A 51-year-old Calgary man who suffers debilitating cluster headaches has won a Federal Court battle forcing Health Canada to reconsider his bid for legal access to psilocybin to treat his extreme pain.
Ottawa Federal Court Judge Simon Fothergill, on May 24, granted an application for judicial review of Health Canada’s denial of Jody Lance’s bid for legal access to medical grade psilocybin — the active ingredient in hallucinogenic mushrooms — to manage pain associated with the headaches, which is so bad they have earned the nickname “suicide headaches.”
That decision — which also highlighted the need to consider a patient’s Charter rights — is being hailed by others fighting to access psilocybin for medical reasons.
Requests to access controlled substances in special medical circumstances are filed through Health Canada’s Special Access Program (SAP). In their July 12, 2023, SAP application Lance and his Calgary neurologist, William Jeptha Davenport, requested legal access psilocybin to help treat pain. Health Canada denied the request due to lack of research into the efficacy of the drug to treat cluster headaches.
I’m the first person to defend Health Canada having standards for scientifically-validated treatment, but there is clearly work to be done in actually making sure the science happens - ideally, cases like this where the treatment is being recommended by licensed doctors should be considered opportunities for research, even if it is only a case study.