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Safety considerations in the evolving legal landscape of psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy Mocanu, Victor; Mackay, Lindsay; Christie, Devon; Argento, Elena

Abstract

International drug policy is rapidly evolving in tandem with promising evidence for psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy (PAP) in treating a range of mental health conditions. Canada is among the countries increasingly expanding access to psychedelic substances for therapeutic purposes. The 8-year ban on medical exemptions through the Canadian Special Access Programme was recently reversed in January 2022 and the first exemptions for legal possession and personal use of psilocybin mushrooms were granted in 2020, nearly 50 years since their criminalization. In view of the evolving evidence base and regulatory landscape for PAP illustrated by recent shifts in Canadian and international drug policy, this piece seeks to clarify the special range of factors which ought to be considered to safely expand access to psychedelics. Streamlining access to safe and evidence-based compassionate use of PAP will provide a timely treatment option to those currently in need while encouraging further research and outcome surveillance to refine best practices.

Item Metadata

Title
Safety considerations in the evolving legal landscape of psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy
Creator
Mocanu, Victor; Mackay, Lindsay; Christie, Devon; Argento, Elena
Contributor
British Columbia Centre on Substance Use
Publisher
BioMed Central
Date Issued
2022-05-14
Description
International drug policy is rapidly evolving in tandem with promising evidence for psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy (PAP) in treating a range of mental health conditions. Canada is among the countries increasingly expanding access to psychedelic substances for therapeutic purposes. The 8-year ban on medical exemptions through the Canadian Special Access Programme was recently reversed in January 2022 and the first exemptions for legal possession and personal use of psilocybin mushrooms were granted in 2020, nearly 50 years since their criminalization. In view of the evolving evidence base and regulatory landscape for PAP illustrated by recent shifts in Canadian and international drug policy, this piece seeks to clarify the special range of factors which ought to be considered to safely expand access to psychedelics. Streamlining access to safe and evidence-based compassionate use of PAP will provide a timely treatment option to those currently in need while encouraging further research and outcome surveillance to refine best practices.
Subject
Health policy; Compassionate use; Exemption; Psychedelics; Psilocybin; MDMA; Canada
Genre
Article
Type
Text
Language
eng
Date Available
2022-06-06
Provider
Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library
Rights
Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
DOI
10.14288/1.0413779
URI
http://hdl.handle.net/2429/81702
Affiliation
Medicine, Faculty of; Medicine, Department of
Citation
Substance Abuse Treatment, Prevention, and Policy. 2022 May 14;17(1):37
Publisher DOI
10.1186/s13011-022-00468-0
Peer Review Status
Reviewed
Scholarly Level
Faculty; Researcher
Copyright Holder
The Author(s)
Rights URI
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Aggregated Source Repository
DSpace

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Rights

Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)