World Poker Tours: Drug Induced Gambling

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Drug Induced Gambling

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World Poker Tours - Drug Induced Gambling

A man from Ontario Canada claims that he developed a gambling
problem as a result of using a Parkinson"s drug called Mirapex. The
Toronto law firm Thomson, Rogers, will lead a class action lawsuit
headed by the claimant. The plaintiffs are looking for compensation
from the drug"s Canadian manufacturer, Boehringer Ingelheim
(Canada) Ltd., and two American corporations, Boehringer Ingelheim
Pharmaceuticals and Pfizer.

No comment from all
three drug-makers was available by late Monday afternoon. Gerard
Schick, the 56-year-old plaintiff from Midland, Ont., filed a
statement of claim in the Ontario Superior Court of Justice last
Thursday, saying he started taking Mirapex in August 1999, two
years after being diagnosed with Parkinson"s. "Soon after taking
this drug, once the dosage was increased a bit, within a few months
he started gambling compulsively", Darcy Merkur, Schick"s lawyer,
said Monday. "And this is not a person who had a propensity to
gamble. This is a gentleman who, on an annual basis, would spend no
more than $100 gambling".

The Ontario man, a
married father of two, and grandfather to three, gambled
"relentlessly" at casinos and racetracks, and spent "large sums of
money on lottery tickets" after taking Mirapex, says the statement.
After maxing-out his credit cards, cleaning out his bank accounts
and borrowing from friends and family members, Schick says he and
his wife were forced to file for bankruptcy and sell their home.
"Over the course of a few years (he) lost in excess of $100,000",
says Merkur. "We"ve spoken to five people already in Canada who
have suffered a similar experience and have lost anywhere from
$100,000 to $750,000". The statement of claim alleges the
defendants "purposefully downplayed and understated the health
hazards and risks associated with the use of Mirapex". None of the
allegations have been proven in court.

The
class-action suit, which requires the approval by a judge to
proceed, seeks - among other things - general damages in the amount
of $3 million for each claimant and damages for gambling losses
.Merkur expects "about 100 people" to come forward with claims
.Mirapex, the brand name for pramipexole dihydrochloride, was
approved for sale in Canada in October 1999. It belongs to a class
of drugs called dopamine agonists, which mimic the action of
dopamine, a monoamine neurotransmitter that"s lacking in the brains
of Parkinson"s sufferers. Dr. Mandar Jog, associate professor of
neurology at the University of Western Ontario, says the entire
class of drugs has been linked to obsessional behaviour, gambling
being one of them. "There are many other obsessional behaviours
that can occur in Parkinson"s disease patients", he said Monday
from his London, Ont., office. "I wouldn"t say that it is
exclusively related to this drug by any means, but it has been
reported with Mirapex".

Jog, who is the director
of the Movement Disorder Clinic at the London Health Sciences
Centre, says it"s not known if the problem is \"an exaggeration of
a pre-existing condition to a certain extent or whether it is an
entirely drug-induced phenomenon". Jog points out that stimulation
of the dopamine chemical can also result in "other types of
phenomena", including hyper sexuality and aggressiveness. He also
says patients are warned of the side-effects of the drugs, adding
that the benefits outweigh the negatives. "These drugs have made a
huge impact in the treatment of Parkinson"s disease".

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