Private member's bill would move psilocybin to a controlled-drug framework with priority review. Health Canada SAP approvals for psychedelics have halved since 2024. Path through minority Parliament uncertain.
Alpha Score of 38 reflects weak overall profile with poor momentum, weak value, strong quality. Based on 3 of 4 signals – score is capped at 90 until remaining data ingests.
PsyCan, the trade association for Canada's legal medical psychedelics sector, endorsed a private member's bill Tuesday that would carve a faster, more predictable pathway for medical psilocybin and psilocin without bypassing Health Canada's drug-review process.
"At a time when communities across the country continue to face unprecedented rates of depression, anxiety, trauma, addiction, and overdose, Thomas' Bill is an important and overdue step toward modernizing Canada's approach to medical psilocybin access while preserving evidence-based drug review," Austin Miller, President of Bluestem and Chair of PsyCan's Board of Directors, said in a statement.
Bill C-286, introduced by Saskatoon–University MP Corey Tochor, would amend the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act and the Food and Drugs Act. It would remove psilocybin and psilocin from the restricted-drug category and place them within an existing controlled-drug medical framework. The bill also requires priority review status for new drug submissions involving psilocybin, psilocin, their salts, or substantially similar compounds.
The bill carries the name of Thomas Hartle, a Saskatchewan father who died of stage IV colon cancer. In 2020, Hartle became the first Canadian to receive a legal exemption for psilocybin therapy, finding relief from end-of-life distress. As his cancer progressed, renewal requests sat unanswered for months, forcing him to spend his final days fighting bureaucratic silence. Tochor, Hartle's MP, introduced the bill in his memory.
Health Canada's Special Access Program has allowed case-by-case, practitioner-led requests for psilocybin and MDMA since 2022. Approvals are slow and unpredictable, leaving growing need unmet. SAP records obtained by PsyCan under the Access to Information Act last year showed psilocybin and MDMA approvals dropping dramatically. Only half as many SAP requests for psychedelic therapy were approved in 2025 compared to 2024. Decision timelines also grew, the data showed.
Peer jurisdictions are building clearer pathways. Australia has created a regulated framework allowing authorized psychiatrists to prescribe psilocybin and MDMA for specific conditions. The United States has taken steps to accelerate research and potential access pathways for psychedelic therapies targeting serious mental illness.
The read-through for the medical psychedelics sector is narrow but material. PsyCan represents a small group of legally operating Canadian companies, most privately held. A clearer federal pathway would compress the timeline from research to prescription and reduce the regulatory gap between Canada and Australia. The bill is a positive signal for companies and investors tracking Canadian drug-policy reform.
The risk to the thesis: Bill C-286 is a private member's bill, not government legislation. It faces an uncertain path through a minority Parliament. The next concrete marker is committee study of C-286, which could come this fall.
Miller added: "Canadians living with serious mental health, addiction, trauma, and end-of-life distress deserve policies grounded in evidence, compassion, and public health."
The bill faces debate in the House. No date has been set for a vote.
Prepared with AlphaScala research tooling and grounded in primary market data: live prices, fundamentals, SEC filings, hedge-fund holdings, and insider activity. Each story is checked against AlphaScala publishing rules before release. Educational coverage, not personalized advice.