In southern BC, there’s a new 20,000 square foot production facility where a particular product is generating a lot of buzz.
Psilocybin – better known as magic mushrooms – is grown here legally in a high-tech lab, where growers hope to contribute to medical research that suggests these mushrooms may have enormous medical benefits.
“There are a lot of clinical studies going on that show the potential of these mushrooms,” Todd Henderson told CTV National News.
Henderson is head cultivator for a company called Optimi Health. It is one of the few Canadian companies now licensed by the federal government to produce, manufacture and export psychedelic mushrooms.
Although there are only a few of these companies at present, more and more companies are racing to position themselves as certified psilocybin suppliers.
The push comes as scientists increasingly explore its therapeutic benefits, including for treating depression, addiction and end-of-life distress.
“We’re going to be able to provide that safe supply, so researchers can then dig deeper to really see, let’s see where it goes,” Bill Ciprick, CEO of Optimi Health, told CTV National News.
A study published in February found that psilocybin therapy was associated with symptom relief in adults with major depressive disorder for up to a year.
Currently, there are no approved therapeutic products containing psilocybin, in Canada or elsewhere, according to Health Canada. But in January 2022, Health Canada adjusted its Special Access Program (SAP) to allow doctors to request psilocybin for use in psychotherapy or with other treatment plans, making it easier for doctors to access the drug. restricted.
And in April, the first patients in Canada were able to receive psilocybin treatment via SAP for end-of-life anxiety.
Thomas Hartle, one of those patients who got access because of his diagnosis of terminal colon cancer, told CTV News in May that access to this treatment had made a huge difference in his quality of life. .
“The improvement in my mental health is so day and night that it would be hard to say how much it does for me,” he said.
“I still have cancer. I still struggle with what he’s doing physically, but there are days I don’t even think about it. What would you do to have a day where you felt like everything? just normal?”
These mind-altering substances are used in a controlled clinical setting as part of psychotherapy.
Psilocybin, which is the active ingredient in magic mushrooms, enters the body through the same receptors as serotonin, a chemical that acts as a neurotransmitter, transmitting messages through the body and acts as a mood stabilizer . People with depression often have low serotonin levels, and psychedelics such as psilocybin have been found to cause an increase in brain connectivity, allowing these messages to be sent more easily than before.
Some studies have shown that one or two doses of psilocybin in a therapeutic setting can make significant and lasting differences for people with treatment-resistant depressive disorders.
Ciprick said magic mushrooms provide more options for doctors looking to treat a patient.
“What psilocybin offers is a different opportunity for doctors,” he said. “They need a lot of tools in their toolbox, and this gives them another.”
While Optimi also cultivates unregulated mushrooms, its primary focus is to cultivate the psychedelic variety for medical and research purposes.
“Anyone looking to develop a drug that’s going to help people – that’s who we’re growing up for,” Henderson said.
The company has already entered into an agreement with the IMPACT Clinical Trial Accelerator Program within the University of Calgary to clinically test their psilocybin products and potential health benefits.
And in late June, the company announced that it had partnered with a group of Calgary-based clinics to supply them with magic mushrooms for psychedelic-assisted therapies, provided patients were approved by SAP.
About 2,000 kilograms of dried psilocybin can be produced each month.
Although the company is currently working with Canadian researchers, the goal is to eventually share their magic mushrooms globally.