I’m concerned about the amount of pharmaceuticals we, as a nation, consume. There are many aspects of this phenomenon, but I will keep this post
focused on these four:
-The drugging of the children
-The ease at which adults pop ‘happy pills’ when life gets difficult
-The encouragement by our government to develop and maintain a drugged society
-The hypocrisy of pharmaceutical support vs. the fairly innocuous and even helpful illegal drugs such as marijuana
The drugging of the children. Have you noticed how many kids these days are diagnosed with ADD or ADHD? What did we used to do with these
children in our society before Ritalin and Adderall came along? Did they just go undiagnosed? If so, where are they now? Did they somehow learn to get
along in life? To pay attention? Why do so many children that need to be drugged to get along in life? Just to get through the day?
Has it become just a little too easy for parents today to pop a ‘harmless’ pill in their child’s mouth instead of taking the time, energy and
effort to dig into the child’s life to find out what underlying problems might be causing these symptoms? Is it too much to ask that if we are going
to breed, to take the time to see to the child’s nurturing and needs instead of taking the easiest way out?
Are we buying, hook, line and sinker, the aggressive direct-to-consumer advertising that is so popular these days? “Ask your doctor” about this
drug. It will make your life easier and more pleasant.
We Need a War vs. Legal Drugs
National sales figures indicate that from 1998 to 2002, sales of anti-depressants increased 73% to more than $12 billion, while analeptics, drugs like
Ritalin and Adderall that stimulate the central nervous system, increased 167%, according to IMS Health, a pharmaceutical information and
consulting company. Even more distressing, physicians wrote more than 1 million prescriptions for Strattera, a nonstimulant treatment for attention
deficit hyperactivity disorder, in its first six months on the market.
…
"Any time a child reads a little more slowly, we're talking learning disability and administering Ritalin, or any time a kid acts up a bit,
instead of giving him detention, we're drugging him," says Dr. Arthur Caplan, chairman of the medical ethics department at the University of
Pennsylvania School of Medicine.
…
The driving force behind the surge is aggressive direct-to-consumer advertising, Caplan says.
…
In fact, American consumers, mostly children, account for more than 90% of global consumption of such stimulants. "If we have four or five
times the learning disability or depression or other neurotic illnesses that the Europeans do," Caplan says, "then either we got a really bad gene
pool through immigration or we're overmedicating."
Not to mention the side effects of these drugs we’re feeding our children. Something is very wrong when the drug meant to cheer little Johnny up
actually has the opposite effect and little Johnny kills himself or goes on a rampage and kills his schoolmates over an argument about a girl or
because he feels ‘different’ or exiled from the group or society. Because nobody understands…
Littleton Revisited
Julian Whitaker, M.D., points out that Eric Harris, one of the shooters in the Columbine High School massacre, "was taking Luvox, which like Prozac
and Paxil, belongs to the class of drugs known as selective serotonin re-uptake inhibitors (SSRIs)."
…
- virtually all of the gun-related massacres that have made headlines over the past decade have had one thing in common: they were perpetrated by
people taking Prozac, Zoloft, Luvox, Paxil, or a related antidepressant drug.
– Shawn Cooper, age 15, Notus, Idaho, was taking an SSRI.
– Chris Fetters, Iowa, who killed a favorite aunt, was on Prozac.
– Kip Kinkel, age 15, Oregon, was taking Prozac. He killed his parents, stayed with them all night, and then killed two students and wounded 22
others at Thurston High School.
The ease at which adults pop pills when life gets difficult.
Now, Let me state that I realize that there are some cases of clinical depression in adults that might simply require drug intervention to get the
person back on track and able to handle life on one’s own again. I also realize that nearly every woman I know either is now or has at one time,
taken Prozac or Zoloft or Paxil. And in most cases it’s not as a temporary measure. They’re on it now and when they try to live without it, they
simply cannot face their life.
Of course, they pooh-pooh meditation, eating right, exercising, visualization and other, alternative (albeit more labor intensive) methods than simply
popping their ‘happy pill’. It’s a cute name, isn’t it? I’ve heard women joke about getting their next fix. Of course they don’t use
those words but I’ve actually heard them talk about not feeling good enough to go to the pharmacy to get their next Prozac Rx filled.
