While I totally agree that something can be done, one line does need to be taken out of that post and that is people using drugs at above accepted theraputic limits. The vast majority of people on psychotropic medications are on them at above theraputic limits, and the vast majority of them are forced to take them. The vast majority are also having them prescribed off label. When the government allows prescriptions to be written (as they require authority for these prescriptions) and pharmacists are able to fill them then people will continue to die from preventable deaths. These medications can be toxic enough, but when they are being prescribed at non tested ranges, often 2, 3 and 4 times those levels, one really wonders how it is allowed to happen. Further antipsychotic medications, despite being the most toxic outside of chemotherapy drugs for cancer do not have any information leaflets in them. Hence the amount of off label prescriptions that are being written, without people even knowing about it is huge.
Antipsychotics are routinely prescribed for preschoolers with autism, it sedates them, but one would expect that valium would do the same thing with significanlty less risks. Over 98% of these prescriptions are claimed on the PBS, which requires a diagnosis of schizophrenia. Given that we have an epidemic of children now with schizophrenia, given how many of these prescriptions are being written with that diagnosis given, one would think that someone in authority is asking questions, but they are not.
While there is no doubt that the government has a hell of alot of information about people’s prescribing habits, it is much more complicated than just allowing information sharing. There also needs to be real limits made to how and when people are prescribed certain medications, especially when they are funded by the taxpayer and one automatically thinks that they are OK and safe, as they are not just able to be prescribed, but also covered under the PBS.
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