The Truth About The Pharmaceutical Industry

Imagine my surprise to discover that the Tobacco and Pharmaceutical Industries are so much alike, as in, they kill people.

They both deny the damaging health effects of their products, they both promote so-called “independent research” which they actually finance, they both market to children, they both pour millions of dollars into lobbying efforts to buy members of the government, they both suppress information that their products kill people. The only difference I can see is that while the Food & Drug Administration is hostile towards cigarettes, for the Pharmaceutical industry, they roll over.

How is it foreseeable to the pharmaceutical industry, one might ask, that people would gobble multiple medications, buying them off the Internet, without even consulting a doctor in person?

Well, it’s not just foreseeable, it’s exactly what they count on! Seducing the more vulnerable members of society to fall for their snake oil potions.

Hundreds of thousands of people die every year from prescription drugs.

27,000 people were killed by Vioxx. If you believe one FDA official, possibly 50,000. Vioxx is a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug that has now been withdrawn over safety concerns. It was marketed by Merck & Co. to treat acute pain conditions and osteoarthritis. It was approved safe and effective in 1999, however in 2004 it was withdrawn because of concerns about increased risk of heart attack and stroke associated with long-term, high dosage use. Worldwide, over 80 million people were prescribed it. In the year before its withdrawal, Merck had made US$2.5 billion in sales revenues from Vioxx. Of the 27,000 to 50,000 Vioxx deaths, only 18 cases have reached juries so far—18.

I’m talking about an industry wide pattern. We don’t even know all the potential dangers of these drugs because the pharmaceutical industry systematically conceals them. They’ve been caught buying clinical trials, bribing doctors, altering science. Many of the so-called “peer-reviewed” articles we see in medical journals are actually ghost-written by the drug companies themselves and doctors take pay-offs and let their names appear as the authors. Just how doctors receive pay-offs to promote and prescribe certain drugs over others.

Did you know that there are even commission incentives per prescription of certain drugs? Did you know that doctors and pharmacists have deals made amongst themselves? For example, a pharmacist would approach a doctor and ask them to promote and prescribe a certain drug for them in exchange for a commission.

Quid pro quo.

Where’s the evidence of that one might wonder? Well, hidden is the answer. Just as drug companies have buried evidence which showed links between antidepressants and suicidal thoughts in children.

The fact is: The US pharmaceutical industry spends almost twice as much on advertising, marketing and promotions as it does on research and development. That’s atrocious! Apparently, American television viewers see as much as 16 hours of prescription advertising each year. 16 hours. That’s more time than most people spend at the cinema.

The fact is: They invent diseases, like social phobia, generalized anxiety disorders to sell mind altering drugs – we have scores of people being diagnosed with these vague mental disorders, millions of whom are young adults and children.

Have I even mentioned the cost of some drugs out there? The one’s that will actually do you any good, are at extortionate prices and many cannot afford.

What’s irresponsible is: We have an overmedicated society, there are 14 year olds on antidepressants and antipsychotics. Why? Because the drug companies – just like Big Tobacco – know that if you get these kids when they’re young enough, they’ll have a customer for life.

And I’m not the only one saying this;

This industry invents chronic diseases, be it restless leg syndrome or unspecified sleep disorders that require nightly doses of habit-forming tranquilizers. People take sleep aids, when maybe they really should read a book or masturbate!

Over-the-counter opiates approved for use in treating colds & flu, headaches, general pain, diarrhea and cough suppression like Solpadeine and Uni-Flu contain up to 16mg per tablet combined of Codeine [which converts to Morphine in the liver by the way] is marketed to almost everyone who can swallow, even to children under 12 years old. Codeine, a narcotic on its own, considered a Schedule II substance making it illegal to use or possess without a prescription. A substance with a high potential for severe psychological and physical dependence.

That being the case, why is it that it is available for everyone to buy when mixed with paracetamol and caffeine?! It also really fascinates me how it can be, that some of the ailments those medicines claim to relieve, are also found listed on the Patient Information Leaflet under Adverse Effects!

First, they concoct the disorder, then the drug and then they bombard the public with commercials to convince them they’re afflicted.

THIS INDUSTRY IS OUT OF CONTROL.

They manufacture and sell disease at exorbitant cost. Why isn’t the FDA or EMEA regulating them?

One may think that I am crazy to be saying all this;

Perhaps there’s a pill I could take?