Canada Could Soon Allow Psilocybin Prescriptions: What It Means for Microdosing
Psilocybin Prescriptions in Canada: What Bill C-286 Means
A father in Saskatoon was one of the first Canadians to legally use psilocybin. It helped him face dying. Then the system took that access away, and he spent his last years flying abroad to get it back.
His name was Thomas Hartle. There’s a bill in Parliament now named after him.
For the first time in years, Canada is seriously talking about letting doctors prescribe psilocybin.
The Man the Bill Is Named For
On June 16, 2026, Conservative MP Corey Tochor tabled Bill C-286. On paper, it’s a private member’s bill to create a clearer medical path for psilocybin treatment.
He doesn’t call it that. He calls it Thomas’ Bill.
Thomas Hartle was his constituent. Stage four colon cancer. In 2020, he became one of the first Canadians granted legal access to psilocybin therapy, and it softened the kind of anxiety most of us can’t imagine, the kind that comes with knowing the end is close.
For a few years, he had access. Then it lapsed. To keep going, he had to leave the country, again and again. He died in 2024. He was 56.
The bill is an attempt to make sure the next person doesn’t have to fight that hard.
What It Would Actually Do
Most of the headlines ask the wrong question: “Is Canada legalizing magic mushrooms?” No. It wouldn’t.
Here’s what Bill C-286 would actually do:
- Let doctors prescribe psilocybin directly, instead of routing every patient through slow federal approvals.
- Put psilocybin therapies on Health Canada’s priority review track, and make a decision within 180 days.
- Keep treatment supervised by professionals, start to finish.
What it would not do: open a dispensary on your corner. No recreational sales. No walk-in purchases. This is about medical access, full stop.
Why It Matters, Even If It Doesn’t Pass
Be honest about the odds. Private member’s bills rarely become law.
But a bill doesn’t have to pass to matter.
A few years ago, an MP standing up in Parliament to argue for prescription psilocybin would have been unthinkable. Now it has cross-party attention, veterans, palliative-care advocates, and doctors in the room.
The door is opening. Slowly. But it’s opening.
Canada Isn’t Leading This. It’s Catching Up.
We wouldn’t be inventing anything. The world is already ahead of us.
Australia became the first country to let psychiatrists prescribe psilocybin for hard-to-treat depression. Oregon runs supervised psilocybin services for adults. Colorado built its own framework. Switzerland allows it case by case. Jamaica and the Netherlands are known for legal retreats.
Different systems, same direction. The old approach stopped matching the research a while ago, and the rest of the world noticed first.
Where Canada Stands Right Now
Today, psilocybin is still a controlled substance here. Possessing it, making it, and selling it are all illegal without federal sign-off.
There’s one narrow legal door: Health Canada’s Special Access Program. It lets a few patients in, under supervision, and it’s hard to walk through. Health Canada has issued just 354 psilocybin authorizations since 2022. Advocates say the paperwork can take more than a year, for people who often don’t have a year.
Meanwhile, grey-market mushroom shops keep opening in Canadian cities.
The gap between people who need access and shops selling outside the law, that’s the gap this bill is trying to close.
Clinical Therapy and Microdosing Aren’t the Same Thing
It’s easy to mix these up. Let’s not.
Clinical psilocybin therapy, the kind this bill is about, means a few big, supervised doses with a trained team. Intense. Structured. Watched closely.
Microdosing is the opposite. A small amount, taken on a gentle schedule, far below anything you’d feel as a trip. Nobody microdoses to escape their day. They do it to be a little more present in it.
Two different things. Same root, though: people wanting a softer relationship with their own minds.
Where We Fit In
While the law catches up, our reason for existing hasn’t moved an inch.
We make small-batch mushroom products with organic, BC-grown mushrooms, for people who want a gentler, more intentional day. You start low. You find your pace. Nothing dramatic. Just a little more like yourself.
Not sure where to begin? Start low and find your own pace. Our dosage guide is the gentlest place to start.
And if you want the ritual without any psilocybin at all, we make functional options too: lion’s mane, reishi, chaga, cordyceps, turkey tail. Steady, everyday support. No prescription. No grey area. Here’s more on our mushrooms.
The Part That Stays True
Whether Thomas’ Bill passes or not, the conversation has turned a corner. Opinion is softening. Research is growing. Patients aren’t backing down.
This won’t be the last bill. It won’t be the last word.
And for now, microdosing is still the most accessible way for curious Canadians to explore this gently, on their own terms. We’re just here to make the first step feel like a welcome, not a leap.
Welcome to a different kind of day.
Find your starting dose · Shop MicroDays
These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.
Sources
- CBC News Conservatives pitch legalizing some psychedelics with bill to revamp Canada’s drug laws (June 16, 2026)n2. openparliament.ca Bill C-286 (45-1)n3. Canadian Affairs, Psilocybin bill takes centre stage at Toronto psychedelic screening (June 19, 2026)n4. PsyCan press release (June 16, 2026)n5. TheraPsil / Psychedelic Alpha – Hartle as one of the first Canadians to legally access psilocybin therapy (2020)n6. Washington Post / pharmaphorum (July 1, 2023) – Australia first to allow psilocybin prescribingn7. ScienceDirect / PMC – Swiss limited medical use program (psilocybin added 2021)n8. Health Canada — Psilocybin and psilocin (Magic mushrooms)
Keep reading: What Is Microdosing? The Complete Beginner’s Guide · Explore our psilocybin microdoses · Find your dose
