Our Views

Years of working in the field of alcohol and drug detox and rehabilitation has taught me many valuable lessons about people, and about the addictive substances to which they sadly, and so often disastrously, fall prey.

But it has revealed another situation, a darker problem more serious even than individual addiction because it strikes at and threatens the beating heart of our society.

This problem, which like most problems began as a solution, has created an entirely new culture in the world, a broad social order touching all of us that looks not for real solutions to the difficulties of modern life, but rather for a quick and simple escape. This new culture that has been thrust on and widely accepted by the world is the culture of pharmaceuticals as the solution to all ills, mental, physical and even spiritual.

While many people might just shrug and ignore the situation, we in the drug detox and drug rehab arena can’t turn our backs on it. The situation has become so perilous that for the foreseeable future the Novus Medical Detox blog space will be dedicated to investigating, reporting and commenting on it.

The reasons for this seem clear beyond any argument. The good that so many pharmaceuticals do colors how we think of them, how we use them, and how we abuse them. It is also clear that the investor-driven rush for profit has led to woefully inadequate testing and approvals of many new drugs, largely contributing to thousands of unnecessary injuries and deaths, and billions of dollars in legal settlements at a time when Big Pharma can ill afford such problems.

Recently we have read about Big Pharma’s admissions of altered or withheld test results, and profiteering at the expense of its patients and customers. And unethical promotion of risky off-label uses for the sake of profit have also raised the grim statistics of injury and death by drugs.

No one is suggesting that Big Pharma shouldn’t make a profit. Without profit there could be no research, no new developments, no progress at all. Instead, we seek to find what can and should be done about the shortcomings in pharmaceutical testing and approvals, to help remove the dangers of unproven drugs from society, without placing impossible financial burdens on Big Pharma.

Starting today, this blog will center on the complicity of Big Pharma, the Food and Drug Administration, state and federal lawmakers and of course the over-arching influences of Wall Street and an ad-hungry, uncritical media in the indiscriminate and dangerous drugging of society. We will examine the profitable to some but costly to society results of blind acceptance of pharmaceuticals as a panacea, and the dwindling spiral into widespread chemical dependence, addiction and death that has accompanied it. We will also look at the possibility that improved testing and approval processes, although more costly at first, might actually be the solution everyone is looking for.

From time to time we might also suggest, when it’s reasonable and has some scientific merit or historical precedent, how people might turn to simple, more natural solutions than poorly tested and potentially risky pharmaceuticals. In the dim past, there dwelt a sense of awe at the discovery of nature’s power to heal. A glance at history shows how leaves, roots, barks and herbs led to a compelling desire to harness nature’s power to help one’s fellows find healthier, more comfortable lives. This is the actual history of Big Pharma. And we hope that the readers of this blog will participate with us in that original spirit of discovery, and share our commitment to help in whatever way we can to bring about the well-being of mankind.

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A recent survey conducted on 466 faculty physicians at Chicago-area medical schools revealed that 45 percent prescribe placebos for their patients. In fact, just over half have prescribed placebos in the last year. I don’t know if the placebos were less expensive than the real drugs, but I do know taking placebos could save a lot of money spent on drug detox.

Do these placebos really help the patient? According to another study at the University of Michigan, they do: When prescribed painkillers that were actually placebos, for example, the production of endorphins increased in some patients and their pain was relieved naturally - without drugs.

In fact, if you closely read the clinical trials done on prescription drugs you’ll find that many performed only marginally better than placebos. For some reason, this is enough for the FDA to approve putting a drug on the market regardless of the fact that the drugs can produce dangerous side effects – including prescription drug addiction and dependency that could require a medical drug detox program and even drug rehab to overcome.

Perhaps the FDA guidelines on approval for drugs need to change. Shouldn’t a drug with significant risk also carry significant benefit? Guidelines like that would save untold amounts of money for the millions who need a drug detox program for prescription drugs – and thousands of people who have died from prescription drug-related circumstances would still be alive today.

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A recent survey in Michigan revealed some startling facts about prescription drug use in children and young adults: Of the 1,086 7th to 12th graders surveyed, 36% were prescribed drugs in the year prior. And we’re not talking about antibiotics for ear infections – we’re talking about anti-anxiety meds, sleeping pills, stimulants and painkillers. These drugs are dangerous: many of them are nothing more than legal heroin and cocaine. And they’re just as addictive and just as difficult to quit taking. In fact, many people will need a medical drug detox program to get off them.

Although the concern over prescription drugs centers largely around ‘abuse’ – taking them without a prescription or other than as directed – you can quite easily become dependent on or addicted to them despite your doctor having prescribed them and despite taking them exactly as directed. They’ll have the same effect, and might send you to drug detox.

But the most important question is this: how did 36% of kids in grades 7 through 12 get to the point where they need sleeping pills, sedatives, stimulants and painkillers? Can it possibly be true that these drugs are ‘medical necessary’?

I didn’t know anyone – nevermind one in three – who took these drugs when I was in school. And, frankly, they seemed to be generally more centered, more self-aware, more stable, more purposeful and better educated than many of the kids today.

