Warning: This story contains discussions of suicide that may be triggering to some readers. If you're in a crisis, help is available by calling the Suicide Crisis Helpline, 998.
From his bed in the psychiatric ward at Vernon Jubilee Hospital, Ken Smedley wrote through the pain.
The Armstrong playwright put pen to paper during his extended hospital stay to get him through moments when the pain was unbearable.
Though it ebbs and flows, the pain is constant. It eases when he lays down but it's always there, in the background, unaccounted for, with doctors and other health care professionals unable to tell him exactly where the pain is coming from, what went wrong.
But Smedley and his daughter, Angelina Rosa Smedley-Kohl, have investigated the cause on their own. They believe Smedley suffers from a benzodiazepine withdrawal injury, a neurological injury that isn't well understood even in professional health care circles.
A culture warrior goes into the shadows
Smedley has written 10 plays in a productive and at times illustrious career as a playwright. He's also a talented musician (his original rock 'n' roll songs can be found on ). He has been a cultural promoter for decades. For 17 years he worked to promote arts and culture throughout the Okanagan and at the Summerland home of acclaimed playwright and novelist George Ryga. The home stood as the George Ryga Cultural Centre, a retreat for writers and musicians, before it closed in 2014.
Smedley also co-founded the George Ryga Award for Social Awareness in Literature which still continues to this day.
After decades at the forefront of the North Okanagan's culture scene, readers of Smedley's work may wonder what became of him.
The answer is that before recently being discharged and returning home, he was tucked away in the Vernon hospital, "for too long," he told The Morning Star in May as the sun came from the window of his nook in the psych ward, casting light on the books and notepads that encircled his temporary living quarters.
His "too long" stay was long enough for him to write a play.
Schadenfreude is a play by Smedley in collaboration with his daughter and with Dorian Kohl, his partner for the past 50 years. It tells the story of a hospitalized patient who suffers the infliction of an extreme state of schadenfreude 鈥� the German word for the pleasure one derives from another's misfortune. The patient also bears a severe "agonizing condition" that manifests as unrelenting pain and anxiety. Invasive thoughts bombard the patient's mind through waking hours and into his dreams as he waits for a cure, for relief, for a higher power to deliver him from his plight.
Smedley's play, written from start to finish in the hospital, is not strictly autobiographical though he said it draws "to a degree" from his own experiences in the health care system.
"It started out just as an exercise for voices, and dealing with a situation that pits the individual versus the system 鈥� or it illustrates the power dynamic between the two," Smedley said of the play.
Autobiographical or not, the play mirrors some of the system failures that led to Smedley's extended hospital stay; chiefly, that he was abruptly taken off benzodiazepines after being prescribed the sedating, psychoactive drug daily, off and on and at times at high doses for almost 50 years.
Benzodiazepines: commonly prescribed, not commonly understood
According to the Cleveland Clinic, benzodiazepines (benzos) are a class of medication that slow down the brain and the nervous system. They are most often prescribed to treat anxiety, mental health issues and insomnia, as well as brain-related conditions such as seizures.
The clinic notes that benzos can have dangerous effects, especially if misused. They can be addictive, can interact dangerously with alcohol and other substances, and can lead to overdose. They should not be prescribed daily, according to the clinic.
Benzos have become a problem in the context of B.C.'s overdose crisis, as they are increasingly showing up in street drugs where they block overdose inhibitors such as naloxone, leading to more overdoses. According to statistics from the BC Coroners Service released in June, the presence of benzos in fatal overdoses has been on a steady incline. Benzos were a factor in 28.8 per cent of unregulated drug deaths in 2021, 30.2 per cent in 2022, 43.7 per cent in 2023 and 47.5 per cent in 2024.
The risks associated with benzos are much better known today then they were 50 years ago, when Smedley, then 17, was first prescribed them following a suicide attempt which stemmed from sexual abuse he'd suffered.
"In coming out of that impactful situation I got started with a psychiatrist who was my psychiatrist for about 20 years or so, and he put me on the benzodiazepine regime," Smedley said.
