DRUG MAKERS KNEW POTENTIAL FOR ADDICTION

To the Editor:

Recent letters have addressed the huge profits made by drug companies.
I have heard people say that these drugs improve our quality of life.
I would hardly say that being addicted to, let's say, pain pills can
make life better for anyone.

The fact is many of the drug companies were warned by chemists how
powerfully addictive these products would be. Even after the warnings,
these life-destroying products were marketed anyway. Oxycodone,
Oxycotin and morphine are just a few examples.

There is no way to place a dollar figure on the lost time from work
and the numbers of lives that were destroyed by these products. Not to
mention the money people spent to enter rehab to overcome their addictions.

I know many will say I am against profit. But to profit from people's
misery and addiction only proves money is more important than human
life to some of these companies.

A sinus drug called Seldane killed thousands before being banned for
sale in America. We all know about Vioxx and other arthritis drugs
that killed and maimed thousands.

How many people have to die before these greed monsters will
acknowledge the damage done to our people?

The Supreme Court has ruled the use of medical marijuana to be a crime
in most states. It has even been labeled as dangerous. Just how much
more dangerous can marijuana be compared with synthetic heroin?

That is, after all, the main ingredient in Oxycotin. Not to mention
the opiate-based pain killers that are equally as
dangerous.

David Smith

Ashland City 37015