The most lukewarm part about all of this negative hype towards pharmaceuticals, is that I know it's all blown out of proportion when there are other
things in the world of comparable conflict, that blatantly surpass the side effects of beneficial drugs...
One of these things are alcoholic beverages. Noting that alcoholic beverages do not contain primarily alcohol, let's take a look at the definition of
alcohol by itself:
al·co·hol (n.):
A colorless volatile flammable liquid synthesized or obtained by fermentation of sugars and starches and widely used, either pure or denatured, as a
solvent and in drugs, cleaning solutions, explosives, and intoxicating beverages.
lets look at Methamphetamine:
meth·am·phet·a·mine (n):
An amine derivative of amphetamine, C10H15N, used in the form of its crystalline hydrochloride as a central nervous system stimulant, both medically
and illicitly. - also - ...used medically in the form of its crystalline hydrochloride especially in the treatment of obesity.
Adderall XR uses "amphetamine salts",
Patent ...this is a link to their (Shire
Laboratories') patent, which will explain everything you need to know about Adderall XR.
However, upon an interesting observation from the Wikipedia article on Methamphetamine, they note...
"Methamphetamine is sometimes given to fighting troops and pilots during wartime by their government. It tends to suppress fear and emotion and make
users aggressive and violent, and this appeals to military commanders who want soldiers to charge into battle without fear."
If this is being currently practiced in Iraq, this would possibly give good argument to the FDA not suspending the drug Adderall XR as Canada did.
I'll be emailing Shire (Adderall), Ovation Pharma (Desoxyn), and Abbott Laboratories (generic) to further look into this; though I don't expect a
reply.
Now...
Alcoholism is an addictive dependency on alcohol characterised by craving (a strong need to drink); loss of control (being unable to stop); physical
dependence and withdrawal symptoms; and tolerance (increasing difficulty of becoming drunk).
Today, alcohol abuse and alcoholism are a major public health problem in North America, costing that region's inhabitants $170 billion annually.
Alcoholism is a life-threatening problem that often ends in death, particularly through liver, pancreatic, or kidney disease, internal bleeding, brain
deterioration, alcohol poisoning and suicide. As well, alcoholism is a major contributing factor for head injuries, motor vehicle accidents (MVA),
violence and assaults, as well as a leading cause of neurological and other medical problems.
Of the two thirds of the North American population who consume alcohol, 10% are alcoholics, and 6% consume more than half of all alcohol.
Alcohol dependence can be harder to break and significantly more damaging than dependence on most other addictive substances. The physical symptoms
when withdrawing from alcohol are seen to be equal to those experienced during withdrawal from heroin.
Unlike withdrawal from opioids such as heroin, which can be very unpleasant but is rarely fatal, alcohol withdrawal can kill (by uncontrolled
convulsions) if it is not properly managed by a doctor. The pharmacological management of alcohol withdrawal is based on the fact that alcohol,
barbiturates and benzodiazepines have remarkably similar effects on the brain and can be substituted for each other.
Alcohol politics are a rather unbeloved theme, because very often the own behaviour as consumers, personal economic interest or simply the social
reality are a hinderance for an objective approach and way of acting. As best measures to reduce alcohol consumption scientific research has found
price increase by taxing, the limitation of sales and the ban on advertising. Educational prevention has shown to be only effective by rising the
knowledge and perhaps the readiness to accept higher prices. It doesn't change the drinking behaviour.
The World Health Organization, the European Union and other regional bodies are working on alcohol action plans and programmes which should encourage
individual states to introduce similar programmes. Unfortunately the alcohol industry is well organized and lobbying all over the world to undermine
such efforts. They concentrate their expansion and promotion now to the Third World as sales in the industrialized countries have more or less stopped
growing. The tragedy is that those countries in Africa and Asia are not used to fight against alcohol problems and there is no social network to help
the families and the alcoholics.
The social problems arising from alcoholism can include loss of employment, financial problems, marital conflict and divorce, convictions for crimes
such as drunk driving or public disorder, loss of accommodation, and loss of respect from others who may see the problem as self-inflicted and easily
avoided.
Children of alcoholics can be affected even after they are grown. This condition is usually referred to as "The Adult Children of Alcoholics
Syndrome." Al-Anon, a group modelled after Alcoholics Anonymous, offers aid to friends and family members of alcoholics.
Many people incorrectly assume that once an alcoholic stops drinking, all is well. However, many people who have stopped drinking still refer to
themselves as "alcoholics" or "recovering alcoholics."
For more details, Google "Wiki alcoholism".
By the time they reach the fifth grade, nearly 50% of adolescents have had at least one drink.
(
cite), and over 20% report having been "drunk". Approximately 30 percent of 12th graders
engage in heavy episodic drinking, now popularly termed “binge” drinking—that is, having at least five or more drinks on one occasion within the
past 2 weeks—and it is estimated that 20 percent do so on more than one occasion.
The bottom line: Underage alcohol use is more likely to kill young people than all illegal drugs combined (ref. above cite).
But unfortunately, people need their beer.
www.budweiser.com...
www.millerbrewing.com...
Also, since everybody's sharing "true stories", I've got a good one. I had a friend in High School named Terrence McArdle who I played soccer
with; he was a pretty nice guy, occasionally annoying, but overall, a good kid.
Well, before he graduated, he and a bunch of other people were at this party where there was, of course, teenagers, beer, and drunkenness. I wasn't
there, but a large number of my class as well as others were. The story goes, that somebody said something that ticked 2 hicks off, and when I mean
hicks, I mean, they had thorough boots on and drove pick-up trucks, and they were drunk and bigger than my friend Terrence. So basically, these hicks
got angry enough at Terrence, that he ended up on the ground; but the hicks continued to kick him with their steel-toed boots, causing surmountable
internal bleeding, brain damage from a fractured skull, and who knows what else. This happened in the middle of a crowd of drunk teens who watched
this unfold, and did nothing, because they were all intoxicated.
Next, I could talk about guns, but then that would just get obscene; just like beer advertising at family sporting events.