He was in a desperate situation, and agreed to take the meds while undergoing regular sessions with the psychiatrist.
"They didn't know," Smedley said of health care professionals' understanding of benzos back then.
"It was an experiment," added Smedley-Kohl.
What they didn't know at the time was the fallout that would occur when nearly 50 years later Smedley was advised to stop taking benzos altogether last year.
Smedley, his daughter and his partner believe he suffers from Benzodiazepine Induced Neurological Dysfunction (BIND), a condition also referred to as protracted withdrawal injury.
According to the , BIND refers to a range of symptoms that persist long after a person stops taking benzos. Sometimes the symptoms appear while someone is actively using a benzo or while tapering off of it. The Alliance says people who use benzos for longer than a mere two to four weeks have a 20 per cent chance of suffering from BIND.
"What鈥檚 worrying is that these symptoms can be quite severe and different from the reasons why the medication was originally prescribed," the Alliance states on its benzo information webpage.
Smedley-Kohl says it's been frustrating to encounter a health care system that seems ill-equipped to prevent or treat her father's apparent BIND symptoms.
鈥淭he issue is that it seems like medical communities are not fully understanding the problem or finding the solution, because it's just coming out in the open that benzodiazepines are a source of serious suffering," she said.
Explaining what she's learned about benzos, Smedley-Kohl said they're "very addictive, and they also become ineffective after those four weeks. Then continuing to prescribe them becomes, I guess, a method of sedating a person or trying to manage the fact that they're so difficult to withdraw from."
Smedley-Kohl says no one who her father has received care from has refuted what she's learned about BIND. Rather, her findings are usually met with silence.
Smedley had an overdose on benzos in May 2024 and went to the hospital. That's when he became the subject of an "error on the part of the medical system," his daughter said, referring to the decision to completely stop his benzo intake without tapering off, 鈥渨hich we are fortunate didn鈥檛 result in a fatality.鈥�
Smedley-Kohl claims the local health care system has been confounded by her father's persistent symptoms.
"They did every kind of test they could possibly do, various doctors in the Vernon Jubilee Hospital and at the Kamloops hospital, and couldn't find anything," she said.
"I want a cure. I want to feel better again," Smedley added.
He made clear that staff at Vernon Jubilee were nothing but gracious and accommodating during his stay at the hospital, and were "most understanding and helpful" when it came to managing his condition.
But he and his daughter want change in the system. In particular, Smedley-Kohl wants doctors to give patients informed consent regarding the risks of benzo use. She also wants to advocate for Health Canada to step up and make box label warnings on benzo medications.
鈥淚n September 2020 the FDA made box warnings on their benzodiazepine medications. We need to to do it in Canada as well,鈥� she said.
Raising awareness
July 11 is World Benzodiazepine Awareness Day. It's also the day before Smedley's birthday.
His daughter wants to spread awareness about benzos, especially given they are a commonly prescribed medication.
"We're in the anxious generation of all kinds of youth that are super duper anxious and stressed and not sleeping well. If they go to a doctor and they're prescribed benzodiazepines, please be aware," she said.
She advocates for taking benzos only as a very short-term solution for anxiety, help with sleep or other aforementioned issues.
Smedley-Kohl points to the U.S. non-profit as a source of valuable information. The coalition was founded on the belief that the over-prescription of benzos without proper warning has led to a "growing national epidemic of benzodiazepine injury."
For Smedley, writing is a form of therapy. Writing Schadenfreude was a way to relieve the pain he's had to live with. He said in May he could see a "light at the end of the tunnel" and was able to leave hospital shortly after. But much like his beleaguered protagonist, he's still in search of a deliverance from suffering. He hopes to find an answer one day.
The Morning Star requested an interview with an Interior Health expert to discuss what is known locally about BIND, and benzos more broadly. The health authority did not arrange an interview by the time of this story's publication.
All of Smedley's plays are available for viewing at Headbones Gallery in Vernon.
His music is available for listening at .
