US military drug dependency

Interesting story if your interested in mental health, the pharmaceutical industry and the military

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30748260/

Quote :

According to data from a U. S. Army mental-health survey released last year, about 12 percent of soldiers in Iraq and 15 percent of those in Afghanistan reported taking antidepressants, anti-anxiety medications, or sleeping pills. Prescriptions for painkillers have also skyrocketed. Data from the Department of Defense last fall showed that as of September 2007, prescriptions for narcotics for active-duty troops had risen to almost 50,000 a month, compared with about 33,000 a month in October 2003, not long after the Iraq war began.

The principle of messing with neurotransmitters from the outside seems valid as far as getting results is concerned. A solution, but probably not the best solution. Especially as imprecise as it currently is. That's not really the issue as far as I'm concerned. What is concerning is that there's big money in it, and bad science. In one sense it really should be illegal to make money off of people's problems. Curing something, for real, as in permanently, equals ensuring that you don't get a repeat customer. As a businessman why the fuck would you do that. It's idiocy. Because the goal is to make money. These companies are exactly the same as Coca Cola, or a record company or a car manufacturer. If they don't make money, they crash and burn. Being a cynical bastard about people, the only thing I trust is that people follow the incentives in front of them, both greedily and slavishly.

War has always been a time of 'experimentation'.
They came up with Methadone in Germany, I think in the late '30s and during World War II amphetamine was extensively used to combat fatigue and increase alertness in soldiers.

RichardB wrote:

The principle of messing with neurotransmitters from the outside seems valid as far as getting results is concerned. A solution, but probably not the best solution. Especially as imprecise as it currently is. That's not really the issue as far as I'm concerned. What is concerning is that there's big money in it, and bad science. In one sense it really should be illegal to make money off of people's problems. Curing something, for real, as in permanently, equals ensuring that you don't get a repeat customer. As a businessman why the fuck would you do that. It's idiocy. Because the goal is to make money. These companies are exactly the same as Coca Cola, or a record company or a car manufacturer. If they don't make money, they crash and burn. Being a cynical bastard about people, the only thing I trust is that people follow the incentives in front of them, both greedily and slavishly.

word

the last thing a medecine seller wants is a healthy populace

speaking of which Ive recently used two products that made the initial complaint come back worse after a short cycle of release... one was dandruff shampoo, the other a nasal spray... is there a possibility they design these products to give you short relief but keep you wanting more? like crack? or do I need to put my tin foil hat back on?

The thing that is even more insidious with nasal spray and meds, is that, unlike crack, the companies that sell them can advertise .....add a bit of fear, vanity, shame .... =$$$$$$$$$

...and in the 'states', the adds on the telly go like this...
"wouldn't you like your life back...go for walks in the country...blah blah blah"
while images of verile and fashionably dressed people walk into hazey carribean
like backdrops...then you hear it, the quickly frazed and almost inaudible warnings
...because it's the law, so they have to say it--behind the music and images
"side affects include: migranes; burning pee; explosive diararhea; excessive vomitting;
swollen nutsack; flaming hemroids; sensations of bugs crawling over your genitalia;
sweats; nightmares; flashbacks; and panic attacks may occur in a fraction of the
population--[even softer now] of those falling between the ages of 13 and 91"

HUH! ...was he saying something??? those waves sure are 'purty'. i want waves like that.
all them vacation people sure are 'nahs'. what 'nahs' people they is. i sure'n wish to be
like them...i need some of those 'peee-ils'.

HAHAHAHAHA!

Now Russ, remember, you TOO could be invited to that party that all those happy, successful, beautiful people live at ..... if only you were younger, richer and more important ..... But wait! Here's something that will help you - be sure to ask your doctor if it is right for you ..... and remember to find out early on where the toilet is, in case of those pesky side effects ....
PS: 'You know that smell in your laundry? ...That's BACTERIA'
PPS: 'You have bad breath more often than you think you do ...'

Maija wrote///

"be sure to ask your doctor if it is right for you ..... and remember to find out early on where the toilet is"

ha ha ha. this is turning out to be a shitty day, in a really good way.


cheeky man...pun intended