street drugs vs pharmaceuticals

June 14, 2011

if drugs were people then pharmaceuticals are the kids that went to college. adderall, for example, is nothing more than a educated and graduated form of meth. same kid, just educated.

i tend to give people a hard time when i hear that they are on a bunch of random prescription drugs. as bad as it sounds i would rather hear i dropped acid last night then hear i have been on paxil for 2 years. a double standard? perhaps. i just think the whole prescription drug concept is a farce and in most cases more dangerous than street drugs.

so… i thought it would be interesting to put up two drugs side effects next to each other. one illegal and another that you can get from your doctor. i decided to choose MDMA (ecstacy) and Lunesta (sleeping aid). for the record, i have openly taken both multiple times (no shame). granted if i compared aspirin and black tar heroin it would be a different story.

MDMA’s side effects

Anxiety and paranoia
Depression
Irritability
Fatigue
Impaired attention, focus, and concentration, as well as drive and motivation (due to depleted serotonin levels)
Residual feelings of empathy, emotional sensitivity, and a sense of closeness to others (afterglow)
Dizziness, lightheadedness, or vertigo
Loss of appetite
Gastrointestinal disturbances, such as diarrhea or constipation
Insomnia
Aches and pains, usually from excessive physical activity
Exhaustion
Jaw soreness, from trismus or bruxism

Lunesta’s side effects

Unpleasant bitter or metallic taste
Headaches
Chest pain
Cold-like symptoms
Pain
Dry mouth
Daytime drowsiness
Lightheadedness
Dizziness
Upset stomach
Decreased sexual desire
Painful menstruation (periods)
Heartburn
Breast enlargement in males
Rashes
Itching
Incoordination
Swelling of the hands, feet, ankles, or lower legs
Painful or frequent urination
Back pain
Aggressive behavior
Confusion
Agitation
Auditory and visual hallucinations
Worsening of depression
Suicidal thoughts
Depersonalisation
Amnesia

i decided to highlight some of the more severe side effects in red to show the imbalance between the two. one drug makes you want to marry your sister and the other helps you sleep.

here is the side effects portion of a lunesta commercial. maybe they figure if you get lost watching the butterfly you will overlook the risk of dying to catch a couple more z’s.

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i know what i would choose. you want to get married carrie?

drugs, the-man

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GREAT post. I am in so much agreement here, Ben. It sickens me that there is such a disparity between our perception of drugs that are illegal, and drugs that our nice, smiley doctor told us would help us with those problems we’ve been having. And it’s all because we’ve been brainwashed to think that way. I don’t trust an industry (pharmaceutical industry) that makes billions of dollars a year off of selling us their “good” drugs, especially when they spend more money on advertising (brainwashing) than on research and development (see link).

http://www.naturalnews.com/022698.html

Adam // June 14th, 2011 // 4:44 pm

Niicceee… only if your dogs won’t sleep between us, brother. But then again, I won’t care, I’ll be sleeping it off or driving around Portland not knowing it. Love you

Carrie // June 14th, 2011 // 5:20 pm

Great post! We have become such a short-term, quick-fix, pay-and-go society that the increase of Pills Per Person (new KPI?) only makes sense. The pharma industry is just capitalizing on yet another societal deficiency. In this case, it doesn’t help when left to right politics get in the way of reversing the very things that could help us.

Nice reference Adam!

The video no longer works … damn pharma censors

Thomas Bosilevac // June 14th, 2011 // 10:38 pm

Thomas I am sure they probably have some version of a KPI. Brittany Murphy was probably a poster child for this measurement. Well for a while at least.