Heath Ledger died surrounded by six of America’s favourite drugs: Ambien (insomnia), Valium (anxiety), Zoloft (anti-depressant), Xanax (anxiety), Zoplicone (insomnia) and Donormyl (anti-histamine). Some of these are also the favourites for mass shootings that end with suicide.When people from the USA and Canada write to me for health advice, it turns out more often than not that they are on one or other of these pills as well as others, typically for blood pressure and cholesterol. Strangely, one of the most popular pills of today, Viagra and its variants, has never once been listed by a writer. I wonder why? But I digress...
What is most disturbing about the discussions surrounding Ledger's death is the casual way the role of "legal" prescription drugs is noted and then passed over.
The doctors who prescribed these harmful and addictive drugs to a young and troubled man should be hauled before the courts and held accountable, as should the companies that manufacture them and spend over $50 billion (US) a year pushing them.
