Promoting compassionate governance
Preventing intense suffering
The Organisation for the Prevention of Intense Suffering (OPIS) is a non-profit think-and-do tank promoting the prevention and alleviation of the intense suffering of all sentient beings as a top ethical priority.
COMPASSIONATE GOVERNANCE
We develop and communicate guiding principles for compassionate governance and systemic change, so that the prevention and alleviation of intense suffering are given highest priority.
In 2025 we released a wide-ranging publication titled Compassionate Governance: A Strategic Guide to Preventing and Alleviating Global Suffering that pulls together wisdom and essential insights from several fields of expertise and offers numerous recommendations for governance, international cooperation and policies.
SOLUTIONS TO SUFFERING
We promote effective, evidence-based solutions to specific causes of suffering in both humans and non-human animals, including access to effective pain relief as well as the elimination of factory farming.
We helped launch a national palliative care program in Burkina Faso and successfully advocated for Canada to grant access to psilocybin for a patient with excruciating cluster headaches. We work on suffering metrics and measurement, concern for suffering prevention within AI alignment, and ensuring the representation of all suffering beings in citizens’ assembly deliberations. We also promote solutions that could bring peace to Israel-Palestine.
Latest News
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New mentions of OPIS’s work on cluster headache
Philosopher Peter Singer’s newest column for Project Syndicate is titled “The Best Treatment for the Most Painful Medical Condition Is Illegal“, where he makes the overwhelming case for exemptions to laws prohibiting certain drugs. He cites our recent case series on cluster headache, published in May 2025, as well as our proposal that we incorporate
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OPIS releases new publication Compassionate Governance
In June 2025, OPIS released a new publication titled Compassionate Governance: A Strategic Guide to Preventing and Alleviating Global Suffering. Our aim was to bring together and integrate wisdom from different fields and sources into a broad overview of the problems we face and possible solutions. From the underlying ethics to movement-building, key subjects we
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Health Canada provides legal access to psilocybin for first cluster headache patient
On 20 June 2024, OPIS issued a press release announcing the good news that, as a result of a partnership we initiated 3 years ago with the non-profit TheraPsil, Health Canada has provided legal access to psilocybin for the first cluster headache patient. Canada now joins Switzerland as one of the few countries where cluster
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Webinar discussion: a vision for building a compassionate future for Israel and Palestine
On 17 January 2024, OPIS hosted a webinar discussion with four visionary peace-builders from Israel and Palestine who share the conviction that peace is possible and have concrete plans for how to get there. Maoz Inon is an Israeli peace entrepreneur whose parents were killed by Hamas in the October 7 attack.Hiba Husseini is the
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Essay on building a compassionate future for Israel and Palestine
A new essay by Jonathan Leighton from OPIS was published today with thoughts on how to move forward towards a peaceful future for Israel and Palestine, despite the horrific violence taking place and the polarised narratives around the situation. The essay communicates some core ideas that are central to OPIS’s mission: that preventing intense suffering is
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New book: The Tango of Ethics
The Tango of Ethics: Intuition, Rationality and the Prevention of Suffering by OPIS Executive Director Jonathan Leighton is being published today. From the publisher’s website: Despite existing for thousands of years, the field of ethics remains strongly influenced by several largely unquestioned assumptions and cognitive biases that can dramatically affect our priorities. The Tango of Ethics:
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Front-Page Story in Swiss Daily 20 Minutes Mentioning OPIS
A front-page story mentioning OPIS in the widely circulated Swiss daily paper 20 Minutes on 26 August 2022 features Juan-Pablo, a patient suffering from the extremely painful neurological disorder SUNCT. The story describes how ayahuasca saved his life when other treatments had failed and he had already attempted suicide. OPIS provided advice and support to Juan-Pablo,