In southern British Columbia, there’s a new 20,000-square-foot manufacturing facility where a particular product is generating a lot of buzz.
Psilocybin, better known as magic mushrooms, is legally grown here in a high-tech laboratory, where growers hope to contribute to medical research that suggests these mushrooms could have enormous medical benefits.
“There are a lot of clinical studies going on right now that show the potential of these mushrooms,” Todd Henderson told CTV National News.
Henderson is a primary grower for a company called Optimi Health. It is one of the few Canadian companies now approved by the federal government to produce, manufacture and export psychedelic mushrooms.
Although there are only a few of these companies at this time, more and more companies are competing to position themselves as certified providers of psilocybin.
The push comes as scientists increasingly explore its therapeutic benefits, including for the treatment of depression, substance use and end-of-life distress.
“We’ll be able to provide that safe supply, so researchers can study further to see well, let’s see where this goes,” Bill Ciprick, CEO of Optimi Health, told CTV National News.
A study published in February found that psilocybin therapy was associated with symptom relief in adults suffering from major depressive disorder for up to a year.
At this time, there are no approved therapeutic products containing psilocybin, in Canada or elsewhere, according to Health Canada. But in January 2022, Health Canada adjusted its Special Access Program (SAP) to allow doctors to order psilocybin for use in psychotherapy or with other treatment plans, making it easier for doctors to access the restricted drug.
And in April, the first patients in Canada were able to receive psilocybin treatment via SAP for end-of-life anxiety.
Thomas Hartle, one of those patients who received access due to his terminal colon cancer diagnosis, told CTV News in May that having access to this treatment made a big difference in his quality of life.
“The improvement in my mental health is so intense day and night that it would be hard to say all the things it does for me,” he said.
“I still have cancer. I still have a hard time with what he does physically, but there are days when I don’t even think about it. What would you do to have a day where you feel normal?”
These consciousness-altering substances are used in a controlled clinical setting as part of psychotherapy.
Psilocybin, which is the active ingredient in magic mushrooms, enters the body through the same receptors as serotonin, a chemical that acts as a neurotransmitter, carries messages throughout the body, and acts as a mood stabilizer. People with depression often have low serotonin levels, and psychedelics like psilocybin have been found to cause an increase in brain connectivity, allowing those messages to be sent more easily than before.
Some studies have shown that one or two doses of psilocybin in a therapeutic setting can make significant and lasting differences for people with treatment-resistant depressive disorders.
Ciprick said magic mushrooms provide more options for doctors looking to treat a patient.
“What psilocybin offers is a different opportunity for clinicians,” he said. “They need a lot of tools in their toolbox, and this gives them another one.”
While Optimi also grows unregulated mushrooms, their primary goal is to grow the psychedelic strain for medical and research use.
“Anyone who is looking to develop a drug that helps people, that’s what we’re growing up to do,” Henderson said.
The company already has an agreement with the IMPACT clinical trial accelerator program within the University of Calgary to clinically test its psilocybin products and potential health benefits.
And in late June, the company announced that it had partnered with a Calgary-based clinical group to supply them with magic mushrooms for psychedelic-assisted therapies, provided patients were approved through SAP.
About 2,000 kilograms of dry psilocybin can be produced each month.
While the company is currently working with Canadian researchers, the goal is to eventually share its magic mushrooms globally.