Are drug companies fulfilling a demand, or creating one? I would venture to say the latter. Either way, there’s more drug detox needed now than ever for those who are addicted to, dependent on or abusing these drugs, and I just hope Michigan does something to keep the problem from getting worse.

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Here’s the latest in the increasingly long list of Big Pharma/FDA ‘blunders’, and one more reason you might want to check into medical drug detox.

A team of scientists led by Erick Turner of the Oregon Health & Science University and the Portland Veterans Affairs Medical Center reviewed the published literature about antidepressants and compared it to the documents submitted by the manufacturers to the FDA for approval. And what do you know? Surprise, surprise: the information we’ve all been given, including our doctors, about the effectiveness of antidepressants isn’t true.

Turner found 33 unpublished antidepressant studies that had negative or, at least, not positive, results. The information in those studies was never made public.

What does this mean?

Antidepressants are not as effective as we were led to believe.

We’ve been lied to, again.

Our doctors have been lied to and are prescribing drugs for us that have not really been proven to help us.

We are putting our sanity and our physical health at risk – have you seen the side effects of these drugs! – for ‘results’ that may be non-existent.

Add to that the fact that many antidepressants have the side effect of suicidal thoughts and behavior – isn’t that going in the wrong direction? - and have even been implicated in numerous suicides and homicides, and we have another drug-related disaster on our hands.

The good news is that we now know the truth. And we can do a good medical drug detox program to get off them. Ask your doctor about it, and then give us a call.

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Why are prescription drugs dangerous? According to a recent study, the problem is often caused by patients giving their doctor incorrect information about what drugs they’re taking. You might need medical drug detox if you’re taking drugs that can cause addiction and dependency but, for other drugs, just knowing the names of the drugs you’re taking could prevent serious side effects and even death.

As an example, a recent study showed that between 40 and 65% of patients taking blood pressure medication don’t know what drugs they’re taking. If patients don’t know the names of their blood pressure medications, there’s a good chance they also don’t know the names of their other drugs. Consequently, they give doctors incorrect information and the doctor can easily prescribe additional drugs that could interact with their current drugs in ways that could be fatal.

Prescriptions drugs could be a lot safer if you take the right action: it’s important to remember that your medical records are not always correct, complete or available. To avoid problems with your prescription drugs, make sure you always take your bottles to the doctor to show him what you’re taking so any other drugs he prescribes will not be dangerous in combination with the drugs you’re currently using.

For drugs that do cause addiction or dependency, consult with a doctor, in liaison with a medical drug detox program professional, to find out how to stop taking them but, for all other drugs, making sure that both you and your doctor are fully informed could save your life or the life of someone close to you.

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Dealers of illegal drugs are definitely a danger to American society, but are they public enemy number one? No, the most dangerous drug pushers are the drug companies. And, fortunately, more and more people are beginning to realize it as their friends and family member admit themselves to drug detox centers or, worse, ruin their lives or end up in the morgue.

About 10,000 people in the U.S. die from illegal drugs every year, but according to an article in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), 106,000 hospital patients die every year from drugs that were properly prescribed and administered.

An article in Newsweek said death from prescription drugs - taken exactly as they were prescribed by the doctor - is the fourth leading cause of death in the U.S. Only heart disease, cancer and stroke kill more people.

According to another recent article, the American Medical Association said that drug- related problems kill as many as 198,815 people every year, put 8.8 million in hospitals, and account for up to 28% of hospital admissions. That’s scary.

Another article in the Archives of Internal Medicine said that the number of “serious events” involving prescription drugs increased at four times the rate of the prescriptions being written.

Many prescription drugs – painkillers and tranquilizers are the big ones – have also found their way onto the street and are not only sending more and more people to drug detox and drug rehab, they’re killing more people than illegal drugs.

How can you avoid being one of the people in these statistics? Consult with a medical professional who would rather see you off drugs than on them - a good medical drug detox program counselor can probably help you find one – and see if you can safely get off the drugs you’re taking and find a safer solution to your problems.

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Officials in Casper, Wyoming have been waging a war on methamphetamine for some time now and they’ve run a very successful campaign: Local citizens now see meth as “an evil.” However, methamphetamine has now been replaced by prescription drugs – which are even more dangerous and more difficult to control than meth. Drug education and prevention are being boosted to help the situation, but more drug detox facilities are also needed to handle the problem.

Why are prescription drugs more dangerous than methamphetamine? From the viewpoint of the Wyoming officials it’s because they’re easier to get and harder to detect: While meth leaves a trail of raw materials, labs, equipment and dealers, prescription drugs are found in seemingly innocent medicine cabinets. And if you can’t find them there, it’s easy enough to get them from a doctor - all you really have to do is complain about pain, anxiety or any one of a number of other symptoms.

Another major reason why prescription drugs are dangerous is that people think they’re safe in taking them. How dangerous can a drug be when you get it from your doctor? The truth be told, prescription drug addiction, dependency and abuse are on a par with street drugs, and many people got hooked on them when their doctor gave them a prescription. Now their lives are being ruined.
 
