[La...] Posted October 20, 2014 Share Posted October 20, 2014 Hi, This investigative article from The Toronto Star (April 2014) discusses drugs that were reviewed by Health Canada for safety reasons. Apparently, the list of drugs was difficult to obtain. http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2014/04/12/star_obtains_list_of_redflagged_drugs.html Here's excerpt from the article that pertains to benzodiazepines: "It’s no secret that one of the 10 most-prescribed classes of medications in Canada has some issues. Benzodiazepines, often called “benzos,” are a sedative-hypnotic group of drugs that treat anxiety and insomnia. “They’re always on a watch list of drugs you should look out for for potentially inappropriate use,” said Steve Morgan, a University of British Columbia health economist who co-authors the Canadian Rx Atlas, an online compendium that analyses drug use and spending for more than 10,000 medications using data supplied by health-care market research company IMS Brogan. Canadian doctors wrote more than 20 million prescriptions for benzos last year. Sixty-three per cent of the $336 million spent on these drugs in 2012-2013 was attributed to female patients. Bestselling generics include lorazepam, zopiclone and oxazepam. “Long-term use carries significant risk of addiction, dizziness and falls,” Morgan said. “It becomes difficult to wean patients off. They’re a problematic drug class.” Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now