PRESCRIBED ADDICTION RECOUNTED

Former North Van Councillor Details Lengthy Drug Addiction

JOAN Gadsby wrote her new book, Addicted by Prescription, as a
follow-up to Barbara Gordon's 1979 story I'm Dancing as Fast as I Can.

Both use their books to tell of their harrowing experiences of being
dependent on doctor-prescribed medication.

Both explain how they suffered withdrawal and subsequently learned how
to live without the drugs.

And just as Gordon's book was a bestseller, so Gadsby anticipates hers
will be.

But unlike Gordon's final conclusion that her battle was not with pill
pushers but with herself, Gadsby continues to hold everyone but
herself accountable for her drug abuse problems.

Despite her numerous overdoses, usually resulting from mixing the
pills with alcohol, Gadsby claims she never thought her prescriptions
were the problem. She blames her doctors, the health care system and
drug companies for her addiction.

While, undoubtedly, each of these played a role in her addiction,
Gadsby completely absolves herself from any responsibility for her
23-year addiction that is described in her book.

This glaring omission is all the more unfortunate because it mars an
otherwise insightful look at one woman's battle with prescription drug
addiction.

The book is the former District of North Vancouver councillor's latest
effort to draw awareness to the issue of prescription drug dependency.

Gadsby has been committed to fighting against improper benzodiazepine
(benzo) prescribing since she came off the drugs 10 years ago.

She's produced an interesting, extensively researched and well-written
read. It is a useful resource for those wanting to understand the
turmoil addicts of commonly prescribed drugs face, both when on the
drugs and once they come off.

Gadsby outlines her struggle that began with the death of her
four-year-old son on Christmas Day, 1966.

Her marriage began to fall apart and she started to have trouble
sleeping.

Once Gadsby confessed these troubling circumstances to her family
physician, he prescribed sleeping pills.

Eventually Gadsby found herself on a "chemical cocktail" of
tranquilizers, sleeping pills and anti-depressants.

Increased dosages and additional benzo prescriptions led to her
subsequent dependency. The highly addictive group of drugs included
Valium, Ativan, Serax and Restoril.

During her dependency, she found herself arrested, jailed and
hospitalized.

Sadly, she was often prescribed more drugs to deal with what doctors
and psychiatrists called at different times a mood disorder, bipolar
disorder and an emotional imbalance.

Gadsby, who eventually went on to sit on the Lions Gate Hospital
board, often appeared in the headlines after her numerous and very
public violent outbursts.

Gadsby described such actions as completely out of character and said
that the drugs changed her into a different person.

"As I found out much later, the two different types of benzodiazepines
I had been prescribed and faithfully took every day affected my
central nervous system in much the same way as mixing one of them with
alcohol would have. There is no debate about this; it is an
established medical fact. Yet the medical establishment consistently
attributed all of my problems to emotional instability and alcohol."

After she stopped taking the drugs, she went into serious withdrawal.
She experienced hallucinations, anxiety, trouble sleeping and impaired
concentration.

A particularly strong aspect to the book is Gadsby's call to action at
the end. She outlines the measures she personally has undertaken to
fight the prescription of benzos. She also describes various resources
for people wanting to get off the drugs and common side effects.

Gadsby provides an extensive summary of the information available
about the dangers of benzodiazepines, and a thorough
bibliography.

Furthermore, she details the international efforts that have been
taken to stop the prescription of benzos.

Her proactive approach to taking her life back is a strong force in
the book and, as happened with Gordon's story, Gadsby has plans to
raise further attention to this issue by trying to turn her book into
a television movie of the week.