BBC Three is looking for people who are addicted to Benzos for a new documentary.

The programme aims to raise awareness about the highly addictive nature of these readily available drugs. 

Are you or someone you know taking Benzodiazepines? 

Are you unable to quit?  

Has your drug dependency affected your family life? 

If this sounds like you or someone you know then we would love to hear from you.

Email us for more details:

cherryfilms@renegadepictures.co.uk 

Applicants must be between the age of 18 - 39

SURVEYS - I am collecting statistical information from people who are taking benzodiazepines or are or have withdrawn from them. If this is you please help with this project and complete a survey. There is very little good information around about benzodiazepines or withdrawal and it is hoped that this project with go towards addressing this issue.

POLLS - This is a new section on this website. It is mainly for fun but it does answer some of those questions we all ask as we taper off these drugs.

PETITION - Please get behind this important piece of work.

We are pleased to announce a formal benzo petition is now on the docket of the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and is open for public comment from everyone (not just US citizens). These changes have the potential to impact benzo prescribing worldwide. Public comments WILL affect how the FDA rules on our requests--this is your chance to be heard. Please make the FDA aware of how benzodiazepine withdrawal has impacted your life. 

To comment on the petition click here 

(If you select 'individual consumer' from the pull down menu your comment will not be posted on the government website, only the FDA will see. When they ask for organization and third party just put N/A).

To read petition, click on the .pdf image here

To get full information, instructions on how to comment, a summary of the petition and a sample comment  click here

Margaret Mead: “… a small group of thoughtful citizens can change the world.  Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has”.   

FEATURED ARTICLES. This weeks suggested reading.

Prescribed Addiction - Face the Facts

Mass psychosis in the US - How Big Pharma got Americans hooked on anti-psychotic drugs.

Four in five GPs prescribe drugs to patients they believe are addicted

PEOPLE’S PHARMACY: Can drugs cause violent behavior?

Useless Studies, Real Harm
 

How the FDA Is Sleeping Through the Xanax Epidemic

"Why Docs Don't Like Xanax"

Misery of the tranquilliser addicts forced to go cold turkey by GPs By Jo Waters

Can Our Medical Model of Care Be Remade? — By Robert Whitaker

Drugs linked to brain damage 30 years ago - MPs and campaigners predict class action after failures to mount full-scale research into warnings left millions of patients at risk By Nina Lakhani

Relentless and Tragic Marketing: Psychiatric Drugs from Before the Cradle to the Grave by John Breeding, PhD and Amy Philo

America’s mental illness epidemic: It turns out that the drugs are the problem

Benzodiazepines - Benzodiazepine drugs have been described as a 40-year plus horror story for tens of thousands of people in the UK, a scandal that has never been properly addressed. The scandal arose in the 1980's, after thousands of patients were found to have become horribly addicted to drugs like Librium and Valium. The victims complained of DIEs such as blackouts, epileptic seizures, memory loss, brain damage, insomnia and personality change. What is far worse is that many people who suffered these Benzodiazepine effects still do so - so clearly these were DIEs and not merely 'side-effects' or 'adverse reactions'!

Bruce Barnett's Story - Tranquilliser Terror - The long battle to overcome an insidious addiction - New Idea, New Zealand - August 14, 1995 - Story by Kimberley Pater

Drugs for Schizophrenia May Exacerbate Loss of Brain Tissue, Study Finds
By Michelle Fay Cortez - Feb 8, 2011 11:18 AM GMT+1300

John Perrott's Meeting with the Royal College of General Practitioners - Proposed agenda for discussion on involuntary tranquilliser addiction with Dr Harris, Head SMU, RCGP, Simon Ashmore, Head of Communications RCGP and John Perrott, Lancaster, Monday 28th March 2011.

The Brave New World of Pre-Drugging Kids: Patrick McGorry & Psychosis Risk Syndrome | New Dawn : The World's Most Unusual Magazine

One Quarter of Antidepressant Users Did Not Have Proper Diagnosis

Psychiatric drugs as agents of Trauma

Top 25 Psychiatric Prescriptions for 2009 By John M. Grohol, Psy.D. Note the percentage increases of benzodiazepine scripts since 2005 - all are up. Also note that there are three benzodiazepines on the list - Xanax, Ativan and Valium - if you total them you are looking at around 85 million scripts, considerably higher than the second mediation on the list.

Doctor’s Orders: Don’t Stay Alone in a Hospital by Atul Gawande Surgeon, New Yorker Writer

I lost ten years of my life as a middle class, NHS sponsored drug addict... By Philip Robinson

Doctors ignored drugs warnings - A 30-year-old document revealing doctors’ fears about the number of people addicted to benzodiazepine drugs has been uncovered by the Beat the Benzos group.

More evidence on overuse of antipsychotics

Evidence for Atypical Antipsychotic Drugs Called into Question By Psych Central News Editor
Reviewed by John M. Grohol, Psy.D. on January 8, 2011

More Research - although this site doesn't appear to be in English, once you get into the index all the abstracts are in English - they detail many of the problems with benzodiazepines.

Reclaiming your power during medication appointments with your psychiatrist

Helping Reduce Medications

How to Support Someone in Benzodiazepine Withdrawal by By V Baylissa Frederick