(Kate Dubinski/ CBC News) — Four months after it allowed a handful of palliative care patients to use psilocybin as a way to relieve end-of-life suffering, Health Canada has cleared the way for more than a dozen health professionals to use the psychedelic drug themselves to help develop therapies for future use.
Health Canada says it granted 16 exemptions to a selection of nurses, doctors, therapists and social workers, allowing them to possess and use psilocybin for personal training without fear of prosecution under the country’s drug laws.
“This is not a small step. This is a seismic step,” said Dr. Sean O’Sullivan, a Tillsonburg, Ont., doctor and medical director of TheraPsil, a non-profit group that advocates for the therapeutic use of psilocybin.
“This is permission from the Ministry of Health and the Minister of Health to allow therapists to forward their own training in psychedelic medicine.” (…)