(NaturalNews) On the heels of the sudden death of celebrity actress Brittany Murphy (
http://www.naturalnews.com/027781_Brittany_Murphy_drugs.html), people are once again raising the question of just how dangerous prescription drugs might really be.
Some are arguing, however, that street drugs are the real danger, not prescription drugs. But the following study demonstrates why prescription drugs are far more dangerous than illegal recreational drugs.
According to a new study conducted by physicians at St. Michael's Hospital and the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences (ICES) in Toronto, the number of
deaths due to prescription opioid use has doubled between 1991 and 2004. Following the introduction of oxycodone into Toronto's
drug formulary in 2000, there has been a 500% increase in deaths due to the
drugs.
Researchers reviewed over 7,000 files from the Office of the Chief Coroner in Ontario and found that between the years of 1991 and 2004,
oxycodone prescriptions increased by more than 850 percent, representing about one-third of the opioid prescriptions given in 2006. (This is the largest prescription increase among all opioid drugs.)
Following the addition of this drug into the provincial drug benefit plan in 2000, deaths from opioid usage rose by 41 percent. Shockingly,
deaths from prescription opioids like oxycodone were far greater than deaths from heroin. The vast majority of people who died from opioids had visited their
doctor and received a prescription for the drug within a month of their
death.
The total number of opioid-related deaths in Toronto in 2004 is estimated to be 27.2 per million people. Study authors said they hope to shed light on the tremendous dangers associated with prescription opioid drugs.
Coked up on prescription smack
It's the dirty little secret of the
pharmaceutical industry:
More people are killed by prescription opioids than all those killed by heroin and cocaine combined. And that probably even includes all the shootings of gang bangers in northern Mexico.
Prescription drug
abuse is now more common than street drug abuse -- by far! And yet
Big Pharma rakes in huge profits from all the patient addictions to their opioids. And by "opioids", what I mean is
narcotics. They are, in fact, one and the same.
So of all the
drug addicts in America today, you can divide them into two camps:
1) People addicted to
street drugs.
2) People addicted to
prescription drugs.
The people in group #1 (street drugs) are taken to jail where they are given prison sentences. People in group #2 (prescription drugs) are taken to their doctor where they are given prescription refills. It's all really the same narcotics, it's just that one group is legal and the other is
illegal.
And what really determines whether a particular narcotic is legal or illegal?
Whether or not Big Pharma profits from it. If Big Pharma makes money off the narcotics, they're considered
legal.
Big Pharma, you see, earns tens of billions of dollars each year from drug addicts. And just by coincidence, it turns out that their prescription narcotics are
extremely addicting, guaranteeing repeat
business. The business model is so dang lucrative, you might think they were drug dealers...
Why do you think the main sponsors for the
Partnership For A Drug-Free America are the drug
companies themselves? It's because
Big Pharma is trying to eliminate the competition. By keeping up the so-called "War on Drugs" front, the pharmaceutical
industry can make sure it dominates the market for narcotics. After all, if you're going to feed narcotics to a nation full of junkies, why not make a hefty profit on it? That's the thinking of drug companies, it seems, as they have done basically zilch to effectively stem the abuse of their own prescription narcotics.
Much like the tobacco companies, drug companies secretly want people to be addicted to their products.
Sources for this story include:http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2009-12/smh-drt120109.phphttp://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2009-12/cmaj-dfo120109.php
About the author: Mike Adams is a consumer health advocate and award-winning journalist with a strong interest in personal health, the environment and the power of nature to help us all heal He is a prolific writer and has published thousands of articles, interviews, reports and consumer guides, impacting the lives of millions of readers around the world who are experiencing phenomenal health benefits from reading his articles. Adams is an independent journalist with strong ethics who does not get paid to write articles about any product or company. In 2010, Adams launched NaturalNews.TV, a natural health video site featuring videos on holistic health and green living. He's also the founder and CEO of a well known email mail merge software developer whose software, 'Email Marketing Director,' currently runs the NaturalNews email subscriptions. Adams volunteers his time to serve as the executive director of the Consumer Wellness Center, a 501(c)3 non-profit organization, and enjoys outdoor activities, nature photography, Pilates and martial arts training. Known as the 'Health Ranger,' Adams' personal health statistics and mission statements are located at www.HealthRanger.org
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Wednesday, December 23, 2009
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