OTTAWA — Conservative MP Corey Tochor says his private member’s bill would allow doctors to prescribe psilocybin-assisted treatment without first seeking case-by-case permission from federal bureaucrats.In an interview with the Western Standard Thursday, Tochor said Bill C-286 was inspired by Thomas Hartle, a terminally ill constituent who received legal access to psilocybin for end-of-life anxiety before Ottawa later rejected his request to continue the treatment..“This is a Conservative position,” Tochor said. “We’re talking about bureaucrats that are getting in the way of physicians practising medicine for their patients.”The Saskatoon—University MP has named the legislation “Thomas’s Bill” after Hartle, who had Stage 4 colon cancer.Hartle became the first publicly known Canadian to legally receive psilocybin-assisted therapy in 2020. Tochor said the treatment helped ease his constituent’s severe anxiety after conventional pharmaceutical treatments failed.“He came into my office,” Tochor said. “He was diagnosed with Stage 4 cancer and, like anybody else, if you’ve had a loved one who has fought cancer, you’re battling the disease state, but you’re also battling the mental health of the patient.”.Tochor said Hartle was originally given four months to live but survived for years. His request to renew his legal access to psilocybin was eventually denied after a lengthy wait.The MP contrasted that decision with the assisted-death system.“This doesn’t make any sense,” he said, noting that another terminally ill patient he discussed had been approved for medical assistance in dying while facing barriers to psilocybin treatment.Bill C-286 would amend the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act and the Food and Drugs Act to permit psilocybin and psilocin to be used medically under the Narcotic Control Regulations.It would also automatically place new drug submissions involving psilocybin, psilocin or substantially similar substances into Health Canada’s priority-review process.Tochor said that would require officials to render a decision within 180 days and explain what information was missing if an application were unsuccessful.“It doesn’t guarantee a yes,” he said. “But it guarantees that the high standards Health Canada has when bringing new products to Canadians are kept.”Patients can currently obtain legal access through clinical trials, Health Canada’s Special Access Program or an individual exemption under the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act.Tochor said those routes can leave patients waiting months or longer for decisions.“What it would allow is the path to get a molecule approved,” he said. “Right now, different molecules from different drug classes can apply to Health Canada, but they can linger for a year, two years or indefinitely.”Tochor said potential beneficiaries include palliative-care patients, veterans and first responders suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, people with treatment-resistant depression and some patients struggling with addiction.He acknowledged that psilocybin would not work for everyone and said further research is needed to determine appropriate forms, dosages and patient populations.“This is not a silver bullet that will fix all the ailments,” he said. “But it is an important addition to the toolbox of physicians that are fighting the mental health and addictions crisis.”Tochor rejected comparisons between his proposal and British Columbia’s safer-supply policies.“The enabling of drug addicts has not helped our society,” he said. “Some of the arguments, as much as they’re similar, are different.”He said his proposal concerns medically supervised treatment prescribed by physicians, not the recreational legalization of psychedelic drugs.Tochor said his Conservative caucus supported him in introducing the bill. He has not yet formally sought commitments from other parties, but said the House granted unanimous consent allowing him to introduce it near the end of the spring sitting.“That was very encouraging, that there is some support for this from other parties,” he said.Bill C-286 received first reading on June 16 but remains outside the order of precedence, meaning it is not yet scheduled for debate or a vote.Tochor urged Canadians who support the proposal to contact their MPs.“This is not a partisan issue,” he said. “This is a health-care issue that we have to get right.”
