Prescription-Drug-Induced Violence Medicines Best Kept Secret?Data Based Medicine Americas Ltd. announces free online tool to show possible links between prescription drugs and violence. Violence and other potentially criminal behavior caused by prescription drugs are medicines best kept secret, says Dr. David Healy, a world-renowned psychiatrist who has written extensively about the lack of data in evidence-based medicine, including in his latest book, Pharmageddon. Healy says this is a global issue, with medical, legal, ethical, and profound public policy dimensions. Never before in the fields of medicine and law have there been so many events with so much concealed data and so little focused expertise. Can prescription drugs cause you to kill someone? Absolutely, says Healy. The Violence Zone allows users to enter the name of a prescription drug and see the side effects relating to violent acts and thoughts that have been reported to the FDAs MedWatch System since 2004, as well as to RxISK, for more than 35,000 drug names from 103 countries. The data is presented in tables, tag clouds, heat maps, and interactive graphs, showing whats happening with other people taking the same drug around the world and in a users community. We are collecting this critical information directly from patients one report at a time, says Healy. As more reports are filed, the RxISK database will become the most comprehensive source of independent information on what prescription drugs do and their capacities to relieve aggression or to trigger violence. Dr. Dee Mangin, Data Based Medicines Chief Medical Officer and a professor and Director of Research in the Department of Public Health and General Practice at the University of Otago in New Zealand, says, Violence has not traditionally been seen as a medical problem, but the range of drugs now linked to violence has grown, including drugs used in smoking cessation, dermatology, asthma, weight loss, insomnia, and behavior. Mangin says some drugs can also cause vivid, frightening dreams. Its important to find out if there is a connection between violent dreams or thoughts and your prescriptions so that adjustments can be made before you act on them. About Data Based Medicine Americas Ltd. RxISk.org is owned and operated by Data Based Medicine Americas Ltd. (DBM), based in Toronto, Canada. DBMsfounders have international reputations in early drug-side-effect detection and risk mitigation, pharmacovigilance, and patient-centered care. Although drug side effects are known to be a leading cause of death and disability, less than 5% of serious drug side effects are reported. DBMs mission is to capture this missing data directly from patients through RxISK.orgs free drug side effect reporting tool and use this data to help make medicines safer for all of us. Media contact Read other articles and press releases from selfnews Post Here linkwithin_text=Related Articles: 