Know Your Drugs is a global awareness campaign, with a portal to information, resources and tools that will help people make informed choices about prescription drug use. David Carmichael developed Know Your Drugs in 2017 and manages the campaign.
David talking about the importance of making informed choices about prescription drug use
About David Carmichael (chronology)
In 1985, David Carmichael graduated from York University in Toronto, Canada with a master’s degree in physical education with a specialization in the physiology and psychology of coaching. From 1985 until 2004, David had a successful career in the physical activity and sport sector, including as development officer at the Western Australian Amateur Wrestling Association (WrestlingWA), high performance director at the Ontario Amateur Wrestling Association (OAWA), director of research and development at the Ontario Physical and Health Education Association (OPHEA), director of national projects at ParticipACTION, and a course conductor on long-term athlete development for the Coaching Association of Canada.
In July 2004, David had a psychotic episode shortly after starting the SSRI (selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor) antidepressant Paxil and planned, appeared normal and then calmly took the life of his 11-year-old son, Ian, on July 31 in London, Canada and was charged with first-degree murder. Both the forensic psychiatrist hired by his criminal defense lawyer and the forensic psychiatrist hired by the crown attorney (prosecutor) diagnosed David as suffering from “major depression with psychotic episodes” at the time of his homicide, which resulted in a joint resolution and judgment in September 2005 of not criminally responsible (insane at the time). Paxil was not discussed at his trial. In October 2005, David was institutionalized in a mental health centre (forensic psychiatric hospital). He was conditionally discharged in December 2007, which allowed him to live with his wife and daughter again. David received an absolute discharge from the Ontario Review Board in December 2009, and has been off psychiatric drugs since September 2010.
Lawsuit Against GlaxoSmithKline
In 2011, David filed a lawsuit against GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), the manufacturer of Paxil, claiming that they fraudulently concealed clinical trial data about suicidal and homicidal side effects, which prevented him from making an informed choice about use. His lawsuit was ultimately dismissed in 2021 by the Supreme Court of Canada based on a statute of limitations motion filed by GSK in 2017, so he was not able to put Paxil on Trial.
Preventing Other Tragedies
To help prevent other SSRI antidepressant tragedies, David and his daughter talked about their family tragedy in the 2017 documentary Letters from Generation Rx, the 2017 BBC Panorama documentary A Prescription for Murder? and on The Dr. Oz Show in 2018.
The Carmichael family tragedy provided the basis for the CTV W5 episodes Over the Edge (2007) and The Problem with Pills (2021). David also talked about his family tragedy and described his homicidal psychotic episode on Paxil in this 2021 interview for “My Big Story,” a current affairs show produced by ABC Channel 7 News in Australia.
David provided an overview of his story in the 2026 TMZ Investigates documentary The Reiner Murders: What Really Happened that aired on Fox on January 9 and is now streaming on Hulu. After the documentary aired, the not criminally responsible judgement that David received in Canada was compared to the potential for Nick Reiner to be judged not guilty by reason of insanity on several social media platforms, including in this episode of the Hidden Killers podcast.
In March 2025, David shared his story in the 9-minute opening segment of this 60-minute podcast with Dr. Josef Witt-Doerring, a psychiatrist and former medical officer in the division of psychiatry at the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) in the United States, who has also worked at pharmaceutical companies in clinical research and drug safety positions.
Sport for Mental Health
In 2025, David merged his 20-year career in the physical activity and sport sector and his career since 2006 as a prescription drug safety advocate and developed Sport for Mental Health as an information portal for coaches who want to help athletes build their self-esteem and develop mental skills, which would help prevent the overprescribing of psychiatric drugs.
David was interviewed often by the media about healthy child development through sport and long-term athlete development. Here are a few examples from the 1990s:
- Canadian Living Television, 1999 (3:35)
- TSN Inside Sports, 1994 (16:51)
- CBC Newsworld, Coast to Coast, 1991 (10:51)
- TVO, 1991 (6:20)