Educational Resources
This website aims to provide a significant amount of information and resources for an aspiring psychedelic enthusiast. On this page you’ll find expertly curated scientific literature providing evidence on the positive impact of psychedelic-assisted therapy and mental illness as well as the history of prohibition and the harms that this has caused to present day civilization.
People seeking information about potential research participation or future treatment options for themselves or loved ones may find valuable information here about both demonstrated benefits and possible risks of psychedelic therapies, allowing them to consider whether one or another medication or approach may be suitable for their healing journey.
Our Harm Reduction Advocate, Mike Bonertz, is also happy to examine the abundant research together, or answer any burning psychedelic research questions you may have during a consultation.
“Sunlight is said to be the best of disinfectants” - Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis, 1913
You really cannot work towards an actual solution until you take a fair look at what is actually going on first, and to do this you have to understand the past. Why are these drugs illegal in the first place?
Insights on the failed war on drugs and its impact
The war on drugs has failed. I call it a war against people because: “Many currently illegal drugs, such as marijuana, opium, coca, and psychedelics, have been used for thousands of years for both medical and spiritual purposes. So why are some drugs legal and other drugs illegal today? It's not based on any scientific assessment of the relative risks of these drugs – but it has everything to do with who is associated with these drugs.” - A History of the Drug War (Drug Policy Alliance) https://drugpolicy.org/issues/brief-history-drug-war
Psychedelics have proven to be unparalleled tools for for understanding ourselves as well as the past. Time for a history lesson on drug laws in Canada (courtesy of the Canadian Drug Policy Coalition’s spectacular ‘History of Drug Policy in Canada’ (found in full here: https://drugpolicy.ca/about/history/):
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Summary: What started as a means of social control for marginalized minorities ended up showing it’s true mechanism as a means of social control for society…
Why am I going into all this? How is this relevant? It’s critical. Governments and institutions have, at times, instilled fear regarding psychedelics by disseminating false information.
Governments and institutions have historically employed fear tactics in public messaging to discourage the use of psychedelics. For example, in the 1960s, sensationalist campaigns claimed that LSD could cause users to go blind from staring at the sun or that it led to irreversible insanity. Another lie spread to discourage interest in psychedelics was the myth that LSD causes chromosome damage, or could lead to genetic mutations in offspring. Despite being debunked, this rumor persisted, casting a long shadow over LSD research. Another false claim suggested that MDMA, or ecstasy, causes large holes in the brain. This exaggeration was based on misrepresented scientific data but was used to justify strict controls and discourage recreational use. Such fear-mongering has contributed to a climate of misinformation, impeding objective scientific inquiry and public understanding of psychedelics.
Similarly, the "This is your brain on drugs" campaign, with its dramatic imagery of a frying egg, was used to invoke fear about drug use, including psychedelics, by suggesting severe and permanent brain damage. These narratives, often lacking scientific substantiation, contributed to a climate of fear, hindering open discourse and research into the potential benefits of psychedelic substances.
I started to wonder, was the gauntlet of ‘care’ forced on patients as part of the system a part of this social control? Was preventing access to certain substances also a part of enforcing this power dynamic and current social structure?
I decided to get out of western medicine and healthcare entirely to work only with these natural earth medicines instead. I can tell you after peddling every medication on the planet for the past two decades of my life - true change doesn’t necessarily require these powerful consciousness changing drugs, though they can open eyes and hearts and minds rather quickly - the truth and the secret is that change starts within. It is the free will and desire to use this to change our conscious reality that is the true magic in life and we all have the ability to choose to ignore or move towards our highest self by following intuition and heart, the healing wisdom inside each and every one of us allows us to intuitively know which direction we need to go.
