Terminal cancer patients hit roadblock accessing psilocybin under new Health Canada rules

Janis Hughes is not ready to die. 

The very thought of it brings on an overwhelming feeling of panic. The 65-year-old Winnipeg woman has Stage 4 breast cancer, which has spread to her bones and right lung. Her condition is terminal.

"There's a sense of dread combined with urgency," said Hughes in an interview with Go Public.

"Am I going to get everything done that I need to get done and am I going to have the quality experiences that I want?" she said. "It's hard."

Hughes was first diagnosed with breast cancer in 2011. She's had a lumpectomy, mastectomy, several rounds of chemotherapy and caught a flesh-eating disease in hospital. Now she's being told she has just two years to live — and she's holding on.

"I'm greedy for life still …I have baskets full of yarn waiting to be knit. I have all sorts of photography skills I want to learn. I have beautiful nieces and nephews that I want to spend time with," said Hughes. 

"I'm not ready to go. But I want to be ready to go." 

WATCH | 'I'm not ready to go,' says terminal cancer patient:

Hughes has spent hours researching how to improve her quality of life and believes psilocybin, a compound found in fungi commonly known as magic mushrooms, may be the answer.

The problem is that psilocybin is illegal in Canada.

Hughes and other patients with terminal illness have requested access to it for medical purposes — something Health Canada has allowed dozens to do in the last two years through a Section 56(1) exemption.

But last month, a week before she submitted her request, the rules changed. Hughes's request was denied.  

Health Canada says the rule change came because more research on the safety and efficacy of psilocybin is needed. But a chorus of voices working in the field of psychedelic therapy say the new system is creating difficult roadblocks — and causing more harm to palliative patients already struggling. 

There is a growing body of scientific evidence that psilocybin may help lessen existential dread.