TD: No political will to tackle benzos

She added: “One must ask if there are vested interests coming into play here.”

 

 

http://www.irishexaminer.com/ireland/td-no-political-will-to-tackle-benzos-304148.html

Key words, way down near the end of the article:

 

Ms Shortall said: “There is no sense of urgency at all. This is at the same stage as it was two years ago. It is quite clear nothing has happened. There doesn’t seem to be the political will to tackle this.”

 

She added: “One must ask if there are vested interests coming into play here.”

So interesting! Thanks for posting this article, Qui. There appears to be no political will anywhere to deal with either the legal or the illegal use of benzodiazepines. What a sad statement!

Until high powered politicians' family members get caught in this mess there will be no change.

I agree Drew and Lapis. However I believe that that minister in the UK, (the Earl of Sandwich I think - really!) Jim Dobbin maybe? was into it because his son was suffering terribly.

 

Ted Kennedy gave it a shot in 1979, but remember, he ran for president in 1980. Maybe he had benzos in his own history, or family member, (highly likely) and feared exposure and political repercussions.

 

I can picture a movie scene where a shadowy pharma "rep" meets him in a parking garage in DC and hands him a manila envelope !

I wish the article had focused less on street abuse of the drug, though. I mean, yes, that is a very large problem obviously. But what about people who don't "abuse"?  I didn't. So many here didn't.

 

Overall, I am glad to see it in someone's press, because it certainly doesn't get written about/talked about much here in the U.S. Thanks for sharing.

If Big Pharma is able to restrict the bad press to drug addicts, they appear less culpable - same with doctors. Many seem to be clinging to that angle, for dear life. They are either lying intentionally, to cover their guilt, or engaging in magical thinking, maybe to subconsciously cover their guilt

 

After all - if we are addicts, it is our fault, not theirs. And it makes it similar to illicit drugs and alcohol - not criminal on their part, but a product of our weakness.

I think the issue of culpability is huge. The use of the words "involuntary addict" should be replaced by "iatrogenically dependent" where it's appropriate to do so. "Addict" is used to describe someone who takes more of a substance despite knowing its ill-effects and who engages in drug-seeking behaviour, etc. That doesn't describe someone who took a medication "as prescribed" by a doctor and purchased it legally at a pharmacy. Two very different things.

 

 

 

Once people realize that sometimes the most dangerous thing you can do is to follow doctors' orders, opinion may change.

I think it must be corruption par excellance.....Big Pharma sponsering governments in a way.

There really isn't much hope of this changing anytime soon. Benzos have been around for fifty years.  big pharma and drs have to know what's going on. We are easy to sweep under he carpet because most of us are considered to have a mental illness.  We really don't show much physical proof and they can just say we had these issues before or its all in our head.

 

We are also looked upon as weak and we did this too ourselves.

 

I would also add the problem is getting worse here in the States. 

There really isn't much hope of this changing anytime soon. Benzos have been around for fifty years.  big pharma and drs have to know what's going on. We are easy to sweep under he carpet because most of us are considered to have a mental illness.  We really don't show much physical proof and they can just say we had these issues before or its all in our head.

 

We are also looked upon as weak and we did this too ourselves.

 

I would also add the problem is getting worse here in the States.

 

I think the problem of over prescribing in psychiatry has definitely gotten worse in the States, just from all the off label uses, the DSM 5,  it goes on and on ... but I think that our country will reach a boiling point with this. I think there will be a critical mass sometime in the next century certainly, if not in the next few decades. The more people who get prescribed these drugs and have problems, the more voices will be added to the collective tragedy, the more people will speak up, the more something will have to be done. At the very least, there will be more knowledge. There already is more knowledge, even if it has been ignored. But I don't think it will get ignored for too much longer. I just get this sense with the internet, and more and more people speaking out, that it can't go on like this for 50 more years.

 

I keep harping on Elizabeth Kenny's TEDMED talk today on some of the posts on the forum, and I do warn some that it might be a little jarring/traumatic, but it is essentially an excerpt from her one woman show about her experience with all of these different psych meds, including Klonopin. It's really good and it's cool that it's on TEDMED, because apparently she showed it to an audience of mainly medical professionals. Harder to ignore when you have someone med free, telling her story right in front of you, explaining that she was once psychotic but now after drugs she's fine.

I agree something might change in the next fifty years but that's a lot more peeps like us coming down the pipe. 

 

I will look for that Ted thingy. Haven't seen it yet.

drew check your messages. 

Very good TED talk! Thanks Nervgirl.

I live in SF and I'm almost positive the dr who told me I can step off K in three weeks or so is in the audience.  I don't think he learned a thing.

To be fair, though, the TED talk wasn't really about benzos and tapering. The focus was over-prescription of medication,  and the multitude of diagnoses for one person. She did mention a benzo, but almost in passing.

 

It was really engaging, though, and let's hope the message gets out there more and more!

Yeah it's not benzo specific, but a great example of the problem with psychiatry and patients feeling they have no voice. To be fair, it's a shortened excerpt of a longer performance.  Maybe she had more to say about the Benzo. Would be very interesting to see the whole thing somewhere.

Agreed. I'm going to share it with a few people, though, so thanks again for the info, Nervgirl.

If Big Pharma is able to restrict the bad press to drug addicts, they appear less culpable - same with doctors. Many seem to be clinging to that angle, for dear life. They are either lying intentionally, to cover their guilt, or engaging in magical thinking, maybe to subconsciously cover their guilt

 

After all - if we are addicts, it is our fault, not theirs. And it makes it similar to illicit drugs and alcohol - not criminal on their part, but a product of our weakness.

 

Agreed!    Take a look at this article, for instance.  http://www.healthline.com/health/addiction/addictive-prescription-drugs#Xanax3

 

Excellent TED talk, thank you for sharing!

Hi there,

I am Irish and political agendas have to win votes sadly or they won't get airtime. Benzos are a problem in this country at the moment because we have what's called a free medical card for those with low income and it is being abused big time for benzos and then they are being sold in Dublin and all around the country so the minister for health has been asked to do something about this but not a lot is being done.

 

Benzos are not being prescribed in general because of new guidelines and SSRI's are the big drug throughout middle class Ireland but easier to get off if nothing else. Like all countries, we have a drug problem on the streets and benzos are given to drug addicts to help them get off street drugs but they are only adding to the problem imo.

 

Thanks for posting the article, it is good to read what's in the news, it helps me to believe that something may be done for accidental addicts and that there is awareness if nothing else.

 

Moya

It's sad to hear of what's happening in Ireland, but since benzos are so accessible, it's inevitable that they will end up on the street. I think they cut across all lines, since we've seen Hollywood stars who've died with benzos in their system (among other things), plus street people and everyone in between. Aside from proper prescriptions, the internet pharmacies make it very easy for people to access benzos and misuse/abuse them too.

 

It still seems that the issue of benzodiazepine over-prescription is better understood in Ireland and the rest of the UK than in many other places.

Lapis,

I think you right about the understanding that is in this country and the UK. Dr. Ashton is my hero and I have been in touch with a Malcolm Lader, a professor of psychiatry who is retired now. He is a wonderful man and has written extensively about benzos.

 

http://www.benzo.org.uk/lader2.htm

 

Have a great day wherever you are

 

Moya x

Yes, Moya, I've come across many articles by -- and mentions of -- Dr. Malcolm Lader. It's so important to have knowledgeable and respected people in this field, and I'm grateful to both Dr. Ashton and Dr. Lader for their work in the area of benzodiazepines. They're leaders, and I hope others on both sides of the Atlantic will follow.