Drugs Kill: Chiropractic Kills

In Our Daily Meds: How the Pharmaceutical Companies Transformed Themselves into slick Marketing Machines and Hooked the Nations on Prescription Drugs, Peterson, covers biotechnology for the Los Angeles Times, claims that the Pharmaceutical companies are taking advantage of Americans. Peterson proceeds by using facts that support her claim that Pharmaceutical companies are making profit from Americans, by convincing the people they cannot function without their meds. Peterson goes deeper by making points that America is the biggest Pharmaceutical company, at which they produce unnecessary products. To continue, Peterson also leads into how Pharmaceutical companies advertise to the most profitable target consumers. Peterson uses Secretary of

Due to the corporate competition between large pharmaceutical companies and their purpose as a business to “make money,” modern medicine is often characterized by the overuse of chemical drugs. Under current US law, it is perfectly legal to pay doctors to promote drugs. Big Pharma, the collective group of big pharmaceutical companies, continues to pay billions of dollars to doctors promoting and prescribing their drugs. The common assumption when one goes to the doctor is that he or she is going to get the best medication to cure his or her illness or disease. Sometimes, the medicine fixes the problem in the short term, but it does not target the underlying cause. On top of this, the drugs may aim to fix one problem but can cause unwanted side effects in the process. This creates the never-ending cycle of dependency on chemical drugs as patients are often prescribed more drugs to deal with the new problems that are created.

Bell continued to interview a journalist named Greg Critser, who authored the book “Generation RX,” which is about the relationship between America and pharmaceuticals. He exclaims that drug companies advertise their product so much that it internalizes inside individuals that the drugs they’re selling are good and not poison, then he continued where the drug is somewhat of a poison where it kills another thing off to benefit another. Pharmaceutical companies also lobby the political side of their ambitions to cover up the negative side of their

With the mounting stress imposed by the conditions at work, “Jackie began to divert narcotics. Jackie was able to justify her actions because she perceived the drugs reduced her anxiety and stress, which enabled her to better care for her patients” (Badzek, et al., 1998). Initially, Jackie’s diversion of controlled drugs went unnoticed. But, ultimately her luck ran out, and Jackie’s actions were discovered.

The pharmaceutical industry along with the manufacturers of healthcare products and technologies often encourage the misappropriation and distribution of marginally beneficial products and technologies in the healthcare industry. These companies often use various advertising methods to influence members of the public to request their products and services without adequate knowledge of their effectiveness and implications to their medical condition.

This distinction, between the legitimate use of psychoactive medicines and the sub rosa use of drugs, is more vexed than ever. We have seen nearly 45 years of the War of Drugs… outcries about the safety of our children and accompanying uproars about nicotine in e-cigarettes, caffeine in energy drinks, “synthetic marijuana”, and heroin… club drugs, designer drugs, experimental drugs, homemade methamphetamine… We have pharmaceutical commercials on TV…to the point that any thinking person would be forgiven for questioning the

Commercialized on TV as the only solution to our numerous problems, Big Pharma preys on people who struggle through life. Although seemingly meant to heal, pharmaceutical drugs have destroyed countless American lives instead because gullible patients rush to their doctor demanding prescriptions. Want to lose weight? Give me a pill. Want more intense sexual encounters? I need a pill. Want to grow longer, shinier hair? Hey, I’ll just pop a pill. Although some medical conditions do require medication, not every case of discomfort should be treated with highly addictive prescription meds nor should those drugs be trafficked via commercials that target a hypochondriacal nation of couch potatoes too lazy to put forth the time and effort to prevent disease. Instead, far too many Americans simply find a quick fix at their local pharmacy. These prescriptions lead to addiction and in the end death. Therefore, if I could take away any one invention from mankind it would be the crass commercialization of pharmaceuticals.

The Pharmaceutical industry has been in the spotlight for decades due to the fact that they have a reputation for being unethical in its marketing strategies. In The Washington Post Shannon Brownlee (2008) states, “We try never to forget that medicine is for the people. It is not for the profits. The profits follow.” This honorable statement is completely lost in today’s world of pharmaceutical marketing tactics. These tactics are often deceptive and biased. Big Pharma consistently forgets their moral purpose and focuses primarily on the almighty dollar. Big Pharma is working on restoring their reputation by reforming their ethical code of conduct.

There have been people who do not consider prescription drugs to be dangerous. In, The Ongoing Opioid Prescription Epidemic: Historical Context, it tells that Kathleen Foley at Memorial-Sloan Cancer Center published two highly influential articles reporting addiction to be rare among inpatients (Meldrum, 2016). The implied message is that there is no risk. This may be possible in some instances because, no two people are the same. The appeal being used is that long-term opioids were potentially safe, because patients could be trusted to manage their

“Get knowledge of the spine, for this is the requisite for many diseases.” –Hippocrates, 460-377 BC. If a Greek physician could make this statement over 2300 years ago, why is it such an under-exposed theory today? As stated in Chiropractic First, written by Dr. Rondberg, a chiropractor of 35 years and founder of the “Chiropractic Journal,” Hippocrates “believed that only nature could heal and it was the physician’s duty to remove any obstruction that would prevent the body from healing” (8-9). These “physicians” are called chiropractors today, and their goal is to remove subluxations, the displacement of two or more spinal disks that causes

Amongst those who become addicted to misusing their drugs and people readily taking advantage of this situation, there is an irrefutable and profitable market. Due to the growing accessibility and faulty restrictions on prescriptions, almost anyone can acquire opioids, and there is a large population of patients that sell their medication rather than use it. An article by Celine Gouder entitled “Who Is Responsible for the Pain-Pill Epidemic?” reports her experience with a cancer patient. According to Gouder, her patient "was selling his prescription narcotics to help support his wife and himself," and when hospitalized, overdosed when his medicine was actually administered to him. Though the legality of sharing, trading, and selling prescription medication is heavily restricted, the penalties for doing so are almost never applied, which fosters growth in these illegal activities. According to the CDC’s “Prescribing Data,” on opioid overdose:

On November 21, 2013, Theanna Khou pleaded guilty to dispensing and selling OxyContin from his Huntington Pharmacy without medical necessity from fraudulent prescriptions issued by a clinic (" Health care fraud investigations," 2014). Khou billed Medicare for filling prescriptions that patients never received. This story is becoming a norm for the health care industry, because the growing financial prosperity of the health industry. Corruption and crime is changing, turning from drug dealing to a safer haven that has less legal management, organization, and more wherewithal the business of health care fraud.

With access to prescription drugs, people are able to treat a multitude of diseases and illnesses. These drugs help deal with pain, inability to sleep, depression, and much more. Every day we are increasingly living in a world where there is better living through chemicals. However, what most do not seem to see is the rising tide of pain, illness, and ultimately death being caused by the pills people take every day. Most keep drugs in a special place in their minds, where they see them as harmless. Sadly, this is not the case, and in some cases our prescription drugs can be just as harmful as illegal drugs (King 68).

Over the past two decades, pharmaceutical companies have quietly invaded American’s homes by introducing new miracle drugs such as OxyContin into their daily lives. Purdue Pharmaceuticals introduced OxyContin saying it was a miracle cure for pain that would last twelve hours. However, “even when doctors began reporting that patients were complaining

Pharmaceutical companies should attempt to be as transparent as possible when marketing prescription drugs to the public. Their marketing efforts should not only convey the benefits of the prescription drug, but also easily convey the possible risks associated with the prescription drugs. Many patients may tend to think the benefits outweigh the potential risks of prescription drugs and may pressure their physician to prescribe it. Due to the way the prescription drug is marketed, the consumer may believe the