By Prina Atwal

Psychedelic therapy now regulated in Alberta

Oct 14, 2022 | 6:22 PM

MEDICINE HAT, AB – Alberta has become the first province to regulate psychedelics for therapy.

Ana Schlosser, a registered provisional psychologist, explains psychedelic therapy as “using certain psychedelic medicines to treat existing conditions like addictions, PTSD, treatment-resistant depression and utilizing those medicines as a catalyst of change versus making the medicine be the change.”

Schlosser adds with psychedelic therapy becoming regulated, many changes had to be made.

“Currently, federally, patients can apply on their own behalf or a medical doctor can make a referral. Now in the new rules, with psychedelic assistant therapies, the psychiatrist has to be the medical director, and then can support the treatment plan.”

LIVE UPDATES

Road construction, detours and traffic in Medicine Hat

2h ago

WHAT'S ON

Medicine Hat pride group holding Trans Day of Remembrance event tonight

20h ago

WHAT'S ON

Medicine Hat Public Library hosting second annual local authors meet and greet on Saturday

Nov 20, 2024

However, alongside scheduling issues, fees have been a problem as well.

“The fee structure hasn’t really been established, so while it’s saying, it’s legal, benefits still cover it, there’s also not a lot of clarity around how people can obtain safe supply of these medicines. That’s still in the works, but what it does is, it opens up a lot of opportunities for discussion with WCB, with individual benefits program providers, with the military, to come up with a fee structure, to offer these treatments,” says Schlosser

Currently, many locations that did provide psychedelic therapy are having to go through licensing.

One local recovery coordinator says this therapy changed his life for the better.

“It’s been able to, you know, stem my nervous system, and it changed the way I, you know, view how people can get help,” says Derrick Lillico of Psynergy Wellness.

He adds that the treatment might not be for everyone, but it is something that needs to be explored and talked about.

“One of our goals at Psynergy is to make Medicine Hat a healing hub, and it’s about trying to bring everyone together, to give people every option, to find their, you know, way on their path of health.”

Social worker Jeremy Alcorn shares why he opted for psychedelic therapy.

“So, for me, the reason, I got this kind of treatment is because I had a pain condition that they would call idiopathic, that is, they don’t know why, why this is happening. And you look at MRIs or CAT scans and you would see that there is nothing wrong, well then clearly there’s still something wrong because I’m in pain, but that pain isn’t necessarily coming from some identifiable physical cause”

Alcorn adds he has been a therapist for 18 years and the majority of his clients are military members or veterans, whose stories resulted in him experiencing pain.

The topic of psychedelic therapy is still being looked into by many citizens, but those who have taken this therapy encourage others to look into it.