Since law enforcement is going to have a hard time fixing this problem, it’s going to be up to every citizen to do something about it. Start by locking your own medicine cabinet or, if you’re one of the people with a problem with prescription drug addiction or dependency, call a medical drug detox program to help you get off them and live drug free.

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I’ve heard that in parts of China, doctors are only paid when their patients are healthy: the rationale being that their job is to keep us healthy and, if we’re not, they don’t deserve to get paid. I honestly don’t know if this is true or not, but the concept is appealing. Unfortunately, those demands made on U.S. medical professionals would send many of them straight to bankruptcy court. Our system seems to rely primarily on giving people drugs to relieve their symptoms – drugs which often cause other health problems and sometimes lead to addiction and dependency which, in turn, leads to the need for drug detox and maybe rehab.

Not too good.

What’s the basic difference between our U.S. health care system and those in many other parts of the world? We are primarily oriented towards treating illness, not preventing it. In that regard, we can do some pretty miraculous things. But, unfortunately, most of those miracles don’t happen until we’re closer to our death bed than we want to be.

How do you achieve ‘wellness’ rather than merely being free of an identifiable disease? One pivotal step may be getting off prescription drugs. Unless those drugs truly are life-sustaining, it’s always a good idea to find out if there is a drug-free alternative to what ails you. It may not be as easy as taking a pill – it might require exercise, healthy eating, and so on – but it will be safer. And you’ll have a much better chance of never really contracting a disease.

Personally, I’d like to be one of those 75 year olds out there running marathons. If you want to achieve that, don’t go the prescription drug route unless it’s vital. If you’re already taking them, contact a medical drug detox program to determine whether you need drug detox to get off them. If you’re not taking drugs and your doctor recommends one, ask him if there are any other solutions. And before you take no for an answer, get a second opinion.

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Drugs Kill. You’ve probably seen that on bumper stickers and T-shirts. And you’ve probably thought the same thing many other people think about guns – guns don’t kill people, people kill people. While it’s true that we have the option to take drugs or not – especially when we’re talking about street drugs – just as we have the option to pick up a gun, or not, the fact is that people prescribed drugs by their doctor are sometimes completely unaware that those drugs can kill them – or, more and more, that the drugs might motivate them to kill themselves. Which is just one more reason why you need to get people into drug detox so they can stop taking drugs that are unnecessary.

The latest drug to cause suicidal thoughts and tendencies is Zyprexa. Although it is supposed to be used to help those with the alleged mental conditions known as bipolar disorder and schizophrenia, off-label prescriptions are not unusual. In fact, 15,000 elderly people in nursing homes die every year from Zyprexa and similar antipsychotic drugs. And they’re usually only being given the drug to calm them down so the nursing staff doesn’t have to bother with them.

But those deaths are in addition to those who commit suicide.

Increased risk of suicide has long been acknowledged as a side effect of SSRI antidepressants - Lexapro, Zoloft, Prozac and Paxil, for example - in people aged 18 – 24. But there seems to be no age limit on Xyprexa. And the lawsuits are starting to pile up.

One of these days, I hope we will have a sane, non-drug-dependent society. But, for now, help yourself and those you care about – get them into a medical drug detox program to get them off prescription drugs. Including Zyprexa.

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Are you confused about prescription drugs? If so, it’s not surprising. The word is getting out that they are dangerous. There’s even a commercial on television about it – a man sitting on a bench says that he doesn’t like living in pain, but he’s afraid he’ll get addicted to painkillers. A kindly man then replies that the drug he’s pushing isn’t addictive, so it’s not a problem. How can you tell if a drug is dangerous or not? How can you tell if you’re likely to need drug detox or rehab to get off them? One thing for sure, you can’t listen to the drug companies.

Actually, that’s not entirely fair, you can listen to some of what the drug companies tell you - there is some truth in their information about side effects.

However, until recently, even the side effects were downplayed: Drug companies used to choose which clinical trials they would disclose to the public, and even to the FDA when they requested approval. Obviously, they chose trials that presented the drug in the most favorable light. Fortunately, a new law now requires the side effects be disclosed. And those side effects should be enough to make deciding whether or not to take the drug a no-brainer.

The list of OxyContin side effects, for example, is very long – there’s at least 80 of them – and they cover such diverse reactions as anorexia, nervousness, abnormal dreams, thought abnormalities chest pain, amnesia, depression, migraines, . anaphylactic or anaphylactoid reactions – which basically amount to, among other things, a sudden drop in blood pressure accompanied by difficulty breathing and, if not treated, death – and withdrawal symptoms ‘with or without seizures’. That’s where the medical drug detox comes in.

If the side effects are that bad even after the drug company has done everything possible to make the drug look good, you can imagine how bad it really is.

The long and short of it – don’t take prescription drugs unless you have a life-threatening situation. And if you’re already taking them, get into a medical drug detox program that will help you get off the drugs before the drugs themselves threaten your life.

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