If you are a friend, a family member, a student, client or peaceandfitness reader, by now you know I have big issues with Big Pharma, on many levels, for many reasons. I have been involved with the fight against the legal pill pushers and I watch it continue at the quiet little pharmacy right in the same plaza as Tamarac Fitness Center, but trust me, I am not just watching.
If you are at all interested in how OxyContins have become the drug of choice for children and adults alike, and wonder how this can be, I would like to share some info. Back in 1995 one Curtis Wright, M.D. was employed by the FDA and involved in the approval process of the “oxys.” After the approval he left the FDA and went to work for Purdue Pharma, who happens to manufacture the drug. Hmmmm. Did I mention that the drug was classified not for severe pain, but for moderate pain….I happen to know people that have gotten them for tooth pain, post minimally invasive procedure like liposuction and of course back, knee, foot…basically any kind of bodily pain.
Let me also introduce you to J. David Haddox, M.D., the gatekeeper at Purdue Pharma, who during the original “launch” of the drug, worked to convince the medical profession that there was no such thing as addiction to these pills…just “pseudo addiction.” The answer to patients who exhibited sings of “addictive” behavior, was to increase the dose. Haddox, by the way is currently Senior Medical Director, Health Policy and past President of the American Academy of Pain Medicine (AAPM). At present he is busy working on marketing the term “under-treatment of pain,” in America.
Thanks to these heavy hitter professionals and others just like them, in the past 10 years per capita sales of opiates in our country has increase 600%! Of course, there has also been an equal increase in overdose deaths and….addiction. NOT PSEUDO ADDICTION…REAL LIVE, KILLING PEOPLE (7 a day in Florida) ADDICTION.
If YOUR family has not been effected by this horrific crime, than you have a lot to be thankful for. My heart breaks for all the lives lost…for all the parents that have had to bury their children and for all the children that have had to bury their parents, as well. My guess is that many of us have effected family members and we don’t even know.
I am a huge believer that people in severe, chronic pain and certainly the terminally ill, should have easy access to pain relief. These are NOT the people I see in the gym parking lot. They are driving in from Tennessee, Ohio, Kentucky and other states to bring the pills back and sell them on their hometown streets. This is criminal, but more criminal are the doctor/pharmacy set-ups that are not just allowing this, but promoting it. I, for one, cannot sit back and watch. Thankfully, my children did not get involved with drugs, but your children are my children, too, because we are all connected.
Supposing I should somehow tie this rant into the theme of my website, I will conclude by saying that moderate pain is best treated with some over-the-counter, long time studied drugs like Aleve, Tylenol or Advil, just to name a few. Eating healthfully, exercising regularly, meditating, deep breathing…all great tools (maybe addictive, pseudo or otherwise) for avoiding and managing light to moderate pain and sometimes, they are even enough to manage severe pain!
If you learned anything from this blog entry that you feel would benefit someone you know, please pass it on. Together, we can not just make a difference, but we can save precious lives, as well. Thanks to the ladies at STOPPNOW for all their incredibly hard work fighting this war. You can find a link to them on my link page. Thanks to you, for allowing me to vent. Now it’s time for some real peaceandfitness as I go walk with the bigredguy. Hoping you will find time for some fitness and some peace, today and every day. It’s the anti-medication!
Don’t forget Biggest Loser hits the White House to work out with Michelle Obama tonight.
