Health Canada’s decision to allow doctors to request access to psychedelic drugs to treat some of their patients is a big step towards transforming mental health care in the country, according to a doctor and a psychologist.
Both agree that the latest changes to the Special Access Program are not enough.
“There’s still a lot of work to do because these drugs can really, really revolutionize the field of mental health care,” says Dr. Michael Verbora, medical director of a therapy clinic in Toronto. I don’t want to go faster than science, but I truly believe that if patients are given the means to start their own healing process, the world will be much better off. »
Psychedelic therapy involves giving mind-altering substances like psilocybin or LSD to patients in a clinical setting.
Health Canada has allowed physicians to make a request to prescribe certain psychedelic restricted drugs since last week.
However, the agency specifies that “all applications will continue to be evaluated on a case-by-case basis taking into account the level of evidence regarding the safety and efficacy of the proposed use, as well as the patient’s disease and his or her clinical condition”.
Physicians will need to apply on behalf of a patient with a life-threatening or serious illness. They can do this through the Special Access Program when conventional treatments have failed, are unsuitable, or are not available in Canada.
For Dr. Verbora, the objective is not to create a waiting list since authorizations only involve urgent requests. Health Canada has previously advised that applications will be processed within one to two business days of receipt. However, the question of when the decision will be made on them remains unclear.
The doctor believes that the changes allow for a rational approach to access to restricted drugs.
“Unfortunately, if you have a terminal illness, you don’t have much time left to live. We don’t have time to send a request to the government and wait for months for a response,” he said.
Brian Welling, an Edmonton-based psychologist, calls the approach “revolutionary.”
“This is the biggest step forward in the history of mental health care since the invention of psychotherapy,” he says. I have used psychedelic drugs several times. I was not suffering from a serious life-threatening illness, but for my personal issues and my own spiritual journey, these experiences transformed me. »
Dr. Verbora, who submitted a first application on behalf of a patient this week, believes that one of the big challenges will be to properly train practitioners in psychedelic therapy.
“The responsibility falls on the shoulders of the practitioner who will have to take care of all the paperwork, which is the equivalent in time of writing 100 prescriptions,” he points out. When I have access to the drugs, I have to store it. I should educate the patient on the medication. »