Pharmaceutical Drugs: The Silent Epidemic

This article first appeared in New Dawn Magazine issue 163, July-August 2017. © Brett Lothian.

Pharmaceutical Drugs: The Silent Epidemic

The use of illicit drugs has been demonized for decades now, to the point now that when the average person imagines a drug overdose, they immediately think of a young person at a rave or worse, a junkie in some back alley lying stone cold with a needle in their arm. But is this the reality? To an extent, yes, but it is far from the whole picture. In Australia, accidental deaths from pharmaceutical medications have doubled in the last decade, according to new statistics from the Alcohol and Drug Foundation (ADF). Today, there are far more Australians dying each year from pharmaceutical overdoses than from illicit drugs, in fact, 69% of all accidental drug related deaths, are caused by prescription medication. As of the last few years, accidental overdoses accounted for more deaths per year than the national road toll, with the number climbing to over 800 people a year. But why are there no major campaigns to reduce the prescription drug toll?

Whilst the national road toll is the excuse used to justify “road safety” cameras, which are nothing but revenue raisers in reality, the national prescription drug toll however offers no way for the government to make money from us. Some efforts have been made to prevent people from what is known as ‘doctor shopping,’ which is, people getting numerous prescriptions from different doctors, but that will only effect a very small number of prescription drug users, namely those who use prescription drugs illicitly or use illicit drugs also. Those people will just satisfy their cravings through the black market, so very little will change with that effort and the government knows it. Despite what the average person may think, the vast majority of long term illicit drug users are quite educated in their drug use, often knowing their drugs of choice and their dangers far better than the supposed experts.

However, the average prescription drug user, who are the vast majority of those dying from all drug overdoses, are not educated at all about drugs, beyond the quick 30 seconds of advice given by the pharmacist when picking up their prescription. Too many people assume that because a doctor prescribed them their drug, that they must be safe, but this is all too far from the truth. Some of the most insidious and addictive drugs known to man, are the drugs prescribed by doctors, such as the opiates oxycodone, fentanyl, codeine and morphine. Other prescription drugs such as benzodiazepines like Xanax can also be just as dangerous as the more famous opiates. By contrast, the currently illegal drug Marijuana, has never had one single death from overdose, ever.

But this is not just an Australian problem, this is a western world problem. Drug overdose is now the leading cause of accidental death in the United States, with 52,404 lethal drug overdoses in 2015. Prescription opiate addiction is driving this epidemic, with 20,101 overdose deaths related to prescription pain relievers, opposed to 12,990 overdose deaths being related to heroin. You would think that with so many people needlessly dying each year around the world, that this epidemic would be addressed with at least a massive public education campaign, to warn us against the dangers of prescription drugs, but alas, nothing. Could it be that our leaders really care so little about this issue, or is it somehow part of a greater agenda?

It could simply be that the big pharmaceutical companies and their lobbyists, pay enough in political bribes, ahem* donations, each year to keep this issue quiet. Or it could be part of something far more evil, it could very well be that this is just another part of the elite depopulation agenda. After all, it is the elite who own the big pharmaceutical companies pushing these dangerous drugs, under the veil of medicine. Also it is the big pharmaceutical companies paying Australian doctors and nurses more than $64 million from April 2015 to April 2016, to attend “educational events,” otherwise known as lavish holidays. In reality, they are paid to prescribe us the drugs that are killing all too many.

References:

800 Australians die per year from prescription drug overdoses, experts say. By Sarah Whyte

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-04-13/800-australians-overdose-on-prescription-drugs-per-year-experts/8443578

It’s time we talk about the addiction killing more Australians than heroin and ice combined. By Caitlin Bishop

http://www.mamamia.com.au/prescription-drug-overdoses/

Opioid Addiction 2016 Facts & Figures. By The American Society of Addiction Medicine

http://www.asam.org/docs/default-source/advocacy/opioid-addiction-disease-facts-figures.pdf

Drug companies paying doctors millions, Medicines Australia report reveals. By Daniel Burdon and Julia Medew

http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/drug-firms-paying-doctors-millions-medicines-australia-report-reveals-20160901-gr6n2w.html