Terminal cancer patient renews call for psilocybin access amid Winnipeg magic mushroom shop bust

The active component in magic mushrooms helped give Janis Hughes, 66, a new outlook on life as she prepares for death — a benefit the Stage 4 breast cancer patient wants others who are suffering to experience in a safe way.

Psilocybin eased the weight of depression and anxiety the Winnipeg woman faced after receiving her diagnosis, and Hughes said she wants more people to have access to safe versions of it.

"I no longer fear dying which is an enormous gift because I am now able to fully enjoy life however much time I have left," said Hughes. "It did more then end the end-of-life anxiety: It has been liberating and helped more resolve childhood trauma. It's been phenomenal."

Hughes said she achieved that relief through just two guided therapeutic psilocybin sessions, which she accessed through illegal channels after Health Canada rejected her request for psilocybin-assisted psychotherapy.

Hughes is among a growing number of Canadians and health-care professionals calling on the federal government to decriminalize or legalize and regulate the substance as illegal retail shops continue to open.

On Friday, Winnipeg police raided a magic mushroom dispensary in the Osborne Village neighbourhood. It was one of several that have opened across Canada over the past year or more.

Hughes sees parallels to the route cannabis took when several businesses opened and sold products illegally for a time before legalization.

"I do see this as one of those elements that's going to help push this forward, but I do regret that there are people that may be hurt in the process, and that bad press may result that undermines the whole movement," she said.

"But I do endorse people making ... the natural substance available."

For over a year, magic mushroom dispensaries have been operating openly in Vancouver. B.C. obtained a federal exemption from the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act a year ago that decriminalized possession of small amounts of illicit drugs for personal use.

That largely came in response to calls from harm reduction advocates amid a worsening drug poisoning and fatal overdose crisis in recent years, as toxic concoctions including opioids were one of the leading cause of such deaths.

Psilocybin remains illegal under the CDSA except in cases where exempted by Health Canada.

Paul Lewin, a cannabis and psychedelics lawyer based in Toronto, said he represents some of the Canadian magic mushroom stores that have been busted by police.

He feels mushrooms, which contain psilocybin and psilocin, remain illegal as a remnant of "the failed drug war."