2016
Diagnosis
Thomas Hartle, a Saskatoon husband, father, and IT professional, is diagnosed with stage 4 colon cancer and develops debilitating end-of-life anxiety.
05AdvocacyBill C-286 — 45th Parliament
Thomas' Bill: a regulated pathway for medical psilocybin in Canada.
Bill C-286 would give Canadian physicians a clear, regulated route to prescribe psilocybin-assisted therapy — replacing the exemptions, court orders, and case-by-case approvals that patients like Thomas Hartle spent their final years fighting through. Optimi supports the bill and the petition behind it.
05.01Thomas' story2016 — 2026
05.02What Bill C-286 doesIntroduced 2026-06-16
Reclassification
From restricted drug to controlled drug
Amends the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act and the Food and Drugs Act to move psilocybin and psilocin out of the restricted-drug category and into Canada's existing controlled-drug medical framework — the same framework physicians already use to prescribe other controlled medicines.
Priority review
Faster path through Health Canada
Requires priority review status for new drug submissions involving psilocybin, psilocin, their salts, or substantially similar compounds — shortening the wait for formal drug approval without lowering the evidentiary bar.
Approval process preserved
Regulated access, not deregulation
Health Canada's drug-approval process stays intact. The bill creates a clearer, more predictable pathway for physician-prescribed psilocybin-assisted therapy — replacing case-by-case exemptions and court interventions with a regulated medical route.
05.03Why it matters
200+
Court interventions
Cases where courts have had to compel Health Canada to grant psilocybin access.
$180B
Annual cost of the crisis
Estimated yearly cost of Canada's mental health and addiction crisis.
~4,500
Lives lost to suicide each year
Canadians who die by suicide annually — the population C-286's PTSD, addiction, and end-of-life indications aim to reach.
Optimi manufactures GMP psilocybin thirty minutes from some of the patients who can't legally access it. We supply authorized prescribers in Australia and support Special Access Program requests at home — but SAP remains a case-by-case, last-resort mechanism. A clear domestic pathway is the missing piece.
Bill C-286 is a private member's bill, and private members' bills live or die on public support. The petition is the mechanism Parliament actually counts. If Thomas' story resonates, the single most useful thing you can do takes two minutes.
For Optimi's active supply pathways, see global access →