"Microdosing saved my life," says Andrina Stan.
Stan, 35, works as an integrated therapist in Toronto and has struggled with her mental health at times. Stan says she believes it was psilocybin, the psychoactive ingredient found in magic mushrooms, that helped her turn her life around.
"In December 2020 I found myself in the middle of this living space, curled up in a ball," she explains. "It was a very dark space. So I was contemplating suicide."
Stan says she tried different therapies but nothing really helped until she found magic mushrooms — which are illegal to produce, possess and sell in Canada without special permission.
"I'm not sure that I would still be here if it weren't for microdosing," Stan says.
Stan has been microdosing psilocybin for three years.
She says she is aware that using that psilocybin can pose health risks, and deciding to microdose is not something she took lightly.
"I think that there's a bit of a craze with psychedelics, and I know a lot of people, especially people my age, they just think it's a fun thing to do," she says. "I don't see it as something that you should just pick up and try."
What microdosing psilocybin allowed her to do, Stan says, is work through her issues. "It slowly brings that pain up so you can safely deal with it."
Stan's experience with microdosing psilocybin is a powerful anecdotal story, but what does the science say about the practice as a potential mental health treatment?
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CBC News
December 9, 2023
