Medical Assistance in Dying committee  Well, we don't know that because people can't seek MAID for chronic mental illness yet.

Medical Assistance in Dying committee  No, because there is clinical evidence in the States that MDMA and psilocybin are effective treatments for chronic mental illness as well.

Medical Assistance in Dying committee  —we don't have patients seeking MAID for chronic mental illness yet.

Medical Assistance in Dying committee  I deal with patients who have significant moral distress related to cancer, so that's palliative.

Medical Assistance in Dying committee  I have a number of cases where I feel that either family or even health care providers have been coercing a patient to contemplate MAID for a number of different reasons. This is also where I feel there would have to be safeguards. I've seen patients to whom it has been said, “Hey, I see you're suffering a lot here.

Medical Assistance in Dying committee  I can say that currently we don't have access to psilocybin, so we cannot make any claims until we have good clinical trials.

Medical Assistance in Dying committee  There is clinical data available in the United States.

Medical Assistance in Dying committee  For people with chronic mental illness, and we're looking at chronic depression and anxiety disorders—

Medical Assistance in Dying committee  No, this is for chronic mental illness.

Medical Assistance in Dying committee  Well, we don't know that information because—

Medical Assistance in Dying committee  I suppose we look at patients, or Canadians, and say that you have the right to make decisions about how you live and how you die. I don't have an issue with people accessing medical assistance in dying based on their own personal core values. What I do have an issue with is offering medical assistance in dying for people who are really depressed and stuck and who feel that their case is irremediable because of their social determinants of health.

Medical Assistance in Dying committee  Thank you. The use of psychedelics in the States has now been termed “groundbreaking”. These are groundbreaking interventions. It's not just about the medicine. It's about giving the medicine in the context of therapy. This is about using psychedelic-trained physicians and therapists.

Medical Assistance in Dying committee  It is a very tricky question, because certainly if I have a patient who has cancer, and he or she says that “treatment with chemotherapy doesn't align with my core values”, I have to respect that patient and say, “Even though you're on a dying trajectory, the decision not to use a medical intervention which can prevent dying is actually your right to make.”

Medical Assistance in Dying committee  This is a treatment where, if there's clinical indication, I do offer it—the clinical indication of people who are stuck in a thought process of hopelessness and demoralization, and they are truly stuck. I had a patient in her early thirties who had extremely complex pain that we could not manage.

Medical Assistance in Dying committee  I am not. I'm a palliative care physician.