You are absolutely right, of course, regarding the uses of information for propaganda.
I am in favor of people being allowed to smoke as well, and to drink to their hearts
content. Anyway, it is usually the "Nazi" abolitionists who quote numbers to stir up
response, especially when you can throw in childhood statistics, though there are
those on the liberal side who use them to support their own ideas.
I don't know what the accurate numbers are but my point was to say that the number
dead by legal, accepted means far outweighs the number dead by illegal, unaccepted
means. Is there anyone here who doubts for one minute that if Pfizer, or some other
major pharmaceutical firm held a patent for exclusive manufacturing rights to Cocaine,
or Marijuana, or Heroin, that those drugs would not be legal right now and being sold
everywhere?
On Sun, 14 May 2000, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
>
> 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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misdirections
and outright frauds�is used politically by different groups with major and
minor
effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said,
CTRL
gives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers;
be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credence to Holocaust denial and
nazi's need not apply.
Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector.
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