And let’s not forget about its side effects in adult women:
Former Prozac Users Slam FDA
July 27, 2005
A group of patients who once took the antidepressant drug Prozac accuse the Food and Drug Administration of covering up the drug’s dangerous side
effects for 14 years. As a result, they say hundreds of people have become victims of murder and suicide.
…
In June, the FDA issued its second warning that adults taking antidepressants should be monitored for suicidal ideation and worsening depression.
Leitsch says that it is unconscionable that new mothers are being prescribed drugs that have been known to induce psychosis, violence and suicide for
more than a decade.
AND
Prozac Survivor Support Group
[Prozac] "was associated with more hospitalizations, deaths, or other serious adverse reactions reported to the FDA than any other drug in America."
Business Week 3/16/98 p. 14
"So far, the tools used to manipulate serotonin in the brain are more like machetes than they are like scalpels--crudely effective, but capable of
doing plenty of collateral damage."
Time magazine 9/29/97
The encouragement by our government to develop and maintain a drugged society.
Let’s face it. The government is in bed with the pharmaceutical companies. It’s pretty obvious today that the pharmaceutical companies are so rich
that they can buy our government’s support and our officials do a fine job of paying them back by encouraging the culture of a drugged America.
Pharmaceutical Tax Breaks
Pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and medical device makers -- which do large amounts of business around the globe -- were especially favored by the
reduction in taxes on foreign earnings.
The big Bush handout to pharmaceutical companies: mandatory mental health screening for entire U.S.
population
The Bush administration's handouts to pharmaceutical companies just keep on coming. First, it was the Medicare discount drug card scam which turned
out to be a system that guaranteed pharmaceutical industry profits thanks to sky-high prices of prescription drugs (the discounts were nonexistent).
Next, it was the initiation of an anti-terror drug research program where the government would spend billions of dollars buying and stockpiling
expensive drugs and vaccines to counter biological weapons. And now, it's the announcement that President Bush wants to mandate the mental health
screening of the entire U.S. population.
Why is this a handout to drug companies? Because these so-called mental health "disorders" are often fictitious diseases (like ADHD) that can easily
be attributed to nearly anyone. And once a person is labeled "diseased," they can be put on expensive prescription drugs to alter their brain
chemistry. Make no mistake: this sweeping "public health" initiative is really just a clever way to dope up half the population with expensive
prescription drugs that alter brain chemistry. It's a devious plan. And it's an invasion of personal privacy.
The Other Drug War
The drug industry spent $262 million on political influence in the 1999-2000 election cycle: $177 million on lobbying, $65 million on issue ads and
$20 million on campaign contributions. Of the contributions directly to political parties, the majority (68 percent) went to Republicans.
…
The drug industry spent more (based on available data) on lobbying and other political persuasion than any other industry in 1999-2000.
The hypocrisy of pharmaceutical support vs. the fairly innocuous and even helpful illegal drugs such as marijuana
I won’t post any links to websites on this topic (although there is much information to support the idea that cannabis is, in many cases, a very
effective treatment of depression) because I don’t want to come across like I’m advocating illegal drug use. I’m not. But one of the attitudes
about the drugging of America that most confuses and frustrates me is that of the populace to take up just about any drug offered and make themselves
and their babies guinea pigs for these sometimes highly dangerous mood altering drugs like Prozac and other SSRIs. And then they look at marijuana
users as dirty druggies who have no will power and can't live a normal life.
What is the difference between the two? A simple legality. A simple decision by someone with special interests that one is ‘safe and effective for
use on you and your children’ (which we KNOW isn’t necessarily true) and the other is used by people as a recreation. Like having a beer. Or to
help with several medical issues, like depression.
So, my conspiracy theory is that the US government is supporting the drugging of America to form a more pliable and controllable society. One that
depends on the pharmaceutical industry with whom the government does business. My theory is that we, the people, and our consumerism are being used to
support the big legal drug pushers, who are chartered with watching out for our best interests, but have given up that job long ago.
And I haven’t even touched the upcoming flu treatments and vaccines…
Good one, IMO BH. 
its sad but true. also why cant a girl get the morning after pill over the counter? Its not a
abortion pill it prevents the egg from being released. So it cant concive.
I know it's real. 
