'It's a little brighter': More veterans turn to ketamine therapy for depression, PTSD
Three clinics in offer ketamine therapy in the province
"I was on, like, basically every pill you can imagine, right?"
Jason Farrell, 40, lives in Marystown, Newfoundland and Labrador after medically retiring from the RCMP in 2017 with severe PTSD. He was prescribed a cocktail of medications to treat his condition before getting diagnosed with treatment-resistant PTSD.
"None of that was working for me, plus I ended up putting on over 100 lbs," Farrell told CBC News.
Enter ketamine: a painkiller invented for Vietnam War soldiers in the '60s and has been a common surgical anaesthetic since the '70s. Known in the media as a party drug and horse tranquilizer, ketamine has been increasingly used as a new clinical treatment for treatment-resistant depression (TRD) and trauma-related mental conditions.
Increasingly, veterans are turning to ketamine as relief from debilitating mental illnesses. According to Veterans Affairs Canada, 41 Newfoundland and Labrador veterans filed for insurance coverage for the therapy since April 2019 — with eight filed in the last two months.
In the last year, NuVista Psychedelic Medicine opened two ketamine therapy clinics in Newfoundland and Labrador. It also has locations in other Atlantic provinces. Its director of business development David Muise said they offer their services to veterans and expect to expand to the general public in the future.
Ketamine therapy is most commonly administered via IV and nasal spray. Muise said the Nuvista clinics in St. John's and Gander only offer the nasal spray because they don't have an anesthesiologist. Intravenous ketamine therapy is offered at another clinic in the province called ANSR in St. John's.
"Our goal is this isn't something you do forever," said Muise. "All it is is another tool in your toolbox that can make some very drastic changes, positive changes in your life, but it takes work as well. It's not magic here by any means."
'Go on a journey'
Patients either self-refer or get a doctor's referral for an initial psychiatric and medical screening at the NuVista clinic, said Muise. Potential clients are screened for conditions like risk of psychosis, seizures and high blood pressure.
The average treatment plan at NuVista is eight sessions of the nasal spray Spravato over four weeks, returning for 'maintenance' sessions as needed. He said it's recommended that patients pair ketamine therapy with behavioural therapy within a day or two of treatment.
"You're not just coming in here to feel the effects of the drug. We're doing work here," he said. "But on the other hand, we also encourage clients to just let the medicine take them wherever [it] wants to take them."
In a white-washed room with little green plants, patients at NuVista sit down in a reclining chair. They're handed a blanket, eye mask, headphones and an iPod. A nurse comes in to help administer the medication and the patients sit and wait for 45 minutes.
Farrell said it sometimes feels like two hours.
"I usually close the blinders and turn on the music … and you just go on a journey," Farrell said. "One time, it felt like I was on another planet and I was a superhero."
Muise said patients report feeling they have "busy heads" filled with chatter but with treatment, "all that noise just stops."
'Rapid correction'
Dr. Roger McIntyre, a professor of Psychiatry and Pharmacology at the University of Toronto, said people living with mental disorders have problems with their brain's circuit.
"What ketamine does is it offers rapid correction of that circuit network system that sets the stage for people then to engage with a counselor or therapist or what have you to further those gains," he said.
McIntyre's focus is treating TRD and trauma-related disorders like PTSD, and prescribes ketamine therapy to his patients whose depression hasn't responded to more conventional approaches.
McIntyre said that even as a standalone treatment, the effects of ketamine therapy on patients are "transformative."
Farrell has noticed he responds more calmly to things and gets along easier with his kids and family.
"Things feel a little lighter, you know, more water off a ducks back kind of thing."
Treating treatment-resistance
About nine per cent of Canadians suffer from PTSD and 21 per cent of people diagnosed with depression disorder do not respond to conventional drugs, according to Statistics Canada.
Private clinics are popping up all across Canada but a Canada Drug Agency research review said there is inadequate evidence that ketamine therapy is effective for PTSD due to the short lengths of time studied.
McIntyre said ketamine therapy is an established treatment for adults with TRD.
Although Farrell lives in Marystown, every two months he and his partner drive three hours to St. John's, take a two hour flight to Halifax and stay in a hotel for a few nights so that he can continue his IV ketamine treatment plan at a Halifax clinic.
Even though the NuVista clinics now offer ketamine treatment through nasal spray, Farrell said he needs it administered through IV because it's stronger.
The cost of feeling brighter
Muise said the cost of treatment at NuVista is around $6,000 without extra maintenance doses.
On average, Veterans Affairs Canada reimbursed $10,109.25 per person in insurance coverage for ketamine therapy in the 2024-25 fiscal year for 433 veterans, according to data obtained by CBC News.
But not many other insurers cover ketamine therapy, which McIntyre credits to stigma due to its popular view as a psychedelic.
One example is Ozempic, originally created to treat Type 2 diabetes and now popularized for its off-label use as a weight loss drug.
"No one contests that Ozempic's been a tremendous advance for diabetes and obesity, but ketamine has been the biggest transformation in psychiatric treatment in seven decades and yet it still struggles with reputation," he said.
McIntyre said there is no evidence ketamine's induced altered state of consciousness contributes to its therapeutic effect from a psychiatric point of view.
"The current conventional treatments [for PTSD and TRD] have been very helpful, but for many, many people, they're not and we need something new," he said.
"I think this is why you are seeing an increase not just in interest, but also now in implementation."
Farrell is also aware of the stigma around mental health and drugs. Since starting therapy, he and a friend started a men's mental health support group.
"You get a headache, you take Tylenol, you get PTSD, you take whatever they recommend you," Farrell said.
For now, Farrell continues to travel from Marystown to Nova Scotia every two months, as the treatment is worth it.
"It's a little brighter, so that's what it feel like to me," he said. "I wouldn't give this up for the world."
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Corrections
- A previous version of this article said there were only two clinics that offer ketamine therapy in the province. In fact there are at least three.Jun 16, 2025 8:53 AM EDT
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