Legal and Regulatory Landscape in Canada and Abroad

by RANDY ROWE | Jul 26, 2021

Some jurisdictions have already moved toward legalization of medical use of psychedelics. And the wellness community, investors and researchers are thinking positively about imminent wide acceptance. Upcoming breakthroughs may involve court challenges, or changes in existing legislation. Canada has already opened the door for access for end-of-life care, and therapists are seeking to expand the latitude they’ve been given. Once prohibition is past, then a full-fledged regulatory landscape will replace it, covering intellectual property, inspection, quality control, distribution, etc. This panel will look ahead to a legal, regulated future for psychedelics.

 Moderator – Sam Riches

Psychedelic Psychiatry: A Historical Examination of Medical Experimentation, Culture Wars, and Drug Policy in Canada

by RANDY ROWE | Jul 26, 2021

In 1956 psychiatrist and superintendent of the Provincial Mental Hospital in Saskatchewan, Canada Humphry Osmond, first used the word ‘psychedelic’ to describe the feelings and sensations associated with an LSD drug reaction. A year later his new word was published and later added to the English lexicon after corresponding with literary genius, Aldous Huxley. In spite of the popular connotations now connected to the word psychedelic, Osmond developed the term out of his experiments with LSD that led him to propose a new theory of schizophrenia alongside a somewhat radical suggestion to treat alcoholism using LSD. In contrast with many of his psychiatric contemporaries, Osmond maintained that pharmacotherapies flourished most when combined with tenets of empathy, deference, and even ritual – features he learned from Indigenous ceremonies with plant medicines. Although Osmond was not alone among his psychiatrist colleagues in the 1950s fascinated with the medical applications of psychedelics, his work in Canada brought him international recognition and made him a major figure in the history of LSD and addiction research, but also an awkward character in a looming countercultural revolution. LSD was banned from use by the late 1960s for a combination of moral and scientific reasons, but new developments in the 21st are encouraging policy makers and researchers to revisit these historical studies. This presentation examines some of the historical Canadian trials with LSD, while it remained a legal substance, and considers how the drug and its supporters dealt with challenges, first from the medical community and later from political and moral authorities concerned about the abusive characteristics of the drug.

(OPENING KEYNOTE) Psychedelics: The Science and the Business

by RANDY ROWE | Jul 26, 2021

This presentation will explore both the psychedelic research renaissance and an analysis of the pending legalization of psychedelics from a business perspective.

Host – Cy Williams