I’ve had a hard life. I won’t get into it here but you are free to chat with me about it sometime in a free consultation. I know everyone has their own challenges and stumbling blocks, and that this suffering is part of what makes us human. I also know this is what helps us learn and grown in choosing the specific ways with which we deal with these things. I have had many gifts of growth and learning in my life, and I have developed many tools and had many helpful interactions with beautiful people along the way - and for this I am eternally grateful. My past is a large part of what makes me so present, and also a patient as much as a practitioner, and for these reasons I now have endless amounts of empathy, rather than sympathy. Psychedelic-assisted therapy allows me to know that people can and do heal themselves, as I found so much progress on my own healing journey because of this modality.
Why Do I Need Healing?
Nothing else has worked. I have tried every western medical class of pharmaceuticals imaginable over 20 years, and the same cycle appeared of changing the meds once I became resistant, a constant chasing the dragon game of catch up or running on an endless treadmill but never really getting anywhere.
Finally, most recently from my latest psychiatrist I have actually received confirmation that there are no traditional/conventional options left to help treat the many ‘bad’ letters behind my name (my labels, or diagnosed psychiatric conditions), so I received a recommendation from this same psychiatrist for Ketamine Assisted Therapy, to be done in an accredited fashion, by an accredited facility, and an accredited facilitator - however, this is extremely expensive and out of my current reach. I suffered endlessly after failing to access this due to not being able to afford this treatment, when this and other treatments could be covered or made more affordable for the people that really need them.
I am blessed to experience yet again, empathy in this situation, rather than sympathy. Access is therefore a huge priority for me. Not just availability - access. People need to be able to receive the gift of true healing, and the sooner the better, hopefully with no huge paywall in our profit driven medical model where our current only fully legal psychedelic therapy option is Ketamine behind a gigantic $4,000 to $6,000 paywall, unreachable for 99% of people that need it. Typical of our profit driven model. Others fare even worse: Psilocybin and MDMA are available through the Special Access Program, and I helped co-author a ‘Tipsheet’ showing how people can access these medications legally in Canada as well, but the program remains widely unknown and unused and ineffective for reasons I'll get into another day…
From: MAPS Canada
Date: Wed, Jan 31, 2024, 1:32 p.m.
Subject: Introducing the Special Access Program Tip Sheet
To: Mike
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We are pleased to announce the publication of the SAP Tip Sheet to help increase access to legal psychedelic medicines in Canada.
It is well-known in the psychedelic community that the Special Access Program (SAP) - the only legal route to psychedelics in Canada outside of clinical trials - is difficult for prescribers to navigate. This impedes access to legal psychedelic medicines for patients.
MAPS Canada has been building a robust community of practice to bring together professionals interested in advancing access to psychedelics through Health Canada’s Special Access Program (SAP). The SAP Community of Practice includes over 100 prescribers, providers, and patients of Psychedelic-Assisted Therapy from across Canada.
To access the Tip Sheet, click here.
This comprehensive tool was co-developed by members of the SAP Community of Practice.
This tool will help care providers -
Navigate the PAT application process with ease through our step-by-step guidance
Prepare for success by learning about common responses and feedback from Health Canada
Find answers to your questions and address any uncertainties that may arise.
Access ready-to-use SAP templates to streamline your application and meet documentation requirements.
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It is my hope and dream that all these natural earth medicines are available to anyone suffering free of charge - healing should not have a price tag and it is a human dignity to be able to access healing - specifically on a spiritual level (see my page on psychedelics and spirituality for more information on this topic).
Breifly, psilocybin as a ‘breakthrough’ therapy means that it is substantially better than anything on the market.
In great detail, and in the eyes of the FDA, a “Breakthrough Therapy” is a designation for a drug that treats a serious or life-threatening condition and preliminary clinical evidence indicates that the drug may demonstrate substantial improvement on a clinically significant endpoint(s) over available therapies.
(https://www.fda.gov/regulatory-information/food-and-drug-administration-safety-and-innovation-act-fdasia/fact-sheet-breakthrough-therapies)
That means that it potentially is better than what we HAVE RIGHT NOW. So good, the researchers, manufacturers, and developers get to enjoy certain benefits that enable the drug to get to market as quickly as possible to help as many people as possible who desperately need this important (and substantially better than anything available on the market currently) ‘product’.
