Examining the use of psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy for Veterans

The Senate of Canada Subcommittee on Veterans Affairs has recently released a report entitled “The time is now: Granting equitable access to psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy.” Within this report, the Senate subcommittee is recommending that Veterans Affairs Canada and the Department of National Defence, in collaboration with Health Canada and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, as well as the applicable provincial and territorial authorities “immediately launch and fund a large-scale research program on psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy for treating those mental disorders and other conditions that have been identified as potentially being therapeutic targets for these types of interventions.” The goal is to ensure that Veterans most likely to benefit from psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy are given access to treatment based on the best-available evidence. In support of this, this rapid evidence profile addresses the questions of "what is known about the use of psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy, including its safety and effectiveness, and whether these findings vary by groups and contexts including for those with psychotic disorders, disorders with risk of psychosis, dissociative disorders, suicide risk, family history of these conditions or with other risk factors related to the treatment" as well as "how psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy is being provided for Veterans in each of the ‘Five Eyes’ countries."