Originally Posted - February 25, 2007

return home

I was watching an episode of "Geraldo at Large" the other night during which the entire program focused on the story of Anna Nicole Smith, a rather tragic celebrity whose recent death has sparked legal and media circuses.

The program featured much discussion on the star's use (and alleged abuse) of prescription drugs, citing that the cause and manner of her sudden death at age 39 might have been the result of the medications she took on a regular basis.

When the program went to commercial break, I was a little surprised to find myself watching an advert for a prescription medication called Cymbalta. Manufactured by pharmaceutical heavy-weight, Lily, the drug is intended to be taken in addition to a patient's current regimen of antidepressants. The gist of the advert was "if you are using antidepressants and still experiencing pain or depression, take our drug top of your current drugs."

Mind you, that is the gist and not a verbatim transcript.

Still, the message was entirely clear and the ad placement not just a little ironic.

News reports indicate that Seminole County Police removed as many as 10 paper bags from Smith's suite at the Hardrock Hotel, each containing prescription pills - an item mentioned on Geraldo at Large. Yet, no one seems the least bit alarmed at how such behavior is actually promoted by pharmaceutical companies.

The "War on Drugs" never went after these hefty players for some reason, though their marketing tactics are not terribly dissimilar to any employed by your friendly, neighborhood crack pusher.

Pharmaceutical companies advertise rather heavily and in such a manner that they make their drugs appear attractive and fashionable as opposed to necessary evils. They tell you to ask your doctor about their drugs' benefits - putting the demand in the hands of the consumer and not the physician.

By all appearances, pharmaceutical companies appear to stimulate dependence and not curative benefits.

In a time in our country when physicians are limited (by HMOs) to how much 'face-time' they can give a patient, what types of treatments and therapies they can order and how active they can become in the healing process, it only stands to reason that an opening for the ham-handed marketing of dangerous drugs would naturally occur.

There is money to be made in dependence. Not in cures.

Now, not all drugs are intended to make you a junky or keep you in the chains of addiction. Surely, many pharmaceutical discoveries have prolonged and saved lives. But, I'm not talking about regular insulin or antibiotics. I'm talking about fashion drugs that are marketed in such a way that you feel left out if you're not on them.

Look at all the advertising for depression, erectile dysfunction and insomnia aids. The pitch is to you, not your doctor. And, the more you take, the better they like it.

Just read this indication from FDA Medication Guide on Cymbalta: The following symptoms, anxiety, agitation, panic attacks, insomnia, irritability, hostility, aggressiveness, impulsivity, akathisia (psychomotor restlessness), hypomania, and mania, have been reported in adult and pediatric patients being treated with antidepressants for major depressive disorder as well as for other indications, both psychiatric and nonpsychiatric. Although a causal link between the emergence of such symptoms and either the worsening of depression and/or the emergence of suicidal impulses has not been established, there is concern that such symptoms may represent precursors to emerging suicidality.

Could anyone possibly believe these are harmless substances or even suitable for human consumption? Still, they take pass from the FDA and make it onto the pharmacist's shelf with stunning regularity.

As an exercise in examining the stupidity of it all, keep in mind the following things. If you are spotted by police with a joint jutting out of your mouth, you're in for some legal problems. Even though marijuana has been proven to be non-addictive and comparatively harmless, we all know it's the Devil's Oregano and you'll not have any part of it.

But shove a handful of pills down your throat (having received the necessary nod from a doctor) and you're good to go.

That's just stunning idiocy and hypocrisy.

So, once again, we see those big, bad corporations destroying human life and taking a nice pass from our government. Those pushers got to Anna Nicole Smith, as they do many others without the aura of celebrity.

I'm sorry that, in all the news coverage of her life and death, the real crux of the problem is being overlooked. These drugs can (and do) kill and the people who are seducing you into becoming dependent on them are no better than the dude peddling smack two corners down. http://pamelahennessy.com/blog/?p=132   2-25-07

© 2007 North Country Gazette