The Purpose of the Drugging of America

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…

Benevolent Heretic

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.

Good one, IMO BH.

...I would add that I think there is an underlying endemic disease that both legal and illegals drugs help cover up. And the two go hand in hand with profiteering.

Will contribute more substantially later - but in the meantime, you go girl.

Mod Edit: Fixed Quote Tag.

[edit on 29/10/2005 by Mirthful Me]

Anyone remember when hospitals diddn't have health codes? people had high immune systems and were immune to diseases. now people are sick all the time and there is a pill for every thing. i think its all a scam and doctors are just trying to get our money.

i couldnt agree more about the drugs themselves. im not so sure about the government trying to help them make more money off of us though.

my family has a history of depression. my father and both his brother and sister have it. my father has never taken any drug for it, and though he has his spells, he manages to get through just fine. my aunt and my uncle are both so drugged up all the time that i dont even think they realize their inability to function normally.

flu vaccines: i have only once in my life taken that vaccine, and that was only because i was ordered to by my commanding officer. funny thing....thats the only year in my adult life that ive ever had the flu.
convinced me to get the hell out of the navy before they started forcing me to take other "healthy" vaccines.

hehehe i remember when my grandpa telling me a story about his dad being in the navy and the "vacines" they were taking. Funny thing he died from a "vacine" that was prescribed to him.

Dont tell me those physicians dont have stock in medical equipment manufacturers and the pharm companies.

Have you noticed just 8 years ago they would come out with a drug and not say anything of the adverse side effects. Now they say: "Take this pill for indegestion, may cause, a rare liver condition and could be fatal" they load the commercials up with the adverse side effects now.

Why? To protect themselves, not you. + New lawsuit laws against malpractice= License to suck as much money from your insurance and bank acct and then throw you in a pine box.

The hippocratic oath revised:
A sick society is profitable and a well society means total economic melt down.

Here Here!!! I agree, but what really has screwed up the pharmacutical(sic) companies are lawyers. They are the ones who are out for the money. Dont get me wrong I think doctors are greedy as lawyers,but lawyers are really screwing up this country.

There is a doctor that wrote a book called "The wildest colts make the best horses" that is about our children being prescribed all these mind altering drugs. It is scary, way to scary that parents are so lazy and uninformed to let this happen to the children.

I read somewhere that every school shooting the kids doing the shooting were on some type of seritonen uptake inhibitor.

Then they shove prohibition down our throats under the guise of "its to protect our children" gimme a break. A teenager can get a bag of pot easier than an adult!! They have the connections, and if an adult decided they wanted cannibis to help them with a medical problem, its nearly impossible. I sure as heck can get whatever else I want though, no matter how bad it is for me!

So I wonder, does America really buy this BS, or are most just in a postion of not knowing what to do? We are losing our choices for what is right as fast as we are losing our jobs. Seems our great nation is rotting from within.

Ill tell you something scary. I live in a county that you can smoke pot infront of a cop and the cop wont do anything, but if you have a tail light out you will be fined a large amout off money. 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.

The Pharmaceutical industry is the biggest spender in Washington when it comes to lobbying.

These people spend millions and millions of dollars making sure that things goes their way when it comes to laws and regulations.

Their bread and butter is the drugs they made and they have to make sure that is plenty of consumers willing and ready to used them.

The industry used the media very well in promoting their products, so well that is not wonder that people goes to their doctors asking for information about drugs that people heard in the media.

Is a conspiracy, we have been manipulated into believe that a magic pill will make us feel good and as long as we have it every thing is just great.

I fell for the ADD scam and I got my son on that junk for 3 years I will never forget myself for falling for it.

Many people in this country are on drugs and medications that are unecessary because they don't know better.

I went to the doctor for stomach problems that were related to stress and walk out of the office with a prescribtion for Paxil a happy pill that would take my stomach problems away. I took the prescribtion researched the side effects in the internet and I told the doctor that I didn't need to become addicted to happy pills. In one week I used natural remedies for my problems and got better.

Is very sad indeed.

Excellent thread..

I find it alarmingly easy to get "happy pills". In my county, all you have to do is go to a free clinic, where the government pays not only for your counseling, but the perscriptions as well. Free happy pills for all!

Now, as for why are so many adults on antidepressants? Take a quick step back and look at society. Look at the lives we live. Look at how messed up the world is and how stressed the average worker is... things have changed, and people have a hard time dealing with this change.

BUT, I don't think popping pills is the solution. It's only a crutch. I've lived by this theory since i started taking antidepressants. It's only a crutch.

But one thing I've learned, as with any crutch, is after you've been on a crutch for a long while, you're scared to take that first step without it.

The one thing that always cracks me up about all of this is the wide spread uncertainy of what exactly anti-depression/anxiety medicine does. Every doctor that I talk to talk about how we really don't understand the chemical imbalances and why some medicines work for some people and not others. So depression pills fix anxiety in some people and some anxiety pills fix depression in others. It's really weird putting my BRAIN in the hands of people that are "tweaking" dosages without really understanding the overt effects of such medicines.

