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‘Western doctors overprescribe drugs’ – Jordan Peterson’s daughter Mikhaila tells RT why he went to Russia for treatment
from RT:
Canadian psychologist Jordan Peterson chose Russia for his detox because the country’s medical industry is less dependent on big pharma than North America’s, his daughter Mikhaila told RT’s World Apart program.
Peterson, who rose to fame for his vocal and unapologetic opposition to extreme political correctness, has been struggling with an addiction to the drug clonazepam for over a year now. The benzodiazepine-class tranquilizer was prescribed to the University of Toronto professor and author of bestselling book ‘12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos’ in 2017, to tackle anxiety caused by his lasting autoimmune problems. But the addiction only became apparent to the family last year when the psychologist’s wife was diagnosed with cancer, from which she has now recovered.
Prominent health vlogger Mikhaila Peterson, who has struggled with harsh autoimmune problems of her own – but managed to solve them by developing the so-called ‘Lion Diet’ – said that her father tried to quit the drug by going ‘cold turkey’, but it led to “horrific withdrawal,” putting his life at risk.
Going to Russia for treatment at the start of the year was a “terrifying decision” for the family, Mikhaila confessed to host Oksana Boyko, as it’s not something people from the West usually do.
Benzodiazepine detox is a “fairly dangerous and extremely unpleasant” procedure, and the Petersons simply couldn’t find a medical institution that could perform it in North America, or anywhere else in the world.
“Coming here to do the detox was our last option,” Mikhaila said, explaining that the psychologist experienced a “terrible last month. He nearly died several times.” But it seems the Russian move paid off, as Mikhaila revealed he is now “doing well, given the circumstances… He’s better than I’ve seen him in at least six months.”
The vlogger also warned of the “huge misunderstanding about the dangers of physical dependence” associated with benzodiazepine-class tranquilizers. Her father had an “extremely severe reaction” to the drug, but “I’ve had hundreds and hundreds of people reach out telling me they’ve had the same experience with benzodiazepine,” she said.
However, doctors keep prescribing the dangerous drug, and Peterson believes the reason for this is the overdependence of the medical industry in the US and Canada on pharmaceutical companies.
If you go to medical school, a lot of courses you take are backed by pharmaceutical companies. People, who are meaning well, go to medical school and are perhaps taught by the wrong people and then end up overprescribing.
Mikhaila said that “part of the reason we thought Russia was a good option is that the medical system here isn’t as backed by pharmaceutical companies as it is in North America.” When the host argued that big pharma has been trying to influence the government and medics in Russia too, she replied that “it’s not nearly as bad” as in the US or Canada.
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