Author: Kathryn Tucker
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Freedom to Heal Act
The Freedom to Heal Act “creates a narrowly tailored DEA registration process exclusively for physicians to treat Right to Try eligible patients in clinical settings with qualifying Schedule I investigational therapies — such as MDMA and psilocybin – without changing the underlying RTT law.” https://lnkd.in/gAmyJWfU It should be noted that DEA, all along, has had…
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Fighting for Psilocybin Access: Inside the Right-to-Try and Rescheduling Effort
As co-counsel in the federal psilocybin rescheduling case, Kathryn Tucker has witnessed firsthand the challenges, and opportunities in reforming outdated drug policy. In this conversation with Psychedelics Today, she shares the inside story of our legal strategy, the role of the Right to Try Act, and what rescheduling could mean for patients, providers, and the…
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Right to Try (RTT) Laws: A Battle with Multiple Fronts
We have been leading efforts to open access to the investigational psychedelic drug psilocybin for therapeutic use for patients with life threatening illness through state and federal Right to Try (RTT) laws.[2] RTT laws recognize that these patients do not have the time to await the slow process of new drug approval to be completed…
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Update re AIMS et al. v. DEA: DEA Doubles Down in Denying Dying Patients Access to Psilocybin
In January 2021, Dr. Sunil Aggarwal, a respected palliative care physician and founder of the Advanced Integrative Medical Science (“AIMS”) Institute in Seattle, sought authorization from the DEA to obtain psilocybin for therapeutic use with his dying cancer patients. Psilocybin is an investigational drug shown to be remarkably effective in relieving debilitating anxiety and depression…
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At DEA’s Door: The Battle to Open Access to Psilocybin Therapy for Peace and Comfort at the End of Life
On Mother’s Day 2022, my client Erinn Baldeschwiler, a young mother of two with Stage IV terminal cancer travelled from Seattle to Washington D.C. instead of spending the day with her children, even thought it was likely her last Mother’s Day given the inexorable advance of her illness. Accompanied by her palliative care nurse, Erinn…
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The Intersection of End of Life Issues and the Oregon Psilocybin Services Act
Oregon’s Psilocybin Services Act (“PSA”) is the first state law legalizing access to psilocybin for adults. Psilocybin remains illegal to manufacture, distribute, dispense or possess under the federal Controlled Substances Act. Those with terminal illness are one population known to benefit particularly from psilocybin therapy. Clinical trials have shown that patients with advanced cancer may…
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Efforts to Open Access to Psilocybin for Therapeutic Use for Those with Life Threatening Illness Continue
Long-time patient rights advocate Kathryn Tucker, then Special Counsel at Emerge Law Group, now Special Advocacy Advisor at the National Psychedelics Association submitted a Freedom of Information Act (“FOIA“) request to the Drug Enforcement Administration (“DEA“) on March 31, 2022 on behalf of the Seattle area palliative care clinician Dr. Sunil Aggarwal of the Advanced…
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Four Organizations Dedicated to Disability and Patient Rights Join in the Fight for Terminally Ill Californians with Physical Disabilities
Our advocacy on behalf of Californians with terminal illnesses involving progressive loss of physical ability has been joined by a group of four organizations who provide support to and advocate on behalf of people with terminal illnesses and disabilities. The case was filed in August of 2021, and is discussed HERE. California’s End of Life…
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Fighting for Terminally Ill Californians with Physical Disabilities
Our advocacy on behalf of Californians with terminal illnesses involving progressive loss of physical ability continues. The case was filed in August of 2021, and is discussed HERE. California’s End of Life Options Act discriminates against these disabled patients. The law allows mentally competent terminally ill adults to obtain medication that can be ingested to…
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Landmark Petition to Reschedule Psilocybin filed with DEA
Bipartisan Congressional support for allowing terminal patients to seek relief from anxiety and depression in alignment with ongoing international research on the effectiveness of psilocybin in mental health care Statement Following issuance of the Ninth Circuit’s opinion in AIMS v DEA on Monday, January 31, 2022, finding lack of jurisdiction to review the DEA’s refusal…
