Dear Mr. Huxley: Is psychedelic-assisted therapy becoming uprooted in Canada?

It was an unusually mild winter for Saskatchewan in March 1956, and the halls of Weyburn Mental Hospital, a facility renowned for some of the most cutting-edge, experimental treatments of its time, fell silent for the evening.

Weyburn clinical director and researcher Humphry Osmond had spent the day immersed in groundbreaking trials, exploring the effects of mescaline and LSD (Lysergic Acid Diethylamide) on patients with schizophrenia and those hospitalized for delirium tremens – a severe, late-stage alcoholism disorder causing hallucinations, similar to schizophrenia. During his time at Weyburn, Osmond began to write what became a series of letters with his dearest friend and confidant, novelist Aldous Huxley, author of A Brave New World. discussing his progress in the field of psychedelic psychiatry.