Not to mention what happens to people when they can't afford to refill their perscription. Abrubtly stopping a SSRI (Most Antidepressants) can cause your brain to literally freak out, cause strokes, and/or very extreme mood swings

Yes great thread

I have had bouts of depression and anxiety over the last few yrs and as a vet I go the VA to get my "meds"
They now prescribe me zoloft, most of the time I don't take them, I hate meds.
The doctors there don't know anything other than what "meds" to try you on.
They had me on stuff that caused me to get so vilently angry I smashed up just about everything I owned, TV my guitar. I started cutting myself with axacto knives. My walls have holes in them from throwing things...lol
I was never like that before the meds. Took me off the meds and I was back to normal within days.

These drugs are dangerous, far more dangerous than street drugs IMHO.
Cocain never made me like that.

I get really frustrated with them cause I want to know what is causing my problems, not just another pill to mask it.
It IS just about the money. Creating new markets to sell old and new drugs.
There are drugs that are taken off the market cause they were dangerous and then re-marketed as the new cure for something else.

Look at the commercials for asperine and there supposed help in preventing heart attacks. Do they? How would anyone know, unless you had a heart attack, even then if you survived how could you really know it was becasue of the asperine? What an easy con to perpetuate on vunerable people eh? It's like insurance, spend all this money, take this pill, you know just in case

Doctors don't cure people any more they just dispence pills. They are clueless if you ask them questions not related to the pills they decide you need for your condition. Especially in the mental health field, because it is still far from being understood by anyone.
I don't think there any "cookie cutter" mental health problems, we are all so different.
I was telling my shrink the other day that I think it's probably my chronic fatigue causing my anxiety, cause chronic fatique stresses the body constantly, and all she said was "Do you want to increase your med dose"! I said let's figure our why I am fatigued and then maybe we'll fix the anxiety, but I get no responce. Cause There aint no magic pill for fatigue, and they are not taught anything else.

Even the people that market the pills to doctors call it "drug pushing" and doctors recieve anything form bottles of wine to expensive meals to push a particular drug on their paitients (or customers as we really are now).

I know you all don't want to hear this but the root problem is capitilism, the need to create ever new markets, quit often at our expence. This kind of coruption will never go away as long as money is the Worlds driving force.

[edit on 29/10/2005 by ANOK]

I saw this thread and thought goody, i hope its about anti depressent...
crumbs those drugs have nearly killed me on many an occasion and I have never even taken them......

have you seen someone coming off the medication? argghh I have, I have felt it and it's not pretty, its painful for all....


every time I go to the doctors they offer me anti depressents...

I do for my bowel disease and they say i need the anti depressents to stop stress..you have no idea how much I hate the drug and the easy come attitude of doctors these days...

btw thats another conspiracy...you do realise that doctors know zilch, nothing these days?

try going to one with something really wrong and see them all confused.....

zoloft? get that drug away from me, that drug has caused me more pain than even I can handle........

and some of today's aussie news that has bearing on what BH said

ADHD diagnoses mask other conditions: research

www.abc.net.au...
New research at the University of Tasmania suggests it may be that too many children are being diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and being prescribed Ritalin.
The research also shows the usage of Ritalin in Tasmania is among the highest in the nation per capita.
It also suggest a link between ADHD and another motor coordination condition, Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD).
Bruno Cayoun, of the university's School of Psychology, says movement problems found in some children with ADHD are related to attention span, while in other children they are related to DCD.
He says 29 per cent of children diagnosed with ADHD also fit the criteria for DCD.
Mr Cayoun says the finding is important, as the treatment for both is different - medication is prescribed for ADHD and physical exercise for DCD.

Excellent topic.

Have you noticed just 8 years ago they would come out with a drug and not say anything of the adverse side effects. Now they say: "Take this pill for indegestion, may cause, a rare liver condition and could be fatal" they load the commercials up with the adverse side effects now.

It's only become legal to advertise drugs/medications directly to consumer in the past few years, I was working in advertising about 5 years ago when it all started changing. By law they have to advertise the side effects.

Continuing with that thought, have you noticed the side effects of drugs are usually just as bad as the symptoms? I have an anxiety disorder and was on Paxzil for about a year. I found that the side effects of the paxzil were far worse then the symptoms of my anxiety attacks.

The Paxil made me feel dopey all the time, it essentially helps you not become overly excited, happy excited or scared excited. But it leaves you feeling emotionless and dead inside. I'd rather feel scared from time to time, have my 5 minute anxiety attack and get on with life as opposed to just coasting by in a robe with drool dripping out the side of my mouth! (Robe and drool reference for humor, never really happened!)

Originally posted by MrMysterious
I'd rather feel scared from time to time, have my 5 minute anxiety attack and get on with life as opposed to just coasting by in a robe with drool dripping out the side of my mouth! (Robe and drool reference for humor, never really happened!)

