Several years ago I posted these numbers on the Extropian
list and got reamed for posting 'sloppy research' and
'libertarian propaganda'. One comment that stuck out over
all this time was that, "stats are often used like drunks
use lampposts -- for support rather the illumination".
Kris Millegan wrote:
>
> 0 from marijuana
As with most entheogens (shrooms, peyote, LSD, etc).
> 6,000 from illegal drugs, one-third of those from adulterants.
Caused by non-entheogens (heroin, cocaine, etc)
> 400,000 tobacco
So says the National Cancer Institute's propaganda in their
"Nazi War on Smoking".
> 150,000 alcohol ?
? indeed...
> 100,000 prescription medication?
The book "Deadly Medicine: Why tens of thousands of heart
patients died in America's worst drug disaster" by Thomas J.
Moore, "tell the dramatic story of the greatest tragedy
involving a class of drugs still on the market. It reveals
why the same medical system that brings lifesaving
treatments can create catastrophe beyond imagining."
The book's prologue claims:
"This book tells the story of America's worst medical
disaster. Over just a few years, an estimated 50,000 people
died from taking drugs intended to prevent cardiac arrest.
After hundreds of thousands of patients took these drugs, a
definitive medical experiment proved that they did not
prevent cardiac arrest as doctors had believed. Instead the
drug *caused* cardiac arrest. Often the effect was so sudden
and unexpected that people literally dropped dead while
going about their normal lives. The result of this single
medical misjudgment about the properties of these drugs
produced a death toll larger then the United States' combat
losses in wars such as Korea and Vietnam. If one were to
total the deaths from every commercial airplane crash in the
history of the US aviation, the sum would not approach the
number of deaths from this episode."
While the book's dust cover reads:
"The story begins with a new heart drug created by the
research labs of the 3M company. In animals this drug
appears usually effective in suppressing irregular
heartbeats. Hoping for a blockbuster, 3M launches clinical
tests and plans how to seize the market from competing
companies. But as the medical researchers test Tambocor, as
the drug is called, the first signs of trouble appear. At
Stanford University, a doctor warns that this type of drug
could be dangerous. Other experiments fail to demonstrate
the effective benefits of such drugs. But with support of
clinical doctors and millions invested in Tambocor, 3M moves
ahead and seeks approval from the FDA. Other companies
follow suit with similar drugs.
"Questions about the safety of Tambocor have already
reached the medical review staff at the FDA in Washington
D.C., where a behind the scenes drama takes place. 3M
presses for approval of Tambocor, while the FDA tries to
interpret the meaning of reports that some patients who have
taken the drug suddenly drop dead. Without a green light
from the FDA, Tambocor may be doomed.
"The final chapter in this story unfolds as 3M gets to the
market place, and using all the skills of a modern
pharmaceutical manufacturer, persuades doctors to use
Tambocor. At the same time, an important clinical trial
begins. The National institute of Health launch an
experiment with more then a thousand patients to measure the
benefits of Tambocor and two similar drugs. The shocking
results of that study -- and the response of doctors and
companies who promoted these drugs -- bring the tragedy to a
powerful conclusion.
"Deadly Medicine is a human story about the brilliant and
driven doctors who worked on Tambocor and similar heart
drugs -- at pharmaceutical companies, within the FDA, and at
university medical research centers. It provides a vivid and
disturbing account of the system by which drugs are
discovered, tested and marketed to doctors. Through the
tragic story of how tens of thousands of patients died
prematurely from one class of heart drugs, Deadly Medicine
also exposes major flaws in the system."
A few snippets from the book:
"....13,445 deaths occurred in New York state in one year
due to medical mistakes in hospitals.... medical mistakes in
United States hospitals kill 168,000 persons each year. Once
again, this figure is an order of magnitude -- an
approximation for a range of 150,000 to 200,000 death each
year. That makes medical mistakes of doctors and hospitals
the nation's third largest cause of death, surpassed only by
heart disease and cancer, and exceeding stroke." p.231
"Temple, perhaps the only one to appreciate how many
patients died through the inappropriate use of
antiarrhythmic drugs, got angry.
"'one of the impressions I kept getting is that the
enormous magnitude of what we are seeing here is not
appreciated,' temple said. 'This is, in fact, bigger then
anything we have encountered in a mortality trial except
AZT." (the 'AIDS' drug) p.254
"'Every time I take my heart medication I ask myself ...
how can something so small cost so much?'
"Thus began an advertisement from the Pharmaceutical
Manufactures Association. It provided the expected answer --
high prices result from the industry's heavy spending on
research, about $6 billion in 1988. The advertisement failed
to mention that industry spending on medical marketing and
promotion easily outstripped research, totaling
approximately $8 billion. The nature and intensity of the
hard sell to doctors is as much a hallmark of the drug
industry as its research might."pp.164-65
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