tagged w/ drugging
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At least 17 percent of active-duty military personnel are currently taking an antidepressant, including as many as 6 percent of all deployed troops. In contrast, the rate of antidepressant use in the wider U.S. public is only 10 percent.
Overall, one in six military service members takes at least one type of psychiatric drug. The numbers are probably higher than estimated, since troops are also known to share and trade prescription drugs with each other, even while in combat zones.
Data obtained from the Defense Logistics Agency show that overall use of psychiatric drugs increased by 76 percent between 2001 and 2009. More specifically, use of anti-seizure drugs increased 70 percent, use of sedatives and anxiety drugs increased 170 percent, and antipsychotic use increased 200 percent.
Spending on anticonvulsants increased from $16 million to $35 million per year, spending on anxiety drugs and sedatives increased from $6 million to $17 million, and spending on antipsychotics increased from $4 million to $16 million.
Although antidepressants are among the drugs most commonly taken by military personnel, their use increased only 40 percent between 2001 and 2009. Spending actually dropped by 16 percent, likely reflecting the new availability of less-expensive generic drugs.
According to a 2009 study by the Veterans Affairs Administration, approximately 60 percent of psychiatric drug use by military personnel is for "off-label" uses not approved by the FDA. Thus, antipsychotic drugs intended for the treatment of schizophrenia are now being widely prescribed for post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms such as anger, headaches, nervousness and nightmares.
"Patients may be exposed to drugs that have problematic side effects without deriving any benefit," said Robert Rosenheck of Yale University. "We just don't know. There haven't been very many studies."
Further compounding concern over side effects, many troops regularly mix two or more drugs together into untested cocktails. The effects of multiple drugs acting in unison have rarely been tested. When both drugs act on the same organ -- in this case, the brain -- the chance of unforeseen interactions is even greater.
"In the case of poly-drug use -- the 'cocktail' -- where you are combining an antidepressant, an anticonvulsant, an antipsychotic, and maybe a stimulant to keep this guy awake -- that has never been tested," Breggin said.
Among the side effects that some health professionals worry about are impaired motor skills, reduced reaction time, increased suicide risk, irritability, aggressiveness and hostility.
"Imagine causing that in men and women who are heavily armed and under a great deal of stress," psychiatrist Peter Breggin said.
Some observers have suggested that the 150 percent increase in suicides in the Army since 2001 and the 50 percent increase in the Marines may be caused in part by the 76 percent increase in the use of psychiatric drugs.
The widespread use of psychotropics, including off-label use and cocktails, is "really a large-scale experiment," said former Navy psychiatrist Grace Jackson. "We are experimenting with changing people's cognition and behavior."
It is difficult to determine the exact causes of increase psychotropic use in the military. Some analysts have pointed to the increased stress of multiple ongoing wars and longer deployments since 2001.
Others, such as Frank Ochberg of Michigan State University, note the faster growth rate of mood-dulling drugs such as antipsychotics and anticonvulsants, and suggest that these drugs are being prescribed to troops readjusting to civilian life.
"The ultimate effect of both of these drugs is to take the heightened arousal -- the hypervigilance and all the emotions that served you once you were deployed -- and help to turn that back down," Ochberg said.
http://www.naturalnews.com/029285_psychiatric_drugs_military.htmlAt least 17 percent of active-duty military personnel are currently taking an... more
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French village went insane after CIA spiked its bread with LSD
Cory Doctorow at 10:27 PM March 11, 2010
For 50 years, residents of the French village of Pont-Saint-Esprit have tried to understand the "cursed bread" incident, a moment of terrifying mass insanity and hallucinations that left at least five dead and dozens in asylums. Now the mystery is solved: the CIA secretly spiked the bread from the bakery with enormous quantities of LSD as part of its cold war mind-control experiments, at least according to recently uncovered documents. The allegation originates with H P Albarelli Jr., an investigative journalist who uncovered the documents while researching his forthcoming book, A Terrible Mistake: The Murder of Frank Olson and the CIA's Secret Cold War Experiments.
One man tried to drown himself, screaming that his belly was being eaten by snakes. An 11-year-old tried to strangle his grandmother. Another man shouted: "I am a plane", before jumping out of a second-floor window, breaking his legs. He then got up and carried on for 50 yards. Another saw his heart escaping through his feet and begged a doctor to put it back. Many were taken to the local asylum in strait jackets...
Scientists at Fort Detrick told him that agents had sprayed LSD into the air and also contaminated "local foot products".
