Image Source: sarasotasheriffs.org
Law makers and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA)
continue to demonstrate their inability to guard us from harmful -- and sometimes fatal, side effects of medications including addiction and psychosis. With a constant
series of favorable laws passed on Capitol Hill , pharmaceutical and biotech companies are raking in tens of
billions of dollars in profits at our expense.
Pharmaceutical Companies Buy Influence in Washington
The Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) trade association represents the majority of large pharmaceutical companies. They are notoriously one of the largest and most effective lobbying organizations in Washington. PhRMA and the Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) lobbied on at least 1,600 pieces of legislation between 1998 and 2004 alone .
PhRMA's tight relationship with government is rooted in its complete dependence on federal decision making. It is the government that determines which product(s) they can market, how they can be marketed, and how they are labeled . For that reason, the industry pumps pools of money into political campaigns, including those at the State level.
In 2012 there were 11,140 registered lobbyists in Washington . Nearly 3000 are for big PhRMA -- with a third of those being former federal officials used to advance their interests before the House and Senate , the FDA, the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), and other executive branch offices. Representatives from PhRMA and Bio take top spots in political spending, effectively buying influence in D.C. 's "favor factory".
Are They Poisoning Us on Purpose?
According to the Office of National Drug Control Policy , prescription drugs are the second most abused drug in the nation; second only to Marijuana. Ironically, the problem isn't that we are abusing drugs, but that the drug makers and politicians are abusing u s with their drugs.
Our consumption is staggering. We're taking more drugs than ever before and the cost of drugs continues to rise . For all of life's little (and big) problems there is a drug available and according to PhRMA you should take it; for the side effects there's another drug to take and so on.
Half of Americans Take One Prescription Drug a Day and a Third of Us Take Two or More
Government and big PhRMA are getting richer and we are getting sicker and apparently more depressed. In 2010 we spent a whopping $307 billion on these drugs with the second most profitable being the antidepressant Abilify . Other antidepressants and antipsychotics made the top ten in sales.
Antidepressants and antipsychotics are prescribed without a single biological diagnostic test to prove illness or chemical imbalance. From what is wrong to what to prescribe is little more than a guessing game for physicians. Doctors admittedly have no idea why these types of medications work for mental illness, but insist that they do. Many prescribe a polypharmacy "cocktail" to cover the bases. Polypharmacy is a dangerous mix of antidepressants and/or antipsychotics. This "cocktail" may also include other mood stabilizers, anti-anxiety medications and sleeping aids.
No one tells you these medications are toxic to the human body and that many of them are known to induce psychotic behavior . Rarely do we hear the horrendous stories resulting from the use of SSRI and SNRI medications . No one tells you there are natural remedies available including those for depression . Why? Because the profit margin for both real and manufactured sickness is too easy to come by and too lucrative to ever spill the beans.
Bad drugs and other dangerous substances like genetically modified foods (GMO), Aspartame , and more have already been banned in other countries, but in America they strip away our health and rape our wallets. American's pay 1.7 times to 2.9 times more for these same drugs than they do in any other country ! Sadly -- until American's understand what is happening and how, there can never be real health care reform.
But, then again, who can think clearly when they have us on all these drugs?
One Out of Every Four American Children are taking a Prescribed Medication Daily
(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).
2
2
1
