Health committee  Well, I mean, you've summed it up. I think the contribution of psychiatric drugs and the extent to which we are using them is contributing to chronic mental health problems and people seeing themselves as chronically ill. I think psychiatric drugs make a huge contribution to that.

Health committee  Okay. She was prescribed a heavy-duty sedative when she was a student at university. She had all kinds of psychiatric diagnoses and took more and more psychiatric drugs. She lived a very dysfunctional life for 40 years until she tapered off each one of the psychiatric drugs. She's now living a very positive life.

Health committee  I don't know how much attention people pay to safety warnings. I think it's one small component of drug safety. I think it should be done. I think people underestimate side effects. I think health providers need to know that when a person is starting on an anti-depressant they should be very carefully monitored.

Health committee  Absolutely. When you look at the aboriginal population, and aboriginal women particularly, that group gets a high level not just of psychiatric drugs but also opiates and opiate painkillers. That's a dynamite combination, opiates and psychiatric drugs. I definitely think this is something we should look at.

Health committee  Yes, fine. Yes, now.

Health committee  I think your question is a very good one, and I think that parents are very frustrated because it falls upon the family to make these decisions. I think there are a number of options. Can you hear me okay?

Health committee  Are you able to hear me?

Health committee  I can give you an example of a colleague who works as a social worker in an urban school system in Canada. She sees children who have these kinds of problems. As an experienced teacher and social worker, she is able to work with the families and with the children in terms of modifying behaviour, particularly in supporting the parents, because many parents are under a great deal of stress and the child is a kind of manifestation of this stress.

Health committee  It's exactly what we're talking about. I think there's been a reluctance, particularly by the medical profession, to feel that a drug they're prescribing actually can result in addiction. But there's no question that the dynamics in the brain are similar to.... In fact, researchers with some very good reputations have done comparisons, for example, of Effexor, a very common antidepressant, with other drugs such as cocaine.

Health committee  I can. Oh no, I can't.

Health committee  Thank you very much for asking me to submit to you today. As the chair said, I'm presenting for the Psychiatric Medication Awareness Group, which is a web-based information support group for people on psychiatric drugs. I'm also the co-chair of the Canadian Women's Health Network, and have contributed to many Health Canada regulatory hearings, and was a member of the expert advisory panel on the vigilance of health products for five years.