While the Netherlands has always been a leader in the areas of legalization and tolerance regarding drug use, we now seem to be falling significantly behind on a global scale. Cannabis is legal in quite a few U.S. states, and now a Canadian clinic is even offering genuine psychedelic therapies.
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First official magic mushroom treatment
The ATMA Urban Journey Clinic in Calgary, Alberta, is the first clinic to offer federally approved psychedelic therapy, one month after a man named Tony White underwent an official treatment with magic mushrooms.
It is believed that psilocybin, an active ingredient found in magic mushrooms and other sources, could help provide palliative care to terminally ill cancer patients. This is the result of decades of research and clinical trials, but these studies are still very much ongoing. There is no definitive scientific conclusion yet on whether it actually works. Nevertheless, Canada is moving forward, and the U.S. FDA has also designated psilocybin as a “breakthrough therapy.” This should accelerate the process of developing and approving psilocybin-based treatments.
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Opposite of current therapy
David Harder, the clinic’s CEO, explains: “It’s a bit like the opposite of what a typical antidepressant or antipsychotic medication would do. Usually, they suppress or numb what’s happening in your emotions and mental state, whereas psychedelics really bring those things to the surface and allow a therapist to work with you—not just suppress what’s holding you back, for example, in cases of depression, anxiety, or PTSD.
Tony White, a man who has already undergone magic mushroom therapy, says the therapy helped alleviate some of the anxiety he had been experiencing since his diagnosis. The therapy is supervised by Chief Medical Officer Dr. Ravinder Bains, and only magic mushrooms will be used, as other psychedelics may contain fentanyl and other adulterants, which can be dangerous.
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‘It’s a mushroom—you can actually see it’
Harder says about this: “It’s a mushroom. So you can actually see it. It’s a dried mushroom. So that’s why Health Canada says it’s a much lower risk than, for example, some of the white powder drugs used as psychedelics.” He added: “The studies have been done. We know this is safe. We know this is effective. We know it helps. And with the growing mental health crisis in our country, we know this is something that can really help with the problems our society is facing.”
