Commonly used medications to treat depression, ADHD, and other conditions have been removed from or restricted in federal prisons with no consultation and with little regard for mental and physical health consequences for people in prison
September 17, 2026 – Toronto, ON – Twenty civil society organizations have signed and released an open letter today expressing grave concern with a decision by Correctional Service Canada (CSC) to restrict access to medications commonly used to treat depression, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and other conditions for people in federal prisons.
As of May 1, 2026, incarcerated people no longer have access to bupropion (Wellbutrin), a medication used to treat depression and facilitate smoking cessation that can also benefit other conditions such as ADHD and stimulant use disorder. Beginning October 1, 2026, immediate-release psychostimulants used to treat ADHD, including methylphenidate (Ritalin) and dextroamphetamine (Dexadrine), are also scheduled to be removed from CSC’s list of available medications. Access to other long-acting stimulant medications used to treat ADHD, including methylphenidate (Foquest) and lisdexamfetamine (Vyvanse) will also be limited.
Organizations have already received phone calls from distressed patients in prison who have had their medication discontinued without the opportunity to transition to a different medication and without any information about what side effects to expect.
“Many of the incarcerated people we speak to already mistrust their health providers, in part because healthcare in federal prisons is not independent of corrections, contrary to the United Nations’ Mandela Rules,” says Nicole Kief, Executive Director at Prisoners’ Legal Services. “These new restrictions will only help solidify the impression that health staff are not there to support patients and are instead part of the punishment apparatus. CSC must not only halt these recent changes but disentangle healthcare from corrections entirely.”
The latest restrictions come shortly after the controversial 2025 removal of Suboxone as a routinely available opioid agonist treatment for incarcerated patients who use opioids, criticized by many of the same organizations for disregarding the principles of patient-centred and trauma-informed care. More than 150 addictions medicine clinicians and researchers also condemned that decision, citing concerns about patient choice, bodily autonomy, and the shift away from evidence-based care. Since then, participation in CSC’s opioid agonist treatment program has fallen significantly — from 3,443 people in March 2025 to 2,420 in June 2026 — despite the ongoing toxic drug crisis.
None of the expert organizations who signed today’s letter were consulted in advance of these new restrictions by CSC, nor are they aware of any consultations with patients or external subject-matter experts. While CSC claims the changes were informed by reviews of clinical evidence, guidelines, and safety issues, it has not disclosed what evidence was considered, who conducted the reviews, or what they found.
“These formulary restrictions disregard the benefits people might be experiencing from their current medications, and the harms or even risk of death that can result from discontinuing an effective treatment,” says Katie Dorman, Family Physician and Assistant Professor with the University of Toronto. “Medication disruptions in prison can be particularly destabilizing and cause mental health symptoms to return at a time when people are exposed to higher risk and have less healthcare access.”
Discontinuing a stable antidepressant can have serious consequences, including suicide or overdose. For people who are incarcerated, dysregulation and the resulting behavioural changes can lead to punishment, and finding suitable alternatives can be especially difficult in prison settings where access to comprehensive care is often limited.
The signatories to this letter are concerned that CSC is allowing undefined institutional security concerns to dictate medical care without first exploring the validity of those concerns and without any evidence that medication restrictions will address the problem.
“This is not patient-centred care,” says HIV Legal Network Policy Analyst Anne-Rachelle Boulanger, “and it is definitely not the community-equivalent care that CSC is legally obligated to provide. The Government of Canada is also once again failing to meet its commitments to reconciliation with Indigenous Peoples and to close the gaps in health outcomes between Indigenous and non-Indigenous communities. Indigenous people, and Indigenous women in particular, are grossly overrepresented in federal custody, meaning these new restrictions will fall disproportionately on them.”
Among the urgent recommendations in today’s letter is a call to immediately pause any further changes to medications available in federal prisons and restore the medications that have been removed pending a comprehensive review, including consultations with affected stakeholders and experts, especially incarcerated people themselves.
The letter is available here.