Addiction by Prescription: One Woman's Triumph And Fight For Change

This is a lucid account of the harrowing and humiliating symptoms experienced by those addicted to minor tranquillisers. Joan's story will resonate with families and individuals who have become innocent victims of benzodiazepine addiction. It will inspire hope to recovering benzo-users, but also highlights the dangers of long term prescribing of pyschotropic by G.P's to treat stress, and of the inadequate clinical testing of these drugs before thier wide-scale introduction & usage.
Joan's struggle to full health offers a positive example for others to follow. Perhaps, more importantly, a salutory lesson is to be be learnt by the drug regulatory bodies and medical profession from Joan's graphic description of life as an addict. They should now take action to help those millions of benzo-users to kick their addiction and come back to life! - An essential read...

Addiction by Prescription is a superb book! Written with excellent style, and captivating the reader to continue on. Reccommend to anyone taking benzodiazepines or knows anyone taking benzodiazepines. This book finaly brings to light the horrifying effects that tranquilizers and sleeping pills have on a person. Not only when your taking them, but long after you've been off of them. Joan Gadsby work, research, and passion will save a lot of lifes. She is a Hero ! Buy her book NOW !!

One womans fight for change. And change it is! This book is clearing the shelves at bookstores so quickly in Victoria, I feel lucky to have bought the second to last one at Chapters. I could not wait to get comfortable at home and start my journey. It has taken three days to complete it. And what a journey it has been! And still is. The experience, strength, and hope that myself and thousands of other sufferers of benzo addiction will have. For myself, a lifetime of alcohol abuse and prescription drug use came to an end when I entered A.A. Actually, after nine months without alcohol and getting much worse. I had to look at maybe the psyciatrists "help" with prescribing four meds.(drugs) at one time may be the problem. I started to balk at not being able to function and her answer was to"Lets throw another psyciatric highball at you and see what happens!" All this time I figured that since I was doing so badly on these things, I would probably fold completely if I stopped taking them. But something happened that made me very angry with my Doctor and I refused to return to her. After two days of being terrified I actually began to function as the drugs left my system. Then, after a few more days withdrawl from the benzos began. It was the Drug and Alcohol councellor that offered the information on what I was experiencing. NOT MY GP! Thanks

I was enlightened by this book. I am an addictions counsellor and nobody had told me the pain and suffering benzodiazepines could cause, while using them and while withdrawing from them. I was able to pass the information along to a client who had been combining alcohol and a benzo prescription and behaving very unusually. Normally a mild-mannered man, he was charged with assault on a police officer. This book was an eye-opener, the public needs to be told! Joan's book helped me professionally and personally. You won't put it down and you won't be the same after you read it.

Praise for Addiction by Prescription

"It is over 20 years since I, with others, first drew attention to the extent and severity of dependence on therapeutic doses of benzodiazepines. The suffering goes on, but Joan Gadsby's well researched story should help focus public attention on this appalling problem and it's solution."
---Dr. Malcolm Lader, Professor of Clinical Psychopharmacology, Institute of Psychiatry, London, England

"...a must read for anybody who has ever taken or considered taking a prescription sleeping pill for more than 1 to 2 weeks. It is also essential reading for those of us who prescribe or dispense these pills."
--Dr. James M. Wright, Departments of Pharmacology & Therapeutics and Medicine, University of British Columbia

"This is a harrowing and brutally frank story of one woman's struggle to free herself from mind-numbing and soul destroying tranquilizing drugs....But she did triumph and has produced a powerful call to action...."
--Dr. David Cohen, Professor, School of Social Sciences, University of Montreal, and co-author of Your Drug May Be Your Problem: How and Why to Stop Taking Psychiatric Drugs

What I found remarkable about Ms Joan Gadsby's book is the lucid account of a life maimed and misdirected not only by benzodiazepines, but by the abysmal ignorance of the medical profession regarding these drugs.

Ms Gadsby's life journey takes us through a harrowing, personal look at the challenges and hardships faced by a promising career woman under the influence; an influence which emanates entirely from a dangerously irresponsible treatment of grief and anxiety.

It is extraordinary how a woman of such high intelligence and tremendous achievement in the areas of corporate management and political activism survived such a drug-induced obstacle course, replete with family tragedy. It is a tribute to her courage and determination that she has been able to reveal the truth about "minor tranquillizers".

Ms Gadsby is not the first woman whose career and family life have been tested and shattered by the needless prescription of benzodiazepines; let's hope it is one of the last.

This book should be considered a call to action.

I have read every book written by a survivor of benzodiazepines and by far Joan's book is the best. The first part of the book you get to know Joan and what she was like prior to prescription drugs. Then you are led into her withdrawal and through her chapter on mounting evidences, etc. How many more people must suffer before the truth about these drugs is known. Thank God, Joan had the strength to survivor her iatrogenic illness and the guts, determination and energy to fight back to help make the medical profession accountable and aware of what the truth about these prescription medications is. If you or a loved one has suffered from prescription medication, this book is a must read. It is not a self help book, it is a book to make you understand what you are or have gone through and aware of what we should have known all along from our doctors.

Having read many books on the subject, I would say that this is one of the best books written explaining the harm these drugs do and the difficulties that many experience trying to withdraw from them. It exposes, with well researched documentation, a code of silence entrenched in the medical community to cover the damage done but also has many references to support groups, help groups and advocacy groups world wide. The book is currently getting much media publicity and is sure to help rock the medical establishment and provide much needed information to those who are "accidently addicted" to this horrible class of drugs that destroy hundreds of thousands of lives yearly and yet is prescribed like candy to millions of people yearly by irresponsible doctors. Why do so many doctors ignore the first commandment in their code of ethics: "Do no harm" ? I recommend this book highly and it is a real eye opener. It is also very timely as, finally, even government officials are saying enough is enough and more and more action is being taken by groups in different countries with backing of MPs to help stem the tide of mis-prescription of benzos and to try to get help for those innocent people trying to withdraw from them but find they are experiencing withdrawal symptoms as bad as heroin but, in many cases, more prolonged.