e-2930 (Health)
- Keywords
- Canadian Forces
- Inquiries and public inquiries
- Mental health
- Prescription drugs
- Royal Canadian Mounted Police
Original language of petition: English
Petition to the Government of Canada
- The Government of Canada oversees healthcare for the Canadian Armed Forces, the RCMP, and veterans;
- Psychiatric medications are the first-line treatment for mental health problems among members;
- Mounting evidence raises concerns over long-term medication usage (e.g., neurocognitive impairment);
- The neurotoxic side effects of psychiatric medications are well-established (e.g., gastrointestinal problems, irritability, emotional blunting/numbing, and cognitive fogging) but these are generally regarded as transient, non-serious events among prescribers;
- This petition argues for the selection of non-medical research teams;
- Ideally, a prospective multi-year study is warranted;
- Given the importance of this issue, collaborative researchers skilled in multimodal (i.e., quantitative and qualitative) investigations are requested;
- This time-sensitive strategy should prioritize and catalogue the experiences of members and their immediate families (e.g., emotional and mental status, interpersonal relationships, work capacity) for drug-prescribed groups and diagnostically matched non-prescribed groups;
- Findings from neuropsychological evaluations, blood analysis, and prescription records for randomly selected members would form a quantitative research component; and
- In the absence of Canadian research on the long-term effects of psychiatric medications.
- Open for signature
- November 20, 2020, at 10:26 a.m. (EDT)
- Closed for signature
- February 18, 2021, at 10:26 a.m. (EDT)