ADHD, Is Your Doctor A Drug Dealer?

The University of California recently published the results from a large study into the long term benefits of ADHD medication. There are approximately 2.5 million people taking ADHD medication, and early indications are that we may be missing out.

National Post story:  http://www.financialpost.com/story.html?id=1551378&p=1

Thought the gains in performance are subjective to various factors, and are by no means earth shattering, overall the children who were on drugs performed better academically than those that did not. Any why wouldn’t they? A drug enhanced power to concentrate, pay attention, recall information quicker and easier, would give any student an obvious advantage.

The article asks the question, why not give stumulants to everyone to increase performance in life? I want to ask the question what makes doctors and pharmacists any different from a street dealer? And why is it when used recreationally there is so much stigma associated with it but when we are using it to “treat” that annoying kid in class it’s okay? The answer is perception, deception, and lots of money from very powerful organizations.

ADHD medication and some over the count medications, like the Vicks inhaler decongestant and Ritalin specifically,  are derivatives of the same substances that give us Speed, MDMA (ecstasy), and other illegal stimulants. So if the effects are the similar, and they come from similar chemical compositions, they surely have the same negative side effects and the same potential consequence for long term brain damage? Don’t they? I mean the risks don’t go away simply because you have a “legal” avenue (aka Big Pharma monopoly) of obtaining them do they?

And yet, our kids are taking them in record numbers, military personal are given “go pills” to increase alertness and performance, and the pharmacists, and pharmaceutical companies keep getting richer. Anti-depressant, ADHD, and other mood altering medications now make up the bulk of Big Pharma profits. There are some serious questions that we should be asking the authorities in society given the power to determine what drugs are harmful and what drugs should be available but controlled by doctors. The dangers of abuse and likelihood of addiction are self-evident, and yet if it went through a doctor, or the army, or your psychiatrist first it’s okay. We have a duty to question people’s objectivity and to more closely examine the relationships between health authorities, doctors and the pharmaceutical industry.

Why is there such a double standard and why are we putting people in jail for selling/using drugs while doctors and Big Pharma has a free hand to dispense them as they see fit. Maybe drug dealers needs their own lobbyists. Maybe drug dealers should pay doctors for refferals or send them on vacations if doctors start pushing patents to them instead of Big Pharma.

A little known fact is that the popular ‘Vick inhaler’ contains 50mg of methamphetamine (described on the label by the synonym deoxyephedrine) in free base oil form, and that’s not a prescription medication. Professor David Nutt, chairman of Brittain’s Home Office’s Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs and thus the UK Government’s chief drug policy adviser, recently joked about the ridiculous nature of having MDMA on the same list of banned substances as heroin when there are very few recorded deaths from it. His words were something along the lines of ”more people are getting injured from riding horses, if we really care about people getting hurt, we should ban horse riding”. Reading between the lines, he wasn’t saying that drugs are good, he was saying that it’s a heavily politicized way to score points with the powerful drug lobbies and the unquestioning masses that buy into mass hysteria without doing their own reading. Until the 1980s, and even beyond covertly, some psychiatrists have been using MDMA to help with couple and trauma councelling because it encourages a patient to open up and discuss otherwise unpleasant feelings and emotions. I fondly remember the old tv anti-drug commercials that warn of reefer-madness for marijuana smokers, and now it’s okay for certain medical patients if they have a doctor’s permission. Does that imply that anything you are allowed to do, you are only allowed to do because it’s okay with doctors? There has never been a proven death related to reefer use in any country and yet it’s illegal in almost every country. There are many people who get injured as a result of adverse reactions to medications that remain available by prescription.

My only real point is that you should question what you are told, especially when your information comes from authorities that shut out debate and take campaign contributions from powerful people. The “authorities” are not really authorities on anything but merely place holders from one election to the next.

The figures below come from the US Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. Draw your own conclusions. What were those guys who went to the hospital for marijuana smoking? Must have been a pretty good crop. Hey comparitively speaking, Angel dust seems pretty safe.