comparator with other progressive jurisdictions.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck
British Columbia’s bold experiment provides an opportunity to implement more balance in Canadian drug policy, and a more principled withdrawal from the war on drugs.
The Drug and Substance Checking Bill currently moving through parliament marks another milestone in New Zealand’s shift away from criminalisation and towards harm reduction.
PTSD is typically treated with therapy and sometimes medications, under the care of a psychiatrist.
SDI Productions/Getty Images
There’s buzz about MDMA – yes, the same ingredient in the street drug known as Ecstasy – being a game changer in the treatment of PTSD. A psychiatrist who treats PTSD says, “Not so fast.”
I was an expert witness to the coronial inquest into five drug-related deaths across Melbourne between July 2016 and January 2017. Here’s what we should do to prevent similar tragedies.
The TGA is currently evaluating a proposal to legalise MDMA and psilocybin for the treatment of mental illness. But there are a few reasons Australia isn’t quite ready to take this step.