Episode 20: Open to More Awe: Suing the DEA for Access to Psilocybin

6 Months or Less

Imagine you’ve been diagnosed with a terminal illness and are consumed by feelings of hopelessness, fear, and depression. What if there was a treatment that could help? Research has shown that psilocybin-assisted therapy can significantly reduce the existential distress associated with dying. Psilocybin is currently in clinical trials for this use, but many terminally ill patients, like Erinn Baldeschwiler, either don’t have access or time to wait.

When Erinn and her palliative care doctor, Dr. Sunil Aggarwal, tried to access psilocybin outside of a clinical trial through Right to Try Laws, the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) denied their request. Together, Erinn, Dr. Aggarwal, and their lawyer Kathryn Tucker J.D. are suing the DEA for denying them access to psilocybin in a groundbreaking case that could potentially help many terminally ill people in the future.

In this episode, I talk with Erinn Baldeschwiler, Dr. Sunil Aggarwal, and Kathryn Tucker about this pivotal lawsuit, how psilocybin-assisted therapy might really help people who are dying, and I ask Erinn questions about her terminal illness and what it means to her to be a part of this case.

To learn more about Dr. Sunil Aggarwal and the AIMS Institute, go here.

To learn more about Kathryn Tucker, J.D. and Emerge Law Group, go here.

Music: “Pale Tussuck” and “A Thousand Stars” by Pictures of the Floating World, “Brad PKL” by Blue Dot Sessions, and “Cove” by Chad Crouch