Thank you very much, Madam Chair.
I would like to echo my colleagues and thank all of our witnesses for helping guide our committee through this study.
Dr. Gallagher, I would like to start with you. I take it from your comments that a patient-centric approach is very important to you in trying to understand what patients want.
We have had a number of witnesses here in previous meetings. I had Dr. Valorie Masuda from my own riding. She's a palliative care physician. We had a representative from TheraPsil who specializes in psilocybin and psilocybin therapy. We also had comments from Dr. José Pereira, who indicated a willingness to explore further research in this area.
You mentioned existential distress. There has been some promising research, notably from Johns Hopkins University, on how carefully administered doses of psilocybin, with the care and attention of someone who has expertise in this kind of therapy, have really allowed patients, particularly during end-of-life care, to gain a measure of acceptance in meeting their end.
I would like to hear from you with regard to your understanding of the state of research into that. Do you think our committee can make some recommendations to try to make sure that type of therapy is more widely available to patients in palliative care?