“Prescription Thugs” – My Geeky Review

Update: Interesting, 2 years ago to the day, was when I first published this article. In the UK this week, the subject of Opioids has hit the papers, their ineffectiveness, toxicity, and addictions. They’re essentially our street legal heroin with extremely serious side effects that can lead to death. Below is my review of the documentary, “Prescription Thugs” for you to peruse, and hopefully you’ll be enticed to watch it.

Did you know that the US makes up of 5% of the world population, yet consumes more than 75% of the world’s prescription drugs supply? One in ten people are on anti-depressants (that often come with known side effects of suicidal thoughts). The US is one of two countries in the world that allows advertising on TV for prescription drugs. We often hear: “Ask your doctor for this drug.” Remember, there is not a single drug that does not have side effects, yet we’re being prescribed them like they’re going out of fashion. in the US, we’re being told to ask our doctors for them, rather than figure out why we have an illness or health condition in the first place and how to heal naturally. More importantly, we are not educated how to prevent illness in the first place. We are told to numb pain, not ask ourselves why we have the pain, and get to the ROOT CAUSE of the pain. Pain is there for a reason. Pain is an action signal for change, yet we’re numbing this beautiful communication from our body.

We live in a culture of symptoms maintenance and disease management. This is not a culture of healing or prevention. There is actually a solid reason why this is the case the case. If you’d like to learn more about that, you’ll discover the truth behind the ‘Medical Profession’ in my bestselling book, The Vitality Secret.

Back to this film. Here are my (chirpy) notes…!

• Every 19 minutes, someone in the US dies from a prescription drugs overdose.
• Codeine, Oxycodone, Vicodin and Morphine are all made from the opium poppy- the same as heroine. They are all addictive and can lead to death.
• Adderall and Ritalin are made from the same stuff as Meth. This is our “street legal meth.”
• In 1971 Richard Nixon declared a war on illegal drugs which has cost the US over $1trillion.
• We’re now in a serious epidemic of drug addicts – of prescription drug medications.
• “Pharmaceutical companies are drug dealers.”
• In the last 7 years, the top drug companies made $711bn. [In 2015, this is more now.]
• The pharmaceutical industry is the most profitable industry in the US [nearing a trillion dollar industry across the globe].
• Patients can test the drugs for free – then they’re hooked.
• Cholesterol and statin drugs increase risk of diabetes – among a plethora of other side effects, one of which is when your body stops producing cholesterol your immune system is severely hampered and hormones become imbalanced. Cholesterol plays a crucial role in hormone regulation. ‘Big Fat Lie.’
• Another side effect of cholesterol drugs is impotence.
• Same manufacturers that make lipitor (cholesterol drug) sell Viagra. This is a classic case of prescribing a ‘pill for a pill’ when one drug covers up the symptoms of the first. [CHOLESTEROL CAN BE BALANCED THROUGH DIET!!! THERE IS NO NEED FOR DRUGS!!]
• When Restless Leg Syndrome became a condition, a drug was created to treat it. [I’m a personal sufferer of RLS – it happens when I’m tired and/or bored. It is also a case of too much caffeine and sugar overload. Never has the thought crossed my eye to take a med for it.]
• 75% of the time, when people ask for a drug, their doctor will prescribe the medication.
• 1 in 10 Americans are on anti-depressants. [On many anti-depressant drugs, side effects listed are suicidal thoughts.]
• Even dogs are being given anti-depressants. HAS THIS WORLD GONE COMPLETELY INSANE?
• According to Dr David Healy, psychiatrist and psychopharmacologist (whatever that is!) who wrote Pharmageddon mentions how psychiatric drugs are some of the most profitable on the market. People think that because they’re being prescribed drugs by their doctor, that they’re safe. [They are not.]
• To get a drug approved by the FDA, two tests need to prove that the drugs work better than a placebo. It doesn’t actually matter if the other tests caused all sorts of health problems and defects!!!
• Drug reps encouraged to misinform. They are encouraged to not provide all of the information and side effects.
• 3 out of 10 older people are taking 5 drugs multiple times a day.
• Adderall is over used and over-prescribed. It’s addictive (remember, it’s street-legal meth).
• 6,000 kids are using drugs each day to get high.
• The worst epidemic we face in American is Prescription drug addition.
• Every 19 minutes, someone dies from an accidental overdose.
• We live in a quick and easy fix culture. [People are forgetting how to look after themselves.]
• Default is to take a pill. [Natural treatments are regarded as “alternative”, whereas the norm – the accepted method – is with drugs – this is the sheer genius of our cultural conditioning]
• Almost every medicine is a poison – there is a price with the poison. [That price is side effects, and they are presented in list form on drugs packaging. People ignore this.]
• “Why isn’t this stopped?” Big Pharma is one of the most powerful lobbying interests in the world. In 2013 $226m was spent on lobbying the government. That equates to $422,000 per congressmen.
• Pharma companies can be a fast track fee to speed up approval process.
• More drugs can hit the market and profits are exploding.
• People are not dying from medical marijuana – they are dying from legal prescription drugs, yet marijuana is what is illegal.

A quote from Forbes:

While healthcare technology has always been one of the most lucrative sectors, its net margin has been steadily on the rise along with the industry’s top line (revenue), as shown in the chart below. Within the broader healthcare technology category, the superstars of profitability go to major and generic pharmaceutical companies, such as Pfizer PFE +1.03% (27.6%), Merck & Co MRK +0.44%. (25.2%),Johnson & Johnson JNJ +0.09% (24.5%). Read more here

“Superstars?” Really? Interesting definition of an industry that is causing so much harm to people. In 2009 Pfizer was fined $2.3bn for illegally marketing the painkiller Bextra. As you can see in the graph below, the most profitable industry according to Forbes is “Health Technology”. Imagine what would happen to the economy if doctors and citizens were educated in nutrition and people were healed naturally…

If you want to join a quest and figure out how to avoid and reverse illness and disease through nutrition, please subscribe to my mailing list and you’ll receive some of the best information with interviews with experts, awesome nutrition articles, references to medical journals etc.  You can also purchase my bestselling book, The Vitality Secret on the home page. This book is on inflammation, the hidden health hazard that is sweeping across the Western world and no drugs treat it. It must be reversed naturally or it worsens under the surface. If you’re a man reading this, you may be interested to hear low testosterone is directly linked with inflammation.

Check out the trailer here: