[sheila]

The American's are not satisfied with the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, since the 70's they have also been waging another losing war. "The War On Drugs". In this war, they send people to privately run, for profit, prisons by the truck load. Finding a joint in your car can net you 4 years in prison...even as a first offender. Anyway, this got me thinking. I wonder why they don't declare a war on prescription drugs? After all, prescription drugs are to blame for 100's of thousands of deaths every year and for fleecing innocent individuals of billions of dollars every year.

The reason is simple of course...money. There are over $50 billion dollars of prescription drugs sold in America every years. The drug companies donate hundreds of millions to the election campaigns of every congressman and senator so regardless of who wins they have backed a winner. They have 6 paid lobbyists in Washington for every congressman/senator and spend over a billion dollars lobbying for their causes. So there will never be a "War On Prescription Drugs" even though it is in the best interest of the people that there is.

Here are the top selling drugs in dollar value. There is never any discussion or research in what causes the ailments and how to prevent it, just research on what can treat it.

Lipitor, cholesterol, $5.88 billion - American's eat a diet of processed garbage causing high cholesterol.

Nexium, acid reflux, $4.80 billion - Because American's eat processed garbage, they need this to settle their stomach and ease the ulcers.

Prevacid, acid reflux, $3.30 billion - See above.

Singulair, asthma, $2.90 billion - Diet related and toxicity in the environment...how many kids had asthma when you were at school 30 years ago?

Advair, asthma, $3.30 billion - See above.

Lexapro, depression, $2.41 billion - A chemical infested diet and environment added to a push for therapy and being told you are depressed.

Effexor, depression, $2.66 billion - See above.

Another big seller are drugs for high blood pressure and hypertension...more diet related reasons.

I would estimate that 90% of people over the age of 60 are permanently on medication in this country. I would also guess that 10 times more kids are on medication than in any other country in the world.

American's just love their drugs. Billions are spent by the drug companies to ensure we love our drugs...no matter how many of us they kill.

[sellickbhoy]

ah, the American Health Care miracle!!!

but, looking closer to home - if alcohol and tobacco were NEW inventions - they would be banned. But we allow them - and we (the Treasury) gets a LOT of money from it.

I think we should actually LEGALISE everything - marijuana/cannibis, cocaine, heroin, ecstacy, acid - and (though i don't get why these are illegal) magic mushrooms!!

let them be "freely" available

pfizer/glaxo and all the other established drug companies can make them. ensure their "purity" and strength, package them up and sell them in pre packed quantities.

the government could tax them to bejeesus

users would have to buy them from a pharmacist, they would have to be registered "recreational" drug users.

people who buy too much - would then get a visit from social services, they could be given councilling, addition treatment, to help them control their craving. Ultimately they could be put on the blacklist for buying the drugs and have to buy a substitute instead.

This would stop a lot of drug trafficking, a lot of gang crime, a lot of people overdosing etc - basically it would control the drug problem in the country - and pay for the treatment of drug problems from the revenue raised. Would also help pay for the police to track down illegal dealers/growers etc.

I feel the same way about prostitution, legalise it, give the workers a union, rights, minimum wage, health checks/care.

the way we handle things just now isn't helping anyone except a few criminals

[sandy]

I worked within the drug services and totaly agree, make them legal and regulate the purity, get rid of the underground market that funds crime.......mind you, the victorians loved thier drugs?

[sellickbhoy]

weren't 1st world war soldiers sent packages that contained opium?

there was a name for the victorian drug indulgence, the great....... something, it totally escapes me now. But they were into everything!

[sandy]

Yeh, they covered up thier table legs not to get too excited, must have been on some weired s**te
http://drugs.uta.edu/drugs.html

[Snoopy]

ooohh Shelia - if only Rustyme was here to see this post.

This is what we are saying about the Swine Flu epidemic - America are in the recession and need to sell heaps of drugs - so they introduce Swine Flu in Mexico, although they had it in 2004, their drug companies make Tamiflu
They start a worldwide panic, and every government in Europe is bulk buying Tamiflu to give to all their
population
They make loads of money.
Tax is paid so government back on their feet in America
BUT
This is the really clever stuff

They have indemnified all drug companies against any come back from people dying after they have
taken Tamiflu - so no court action can be taken securing all revenue as profit

Good old America - land of the Free - as long as you are a drug addict - or a country that we can turn
into a drug adict somehow 

I hope you can keep this up now - you could replace Rusty as I miss him soo much 

 
Julie

[Rosemary]

I kind of agree with the legalisation of drugs. I suspect if that happened, the number of prostitutes would decline rapidly, since many seem to be on the game to feed a drug habit.

I'm not sure about legalising prostitution - it's not really a career path is it? Just a way to expolit women.

[cameldairy]

weren't 1st world war soldiers sent packages that contained opium?

    WHAT? I don't think so...what would make you claim that? 

Finding a joint in your car can net you 4 years in prison...even as a first offender.

No it won't.

[RUSTYME]

legalising drugs would solve some problems but not all.  Tobacco and alcohol are legal but how many people try to avoid tax every year , by buying van loads of the stuff over the channel .  Many get caught and fined heavily and have the contriband taken off of them as well as the vehicle they are using sometimes.
   Also , how many people have health problems due to smoking and drinking ? how many people die each year due to smoking and drinking ? how much tax do these people pay each year ? and how many get refused health care because the drink or smoke ? even though they have paid tens of thousands of £ in tax on the tobacco or drink they buy . 
   People who smoke are made to feel like outcasts , lepers , banned from smoking in pubs and public places even work places , and talk of even a ban on smoking in ANY public place outside of your own home  !!! Yet the government still want their huge tax from tobacco .
   People have been allowed to drink in pubs 24 hours a day for some time now . Again this was a government law made against the advice of most, if not all, Police forces in the UK . So allow a nation with known drink problem to drink in pubs 24 hours a day , and then wait for them to walk home and nick them for being drunk in public. They get millions in instant cash revenue makers...er sorry ....on the spot fines I meant. Once again money at every turn for the government.
Legalising drugs would solve some problems , and may save a few lives . But it would also take many lives too , as does smoking and drinking . The real problem is the legalised drugs, prescription drugs.
  The big drug making companies have no interest at all in a healthy nation ....they go out of business . They need a sick nation , people who think they need drugs for everything . Thats how they make their money ... keeping people sick . Take a look at America . What is going to happen to all those poor kids that are on Ritalin ? why are they on it ?  It is people like Donald Rumsfeld who are to blame and should be shot for genocide. He makes money on every pack of tamiflu given , the same for the swine flu vaccine . He was responsible for aspertame being allowed to be used , even though he knew the problems it caused .  He should suffer the same fate as Saddam Hussein . string the bas*ard up , he is truly evil .
   Drugs and prostitution have been around a long time. The Victorians used to "chase the dragon" i the opium dens and as for prostitution  not being a career path well .... there are many men around who go careering around the paths of our parks , trying to avoid getting nicked by the Police, whilst looking for a quick one  . Oh and don't forget the instant cash revenue maker ...aka... the on the spot fine they get too .
   What was it Corporal Jones said in dads army ? "They don't like it up'em , they don't like it up'em " well some of them clearly do ....legal or otherwise. 
 

cheers

Russ

[MiriMaran]

Hey hey- welcome back Russ!

[sandy]

He he he, had to have a good chuckle at that Russ, have you been saving it all up? All the drug training and courses I went on, apparently more people have OD'd from prescription drugs than non prescription ones  and why is it wrong for a girl to have s** sleep with someone for money yet not seen as wrong to do the same with someone who may or may not have bought a drink or meal for her? I know there is an element of exploitation but I think that can apply to both. I am now being very cynical as the government has said we have to work longer as there is not enough money available for pensions, I reckon they want people to die young so will encourage drink, drugs, promiscuity and fast car's to kill us off to save the money for pensions, Oh and swine flue ...

[RUSTYME]

yep ....been saving it for ages.... now letting rip...lol or it could be,just me being me !! a big gob...
     the reason for there not being enough money for our pensions,is that THEY are taking the bloody lot for theirs !!! And swine flu ...well nothing to worry about there ... we have the vaccine to save us all. But save us from what ? they tell us that 90% of the people who have died of swine flu , died due to underlying health issues ....oh yeah like the bloke who got hit by a train doing 90mph ,  he died of the underlying health issue of loss of blood....yep bloody right he did ...it was splattered all over the train ....but the train didn't kill him though ....? crap . Or fall from a very tall building , the fall doesn't kill you ... hitting the ground kills you ....but if you didn't fall from the building you wouldn't be hitting the ground at 200 miles an hour....SPLATTTT !!!!
   Another comment I read made by a health official ..." This second wave of swine flu is very mild and nothing to worry about , at this time in a normal pandemic we would be expecting the cases to rise much faster than they are !!"  I truly despair at some of the pillocks we have running our country and our health system . How many Flu pandemics has he seen  ? How many Pandemics has he seen ? just what is a NORMAL pandemic ? Maybe he was just using the wrong orifice to talk with ? he was talking crap either way !!
 It all matters not a jot anyway .....our saviour is on the way .... Tony Blair is set to become head of the EU for the first permanent term ( forever if he has his way ) . Well he is now a catholic , so whats on the cards next ? ...I know lets declare war on those Muslims ...i'm sure they have weapons of mass distruction ( somewhere ?) ... ye gods help us all ...if a cow gets TB they kill it , er oh my god ... we ain't even got him yet (TB =Tony Blair) and they have started already ....Practice run maybe ? just so we beg for the New World Order !!!! and our new Messiah ... the Americans thought they had him in the form of Osama Bin Laden  ooops I meant Barack Obama , but know it looks like he is just another lying sod like the rest of them ( but he is black !! but have you noticed how he has gone a few shades lighter over the last few months ) . Oh well,a new nose and a long dark wig and he could do MJ's shows at the Millennium Dome ...( oops not allowed to call it that , since TB wasted £750 million on it  !!!) .

cheers

Russ

[Norfolk Newby]

I would like to repeat many of the points already made here. But there wouldn't be a lot of point.

My preferred drugs are alcohol (mostly beer and whisky) and chocolate. Both could and may well kill me. I don't think I am addicted to either but then I would say that wouldn't I?

I see the deal with alcohol and tobacco that the tax on them pays for hospital beds and treatment for anyone dying of lung cancer or similar. Brutal but it makes sense.

Recently, I saw that the Royal Navy captured about 5 tons of cocaine from a boat in the Caribbean. This represents (apparently) about £245,000 when sold to users. But to me it represents that amount for drug gangs to make the life of many hideous, money stolen by users to pay for it and more money to pay police, ambulance service, hospital staff, doctors and others. This looks like a bad bargain.

Up to about 1916 drugs (opium, I think, but perhaps cocaine also) were sold over the counter in British pharmacies. Then a new law called DORA (Defence Of the Realm Act) restricted the hours pubs could open and banned the sale of drugs. Up to that time, laudanam (opium dissolved in alcohol) was the standard pain killer for a headache, period pains, childbirth and so on.

It was the standard pain killer used by the Soviet army for wounded soldiers in both world wars. British and American soldiers and airmen got morphine which is a more refined product. So these 'drugs' were still widely used  quite recently. My wife has a painful (and terminal) disease and uses Morphine pills to make life bearable. So there is nothing fundamentally wrong with these compounds if used carefully.

With all the clever pharmaceutical companies about it is a shame there is very little on offer to stop or manage addictions. That would be really useful for anyone trying to stop using an addictive drug (like tobacco).

A bit of history. Back around 1900, the German Army wanted something to make there soldiers into supermen; strong, brave, fearless and able to cope with wounds. The German pharmaceutical industry came up with a new medicine which made men heroes. So they called it Heroin!

NN

[cameldairy]

Wow, I did not know that about the heroin!

[MiriMaran]

Seriously Norfolk Newbie, is that where Heroin comes from?  Wow never new that!

I would love to give up smoking - when I've tried I've used those lozenges you suck.  They work very well, but I always fold in about week 6 when you are supposed to cut down the Lozenges.  So I stop smoking get addicted to lozenges try to stop them and start smoking again! Argh!