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Sounding Board Archives by Year
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Sounding Board July-August 2003 Vol 43 # 3 |
Addiction by prescription: The hidden epidemic
"The impact in the workplace of prescription drug addiction to tranquillizers, sleeping pills and antidepressants costs companies millions of dollars, including lost productivity, impaired decision making, absenteeism, increased fringe benefit costs, WCB and disability insurance claims and safety issues," says Joan Gadsby, author of the internationally endorsed book, Addiction By Prescription — One Woman’s Triumph and Fight for Change. "Illegal drugs in the Vancouver Downtown Eastside have continued to receive considerable attention from the business community while prescription drug addiction — an ‘accidental addiction’ affecting an estimated 30 per cent of workers has received little attention or action."
A long-time Vancouver Board of Trade member, former marketing executive with four of Canada’s largest companies and former District of North Vancouver councillor, Gadsby in her book describes the horrors of prescription drug addiction, withdrawal, the devastation of people’s lives and the high socio–economic and health costs of continued indiscriminate prescribing and uninformed use of addictive drugs.
Released also in paperback by Key Porter Books, Addiction By Prescription includes extensive international research and includes a powerful call to action for accountability in the health-care system.
Gadsby also co-executive produced a television documentary, Our Pill Epidemic — the Shocking Story of a Society Hooked on Drugs which aired on CTV. The documentary investigates how and why millions worldwide become "medicine cabinet junkies."
Recognized internationally as an authority and public speaker on prescription drug addiction, Gadsby presented to the World Congress on mental health and recently to the World Forum on Drugs in Montreal and at a scientific symposium on the neuropsychiatric adverse effects of antidepressants/SSRI medications in Philadelphia.
Joan Gadsby is president and owner of Market Media International Corporation. She also acts as a consultant to various organizations and individuals. Visit Joan Gadsby’s web site at www.addictionbyprescription.com.
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