Death is an inevitability for all of us–but we try not to think about it. For a moment, though, let yourself dwell on that idea. No matter what you do, your life is going to end.
Doesn’t feel good, does it? For those with terminal illness, that’s their reality. The ever-looming reality that death is a certainty–and sooner than most of us have to worry about.
Hardly a pleasant feeling.
That’s why the Canadian government is taking unorthodox steps to help the terminally ill with their end-of-life-care.
TheraPsil And End-Of-Life Care
On August 4th, 2020, TheraPsil put out a press announcement that Canada’s Minister of Health, Patty Hajdu, had granted permission for four Canadian patients with terminal illness to use psilocybin for their end-of-life care. Psilocybin is a compound found in psychedelic mushrooms, more commonly known as “magic mushrooms.” But, who or what is TheraPsil, and why were they the first to announce this success? They are “a non-profit coalition that advocates for legal, compassionate access to psilocybin therapy for palliative Canadians,” according to the press release. TheraPsil has “supported patients with their applications to seek ministerial approval and has been advocating for compassionate access since 2019.” The four patients are the first to legally use psilocybin since the compound became illegal in 1974. The Minister of Health granted them exemption through section 56(1) of the Canadian Drugs and Substances Act. (1)
Magic Mushrooms At The End Of Your Life
Thomas Hartle feels stressed. No one could blame him. If suffering from cancer isn’t bad enough, he has had to hear that worse of words: terminal. As a result, his anxiety is crippling. “It gives you a rapid heart rate,” he says. “It makes you feel terrible.” He has tried more conventional ways to manage his anxiety. He learned to meditate and started taking prescribed anti-anxiety medication.
However, it’s not having much of an effect. He wants help to “deal with problems and anxieties that I just don’t have another mechanism of dealing with,” he explains. He is one of the four patients approved to start psilocybin treatments. Another of the four is Laurie Brooks, who says, “acknowledgment of the pain and anxiety that I have been suffering with means a lot to me, and . . . [hopefully] soon all Canadians will be able to access psilocybin for therapeutic use.” (1, 2)
Psilocybin In Pharmacology
The Journal of Psychopharmacology published an article, online January 9th, 2020, about cancer patients given a single dose of psilocybin. “Reductions in anxiety, depression, hopelessness, demoralization, and death anxiety were sustained at the first and second follow-ups,” the researchers state in their conclusion. “At the second (4.5 year) follow-up approximately 60–80% of participants met criteria for clinically significant antidepressant or anxiolytic responses.”
The study’s participants “overwhelmingly (71–100%) attributed positive life changes to the psilocybin-assisted therapy experience.”
Interestingly, participants called their dose of psilocybin one of “the most personally meaningful and spiritually significant experiences of their lives.”
Hopefully, similar effects occur in these four Canadian patients, perhaps opening the door for a wider range of end-of-life treatments. (3)
