Available 1

All approved drugs for mental health should be available.
Provinces vary in what medications they choose to permit.
BY AUSTIN MARDON

When new drugs come onto the market, they are reviewed by the federal government. Approval by the Common Drug Review means that a drug is legal to be prescribed in Canada.

A province may then decide whether to put the approved drugs on the provincial formulary. Approval by Ottawa does not necessarily result in approval at the provincial level.

If it is approved at the federal level and not at the provincial level then it is up to the individual to pay for the medication. For those of us who have mental illnesses, we can feel like orphans at times. For many decades, it seemed as if no one was willing to speak for us, and to fight for the medications that we need.

Recently, it seems as if the federal government is beginning to change. The 2007 budget committed $55 million dollars to launch a Mental Health Commission which is now in operation. Additionally, in the 2008 budget the government committed another $110 million to the new mental health Commission for projects aimed at helping the mentally ill homeless.

These new progressive policies are a good first step towards trying to include the mentally ill in our society. Since I was diagnosed with schizophrenia in 1992, one of my greatest fears has been the idea of ending up homeless. When I was first diagnosed, the only medications available to me were the older medications. They allowed me to survive, but my life consisted of watching TV. I was not capable of much else.

When the new atypical neuraleptics came on the market, the change was dramatic. I was able to reclaim large portions of my life. I began to be able to return to my professional pursuits. The new medications were a vast improvement, but they did leave me quite sedated.

I slept 12-14 hours every day. When I was awake, I had to ingest enormous quantities of coffee in order to function. At the high dose that was necessary, the medication also came with some nasty side effects. When I was given the opportunity to try a new delivery system of the same medication, I was skeptical at first, but my physician encouraged me to make the switch.

Changing to the new formulation of my medication, so that I received it by slow release at a constant lower dosage, made another drastic change in my life. I began to sleep only 7 to 8 hours a day. that means I am awake for 40 hours more a week that I used to be. Most of the side effects were greatly diminished.

I still live my life in fear of another nervous breakdown. There is especially the constant fear that the medication that has given me my life back will stop working for me. That routinely happens with schizophrenics. This is why new medications, new dosages of old medications, or new delivery systems of current medications, need to be approved as quickly as possible. In Alberta the labour shortage has given us the opportunity and obligation to provide every person who is capable of obtaining employment the help they need to achieve their goals.

Just as each of us is different, every disabled person is different, with different capabilities and different possibilities. There are the obvious accomodations to aid accessibility to those with physical disabilities. The main accomodation that the mentally ill require to be able to stay in the job market, or re-enter it, is to provide the medications that they need.

We all assume that pharmaceutical companies are only interested in their financial bottom line, and they are. It takes a minimum of $800 million dollars to bring a medication from a scientists glimmer to a pharmacists shelf. The government is not able to fund that kind of research.

Instead of being suspicious of their motives, we should be thankful that someone is doing the research and producing the medications that save lives and minds. The medication that has so improved my life isn't on the formulary for Alberta even though it was approved by the federal government several years ago. I have to have special permission to receive it.

When I see a dishevelled person walking in my neighbourhood, talking to themselves, obviously homeless, I feel guilty. I wish that person could have the same access to medication that I have. If we want to see an end to homelessness among this vulnerable population, we have to give everyone with a mental illness the opportunity to have access to the medication or medications that can stabilize them to allow them to rejoin our society.

So the question I am often asked is why doesn't the government put every medication that has proven to be safe and potentially beneficial to Canadians on the formulary? I believe the primary reason is simply cost. Government officials will say that the medication is too expensive. They are very hesitant to approve a new formulation of an already approved medication. I think they believe that the manufacturers are attempting to maintain their market share by making small changes. What they fail to realize is that the same basic chemical composition of a medication may have different therapeutic outcomes depending on the dosage, and the delivery system. This is especially true for psychiatric medications. I am on the same medication today, that I was on five years ago, but because I now take a sustained release formulation, the side effects are vastly reduced, and my life is so much more fuller and more productive. I would hate to think that the government would be so short sighted not to realize the benefit to our society of allowing those with mental illnesses to become contribution member of society again

Schizophrenia costs the health system in Canada nearly $4 billion a year. That amount doesn't include the loss of productivity to our country from this illness, that strikes individuals in their prime wage-earning years.

It also doesn't include the loss from the workforce of parents or siblings that have to care for an ill family member who isn't properly medicated. It especially doesn't include the pain and anguish that this disease wreaks on the individual and the people in their lives that love and care about them. Every new medication that has shown to be effective and safe should be made available. If we were talking about a drug for Alzheimers or cancer, there would be no debate.

The Canadian Agency for Drugs and Technologies in Health is meeting in the coming weeks for the Common Drug Review. I urge those who have an interest in seeing necessary medications placed on the federal and provincial formulary to contact their Member of Parliament and local MLAs to voice their support.

Post Office Box 1223 Main Post Office Edmonton, Alberta, CANADA T5J 2M4 Telephone 780-378-0063

Website designed and maintained by www.geocities.com/aaaawebs