Mr Albarelli said the real "smoking gun" was a White House document sent to members of the Rockefeller Commission formed in 1975 to investigate CIA abuses. It contained the names of a number of French nationals who had been secretly employed by the CIA and made direct reference to the "Pont St. Esprit incident." In its quest to research LSD as an offensive weapon, Mr Albarelli claims, the US army also drugged over 5,700 unwitting American servicemen between 1953 and 1965.
French bread spiked with LSD in CIA experiment (Thanks, Steve and everyone else who suggested this!)
(Image: Shaw's French Bread, a Creative Commons Attribution photo from Adam Pieniazek's photostream)French village went insane after CIA spiked its bread with LSD
Cory Doctorow at 10:27... more
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by James Ridgeway
First published in his blog Unsilent Generation yesterday, 17 January 2010
There really should be a special place in hell for pharmaceutical manufacturers who make money by exploiting the weakest and most vulnerable of patients: old people with dementia. I wrote about one such case back in April of last year:
Pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly recently agreed to pay a record $1.4 billion dollars to settle charges that it illegally marketed the anti-psychotic drug Zyprexa as a treatment for Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia in elderly patients. This despite the fact that the drug was not only unapproved for this “off-label” use, but had also been shown to cause obesity and diabetes.
Now, $1.4 billion might sound like a tough punishment, until you find out that Lilly’s total sales of Zyprexa have topped $37 billion. And at least some of those sales were thanks to doctors who, with guidance from Lilly drug reps, wrote thousands of prescriptions for patients with virtually no ability to defend themselves.
http://baltimorechronicle.com/2010/011810Ridgeway.shtmlby James Ridgeway
First published in his blog Unsilent Generation yesterday, 17... more
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Interesting article. Even the CIA factbook claims that the U.S. has 94 percent of the market share on ADHD.Interesting article. Even the CIA factbook claims that the U.S. has 94 percent of the... more
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The documentary is the story of big money–drugs that fuel a $330 billion psychiatric industry, without a single cure. The cost in human terms is even greater. These drugs now kill an estimated 42,000 people every year. And the death count keeps rising. Containing more than 175 interviews with lawyers, mental health experts, the families of victims and the survivors themselves, this riveting documentary rips the mask off psychotropic drugging and exposes a brutal but well-entrenched money-making machine.”
Produced by the Citizens Commission on Human Rights International ,”Making a Killing: The Untold Story of Psycho tropic Drugging” depicts the field of psychiatry as a money-grubbing industry dedicated to making a profit at the expense of the mental health of their own patients.
In watching the video one will see how normal active children are forced into taking mind altering and addictive drugs with damaging and sometimes fatal consequences with their parents powerless against the coercive onslaught of falsehoods opinions and the "chemical imbalance" hoax which is foisted on them as ”fact".
Brian Beaumont, the president of the Vancouver chapter of CCHR said, “They invent the problem. They develop the product. And sell it for billions. The perfect formula for making a killing ... literally. Brutally factual, this 90-minute documentary exposes the greatest financial con this planet has ever seen. The facts are hard to believe, but fatal to ignore. “We are very proud of our new documentaries and plan many more in the future.”
The Citizens Commission on Human Rights was established by the Church of Scientology to investigate and expose psychiatric violations of human rights. To View the new Video go to:
http://www.cchrbc.ca/The documentary is the story of big money–drugs that fuel a $330 billion... more
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Legal news for Illinois nursing home abuse attorneys. Nursing home residents throughout Illinois have been given dangerous drugs without cause.
Illinois nursing home abuse lawyers alerts- Illinois nursing homes exposed for giving residents psychotropic drug treatment without cause or consent.
Chicago, IL—An in-depth investigative report compiled by the Chicago Tribune, exposed the ugly truth behind the treatment of the fail and vulnerable elderly nursing homes residents throughout the state of Illinois. The explosive report sheds light on the dark practices of Illinois nursing home caregivers who administer powerful and dangerous psychotropic drugs, which have led to debilitating injuries and even death among some of our most vulnerable residents.
The explosive investigative report is blowing the lid off the secretive nursing home practices, which have affected thousands of Illinois’ elderly and/or disabled nursing home residents. The unprecedented amounts of victims have been drugged with psychotropic drugs without their consent, or a legitimate medical psychiatric diagnosis to support the administration of powerful and possibly dangerous drugs. The Chicago Tribune uncovered 1,200 violations since 2001 at the states nursing homes that involved psychotropic medications.
http://www.justicenewsflash.com/2009/10/28/drugged-illinois-nursing-home-residents-victimized_200910282471.htmlLegal news for Illinois nursing home abuse attorneys. Nursing home residents... more
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