Here’s a timeline for the FDA Breakthrough Therapy Designation for psilocybin and MDMA therapies:
MDMA
1. 2017: MDMA-assisted therapy received Breakthrough Therapy Designation from the FDA for the treatment of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). This designation was granted to the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS), which has conducted extensive research showing the potential benefits of MDMA-assisted psychotherapy for severe PTSD.
Psilocybin
1. 2018: Psilocybin-assisted therapy received Breakthrough Therapy Designation from the FDA for treatment-resistant depression. This designation was granted to Compass Pathways, recognizing the potential of psilocybin in improving outcomes where traditional antidepressants fail.
2. 2019: Another Breakthrough Therapy Designation was granted for psilocybin, this time for major depressive disorder (MDD). This designation was awarded to Usona Institute, an organization studying psilocybin’s effects on depression beyond treatment-resistant cases.
These designations have supported expedited clinical trials and regulatory pathways, encouraging research and development in psychedelic-assisted therapies. What we’re doing now is not working… it’s time for change..
I suffer from depression, amongst various other things that psilocybin has demonstrated efficacy for - so psilocybin is potentially better for me than anything on the market, I’ve failed everything on the market, and still I cannot legally access it in Canada! How dissapointing. So I fly to a retreat I work with in Jamaica where it is legal ( https://sophrodelic.com/ ) to try this ‘new’ therapy (psilocybin is actually really not a new substance at all as it has been used historically for many years - however, very different compared to our current offerings in the medical system!)
My final point is that to be a good healer, to be of any use to anyone - I have to fully heal myself. These therapies offer the hope of treating underlying root causes of illness rather than just treating symptoms, but also so, so much more.
If you don’t believe me at this point about the hype, about the new shattered perceptions of reality about to be inflicted about the world, then please grab a cup of tea and sit down to browse through the rest of this website for the proof of this statement.
There has to be evidence for me to have hope, I need to see it and feel it and experience it to believe - psychedelics offer this in a literal sense as well as a literature sense. That is to say, experiencing or knowing or having insights or downloads of information are core tenets of many psychedelic experiences. Some describe this as the noetic effect - the kind of just ‘knowing’ that feels “realer than real”. Additionally, there is substantial recent scientific evidence for the safety and efficacy of psychedelic medicines with a number of different conditions. In addition to myself, I hope that psychedelics can help to heal five other areas.
1. Patients / Those Afflicted With Various Diseases and Disorders of the Physical/Spiritual/Mental/Emotional/Social.
2. Humanity - All of the People Living on Earth Can Benefit Collectively, not just the sick.
3. All Other Living Things On The Planet - It’s Not Just About Us….
4. The Planet Itself - The Plants/Fungi Show Us How to Heal Ourselves, Each Other, and The Earth.
5. Cosmic Consciousness - Wellness in Other Dimensions.
It’s Not Too Late To Change
The prohibition of psychedelics and the subsequent restrictions on research created a significant bias in the field of psychedelic studies. With researchers constrained by numerous limitations and restricted funding, the scope of their investigations was severely narrowed, often focusing on the potential harms rather than the benefits of these substances. This environment fostered a landscape where negative outcomes were more likely to be reported, skewing public perception and scientific understanding. As a result, the potential therapeutic uses of psychedelics were overshadowed by exaggerated fears, delaying the exploration of their full medical potential.
Fighting in the ‘War on Drugs’
I have taken a clear and evidence based stand. All medical practitioners have a duty to play a significant role in promoting individual and community health by reducing the impact of criminalization upon healthcare service provision and by becoming engaged in policy reform efforts:
Cohen, A., Vakharia, S. P., Netherland, J., & Frederique, K. (2022, July 19). How the war on drugs impacts social determinants of health beyond the criminal legal system. Annals of medicine. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9302017/
“I know one thing the whole world least expected
Is how we all connected (Ha) to break food on the same record”
-Rhymes, Busta
https://genius.com/Craig-mack-flava-in-ya-ear-remix-lyrics