Thomas Hartle is a 52-year-old IT technician from Saskatoon who doesn’t smoke, rarely drinks and never dabbled in drugs before trying medicinal cannabis. As part of his profession, the soft-spoken, detail-oriented father of two typically spends much of his time planning and researching.
But these days his preparations have taken a devastating turn — planning for his family’s future as he awaits his imminent death.
Hartle was diagnosed in April 2016 with stage-four colon cancer. It went into remission, but last year he learned it was back, had spread and will ultimately kill him. What followed were crippling panic attacks triggered by worries for his family and the uncertainty of not knowing which day could be his last.
“What caused the anxiety for me was the fact my cancer is completely invisible to every test they do. So I literally have no idea the extent or severity of my cancer right now … and neither do the doctors.”
But now Hartle is no longer spending his life worrying about death. He has come to terms with the concept of dying thanks to an unconventional treatment: Psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy.
Hartle was one of the first four Canadians approved by the federal government in August to use psilocybin, the active ingredient in magic mushrooms, for end-of-life anxiety treatment. He is one of the first known patients in Canada to be granted permission to use the drug for non-research purposes since it was criminalized in 1974.
The federal government says since August it has granted 11 exemptions for patients to use psilocybin and expects to make a decision soon on therapist use.
Researchers say the government’s recent decision to allow terminally ill Canadians to use psilocybin is an example of the psychedelic sphere opening up, leading some to say the class of drugs, also known as hallucinogens, is having its moment in the mainstream.
Originally published on Thestar.com
