Health Canada denies terminally ill Sask. man permission to continue magic mushroom therapy – CBC
Thomas Hartle waited nearly 18 months only to be denied anxiety-reducing therapy
Mar 02, 2023
After waiting 511 days to find out whether he can continue to use psilocybin therapy under an exception to Canada’s drug laws, a Saskatoon man who is terminally ill with cancer got his answer: No.
Thomas Hartle was the first person in Canada to complete a legal therapy session involving psilocybin — the active ingredient in magic mushrooms — to treat his anxiety.
The sessions were life changing, he says, but after one year his permission expired in October 2021 and he had to reapply.
This week, Health Canada responded that they intend to refuse his request.
“My options are really pretty limited,” Hartle said in an interview. “I can either just try to muddle through life without having any treatment or, you know, I would have to seek something in the underground, like so many other people have had to do, although obviously it’s a long ways away from my first choice.”
