AMERICA'S LOVE-HATE RELATIONSHIP WITH DRUGS

Many Prescription Drugs Have Effects Similar To Those Of Illegal
Drugs. But We Still View Some Users As Criminals -- The Others As Patients

While Americans are inundated with coverage of the Democrats'
quibbling over Barack Obama's use of marijuana and cocaine as a
teenager, a truly important drug story continues to be neglected: The
hypocrisy of Big Pharma, psychiatry officialdom, and justice
institutions regarding mood-altering (psychotropic) drugs --
specifically the denial of the similarity between illegal and
psychiatric drugs.

Author and science writer Michael Pollan observed the following about
Americans' illegal-psychiatric drug hypocrisy: "Historians of the
future will wonder how a people possessed of such a deep faith in the
power of drugs also found themselves fighting a war against certain
other drugs with not-dissimilar powers. ... We hate drugs. We love
drugs. Or could it be that we hate the fact that we love drugs?"

When we recognize that psychotropic prescription drugs are chemically
similar to illegal psychotropic drugs, and that all of these
substances are used for similar purposes, we see two injustices.
First, we see the classification of millions of Americans as
criminals for using certain drugs, while millions of others, using
essentially similar drugs for similar purposes, are seen as patients.
Second, we see a denial of those societal realities that compel
increasing numbers of Americans to use psychotropic drugs.

In the history of psychiatry, there has been a revolving door in
which a "medication" becomes an "illegal drug" -- and visa versa.
Sigmund Freud used cocaine as medication to treat his own and others'
depression and despair. In the 1930s amphetamines were prescribed to
treat depression; later amphetamines were prescribed for weight loss;
while today amphetamines such as Adderall and Dexedrine are
prescribed for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).
Alcohol was a recommended treatment for anxiety as late as the 1940s;
and in the 1950s and early 1960s, psychiatrist Oscar Janiger treated
the neuroses of Hollywood stars and other celebrities with LSD.
Ecstasy was used in marital counseling during the 1980s, and today
researchers are studying it as a possible treatment for
post-traumatic stress disorder.

It is politically -- and economically -- incorrect for the corporate
press, dependent on Big Pharma advertising revenue, to compare
psychiatric drugs with illegal drugs. However, the psychiatry drug
textbook A Primer of Drug Action notes that individuals who have used
cocaine have difficulty distinguishing between the subjective effects
of cocaine and dextroamphetamine (Dexedrine) when both are
administered intravenously. The amphetamines Dexedrine and Adderall,
besides being prescribed for ADHD, are used by many college kids,
truck drivers, and others to pull all-nighters.

Both cocaine and amphetamines enhance the neurotransmitters
norepinephrine, serotonin, and dopamine. The antidepressant Effexor
enhances norepinephrine and serotonin, and the antidepressant
Wellbutrin enhances dopamine; and it is not uncommon to be prescribed
Effexor and Wellbutrin at the same time. Effexor in combination with
Wellbutrin enhances the same neurotransmitters as cocaine (you won't
likely feel the same, mainly due to the quicker impact and shorter
half-life of cocaine). And selective serotonin reuptake inhibitiors
(SSRIs) such as Prozac, Zoloft, Paxil, Celexa, Lexapro, and Luvox
enhance the neurotransmitter serotonin. Ecstasy also enhances
serotonin, although by a different mechanism (you won't likely feel
the same using SSRIs as you would using Ecstasy in part because
Ecstasy has a quicker, shorter-lasting pop).

The Speed Culture, coauthored by psychiatrist Lester Grinspoon in
1975, astutely predicted: "Drug companies probably will continue to
produce increasingly sophisticated and disguised amphetamines, and
these 'new' drugs undoubtedly will be greeted with initial enthusiasm
by the medical establishment until it is recognized that any drug
with amphetamine-like CNS [central nervous system] stimulating
properties almost invariably is just as toxic, potentially addictive,
and therapeutically limited as Benzedrine or Dexedrine."

While many people use mood-altering drugs recreationally, many others
believe that they need their psychotropic drugs -- prescribed and
illegal -- to function. Eric Schlosser in Fast Food Nation,
investigating the meatpacking industry, discovered this: "The
unrelenting pressure of trying to keep up with the line has
encouraged widespread methamphetamine use among meatpackers. Workers
taking 'crank' feel charged and self-confident, ready for anything."

In 2004 Miami Dolphins running back Ricky Williams announced that he
had found marijuana to be "ten times more helpful than Paxil" for his
anxiety and depression. What made Williams's declaration difficult to
ignore was that he had been a celebrity spokesman for
GlaxoSmithKline, manufacturer of Paxil.

Neuroscientist Pankaj Sah notes, "It's worth considering that people
who constantly use cannabis may be doing it for other reasons than
just to 'get high' -- perhaps they are experiencing some emotional
problems which taking cannabis alleviates. Much the same way as some
people drink alcohol to relieve anxiety."

Marijuana and other illegal psychotropic drugs can, according to
Ethan Nadelmann, founder and executive director of the Drug Policy
Alliance, "represent a form of self-medication against physical and
emotional pain among people who do not have access to psychotherapy
or Prozac." The Drug Policy Alliance (an outgrowth of Nadelmann's
Lindesmith Center, a drug policy institute created with the support
of George Soros) "advocates for drug policies grounded in science,
compassion, health, and human rights."

The illegal-psychiatric drug hypocrisy in the U.S. is an ugly
triumph. It is a triumph of marketing over science. It is a triumph
for pharmaceutical corporations and America's ever-growing
prison-industrial complex. It is a triumph for those comfortably atop
society who would rather Americans view their malaise as exclusively
a medical rather than a social problem. And ultimately, it is a
triumph of injustice and greed over human rights and a sane society.