Jennifer Bires: Rethinking Cancer Pain – Can Psychedelics Bridge the Gaps?
Jennifer Bires, Executive Director of Life with Cancer and Patient Experience for the Inova Schar Cancer Institute, shared a post on LinkedIn:
“Rethinking Cancer Pain: Can Psychedelics Bridge the Gaps?
A compelling new review in Cancer Medicine explores the potential of psychedelics to treat not just cancer pain, but the deep emotional and existential suffering that often accompanies it.
But the piece also confronts something more uncomfortable:
- Pain in cancer care is still wildly undertreated.
- And that burden is not shared equally.
“Many disparities already exist in the treatment of pain, with patients from underserved backgrounds receiving less adequate treatment.”
Add to this a growing body of research on psychedelics — most of which lacks racial and socioeconomic diversity — and we risk repeating history: introducing an innovative treatment that may further widen the gap in care.
We cannot talk about new tools without also talking about access. We cannot talk about pain without addressing the full spectrum of suffering — physical, emotional, spiritual. And we cannot talk about healing without naming who gets left behind.
Psychedelics are a potential tool that could offer:
- Non-opioid pain relief.
- Lasting relief from depression, anxiety, and demoralization.
- A more holistic, person-centered way to care.
We owe it to patients — all patients — to explore this with both urgency and equity.
What would it take to bring whole-person pain care into the mainstream — without leaving the most vulnerable behind?”
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