I know how you feel I had them once or two times a year, and end up in emergecy room all the time with my blood presure so bad that I am kept in the hospital for a day.

I got tired of it so I have a whole set of stress test done, I have nothing wrong with my stress levels and to think that Paxil was presbcribe to me earlier when it started.

How I manage the attacks now? well relaxation, breathing exercises to control when you feel that one is coming and a healthy diet.

Never eat before getting into bed.

BH,

IMO, there is only one reason why pot is still illegal-$$$$$$$$
Yes, I know it is easy to plant and grow.
Yes, I know the hemp is far better to use than cotton with far higher per/foot crop yields.
Yes, I know pants made of hemp would last 5-10 times longer.
Yes, I know the tobacco and cotton growers could team up and cut costs.

But THC, would start to surplant many drugs many currently take.
Like valium and all it's generics- a multi billion dollar product ( btw-look to see who has major stock in the companes that produce it-the Bush family-who want u to just say no to pot)
It would also start to surplant Luvox, Prozac and Paxil.

As you so well presented, the drug industry spends a lot of money to make sure they get their way, and keep profits up.

Great post, keep up the good work.


* edited by monson to tell BH that I was so impressed with this, I voted you way above.

[edit on 10/29/2005 by mrmonsoon]

Originally posted by LoneGunMan
I read somewhere that every school shooting the kids doing the shooting were on some type of seritonen uptake inhibitor.

Yes, exactly. There's a link in my post about just that. And nobody thinks to blame the drugs. They'd rather blame guns.

Originally posted by marg6043
I fell for the ADD scam and I got my son on that junk for 3 years I will never forget myself for falling for it.

You forgive yourself immediately! It's in the past. Good for you for finding alternative methods to deal with it!

Some really great discussion, people. Thanks for the input.

Someone very close to me has been diagnosed as clinically depressed. I believe depression is real and I don't want people to think I'm accusing the population of imagining things or thinking that it's all in your head. I know it's real.

I do think many people have a condition that can rightly be called depression, but I think far more are taking drugs to get through the rough spots in life. Way too many people are taking something just to feel better, to be happier, to help them to ignore their life problems.

Our society is hooked on drugs...

My friend refuses to take drugs. He eats right, exercises religiously, meditates, does relaxation breathing and takes herbs. It works. He used to be a real mess, let me tell you. But now he's confident, secure and happy. And he did it himself. He takes responsibility for his health. He still has bouts of depression and panic attacks, but he gets through them with the support of his techniques and the knowledge that he has done it before.

It's hard work. But for some, so is losing weight or dealing with chronic pain or other life problems. But the mindset that taking a pill will take your problems away is a very dangerous and UNACCOUNTABLE position. And I don't want any part of it.

snafu7700 - I'm with you on the vaccines. No way. I'll die before I take a forced vaccine. I get to say what goes in my body and the day I no longer have that freedom, I'll gladly leave this place.

Originally posted by mrmonsoon
IMO, there is only one reason why pot is still illegal-$$$$$$$$

Exactly! And because of the cultural taboo and the way the government has presented it as a 'gateway' drug and a danger to society (and people believe it!) it will be a long time till it does become legal if ever. But those same people will buy a fifth of JD and not think a thing of it.

* edited by monson to tell BH that I was so impressed with this, I voted you way above.

Thank you! Very much!

great post, you have got it all.
altho. you say america, i believe it is relevant in most western countries.
i am in australia, and can see the same thing happening.
as a kid , i was probably what they call add now.
i had bad grades thru school, skipped a lot of classes and went fishing/swiming/
motor bike riding/ drinking/smoking/blah/blah/blah
after 5 mins, the teacher's voice was just a drone(blah blah blah)
i coudnt sit still, had a lot of energy.
i dont take meds, never have, never will.
but, i have been a smoker for 30 odd years(of both tabaccy's)
a drinker for the same amount of time(last decade i've made my own booze
no hangovers)
and for the last year , i walk 2 miles to work ,5 days a week, am on my feet all day.
(am i a freak??)
i have been in hospital a total of 3 times in 45 years
(i skipped school when they doled out the injections cant remember wht they were for, but everyone got em, and have cut myself on numerous rusty objects ,but never got a tetanus shot)
1 for a motor bike accident, and 2 for knee reconstruction a a decade and a half later.
as you pointed out, its easy to takea pill. instead of grabing the bull by
the horns and facing the day.
it is a worring trend when the norm is to pop a pill, and condem a partaker
of the natural herb.
i have lived with much pain in the last 20 yrs, and never taken prescribed drugs,but the natural one's have worked for me.
everyone is different makeup, so tha same doe;s not apply to all.
two generations is about what it would take to change history.
maybe three
maybe we are in the transitional phase?
maybe drug em up, tell em what we want em to know,
then, control /manipulate the mass's as to how we want a percieved utopia.

Yes, apparently they want us to be "happy", and yet they are also doing everything they can to keep people in pain.

www.abovetopsecret.com...

mod edit: link fix





[edit on 10/30/2005 by Gools]