Drug Companies Are Killing You Legally While Robbing You Blind

"The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) reported that drug overdoses killed 33,000 people in 2005, second only to car accidents in the category of accidental deaths. In 1999, the number was 20,000, and in 1990, 10,000 died.

As this excellent commentary in Better Body Journal points out, the huge increase in people dying is not because of a heroin or crack epidemic. These deaths are largely due to prescription drugs.

Consider that 46 percent of Americans take at least one prescription pill daily. Are these drugs really solving all your problems? If so, then why is the pharmaceutical industry growing every single year, with some of the biggest profit margins of any industry?

Big Pharma spent $12.7 billion promoting its products in 1998. The amount has vastly increased since that time. Do you ever get the feeling that you're being sold many of these drugs just to make you think that you're sick with something?

A good portion of the drugs that make up the multi-billion dollar industry of pharmaceuticals are simply doing nothing, if not making us worse. For example, a recent study suggests that anti-depressants only work for the severely depressed. If you're not in that category, then you might as well be taking a sugar pill.

In most cases, Americans are taking more drugs than they need. How about stopping the problems before they start? Take a step back and look at your life. Do you actually have problems, or do you only think you have problems because of a drug commercial?
Sources:
a.. Better Body Journal May 16, 2008
a.. Better Body Journal May 17, 2008

Dr. Mercola's Comments:
Unfortunately most of the population has been brainwashed to take a pill to feel better. I was reminded of this last week when I had to take a treadmill EKG for an insurance physical. The staff was in utter disbelief that I was not on any medications and they questioned me several times on that.

However, it got worse as I set the record for their facility as no one had ever gone as long on the treadmill as I had. A full fifteen minutes. I could have gone much farther and longer but the machine wasn't designed to go any farther on the Bruce Protocol.

There are times when drugs are necessary, but the bottom line is that most of the time they aren't. And when you get into that mindset that you need a drug to cure what ails you, two things happen.

First, and most obviously, you subject your body to another potentially toxic substance.

Second, and this is more on a subconscious level, it reinforces in your mind that your body cannot heal itself. No, you're telling yourself each time you pop a pill, only these drugs can do that. Which, of course, is a lie. But the more you tell yourself that you need drugs to feel good, the more your body will follow suit. Soon you really will need those pills just to feel normal.

And this is an insult to the immense healing power of your body.

Would You Take Cocaine or Heroin?

I'm guessing most of you reading this would not. After all, recreational drugs, including cocaine and heroin, are responsible for an estimated 10,000 to 20,000 U.S. deaths per year.

Well, an estimated 106,000 hospitalized patients die each year from drugs that, by medical standards, are properly prescribed and properly administered, according to an article in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA).

And 2 million more suffer serious side effects.

Taking this a step further, consider the medical error and mortality rate of conventional medicine in this light:

1. The recorded error rate of ICU's is like the post office losing more than 16,000 pieces of mail every hour of every day, or banks deducting 32,000 checks from the wrong bank account every hour, 24/7

2. The recorded medical errors and deaths equate to six jumbo jets falling out of the sky each day, 365 days a year

3. Since 2001, a recorded 490,000 people have died from properly prescribed drugs in the United States, while 2,996 people died on U.S. soil from terrorism, all in the 9/11 attacks; prescription drugs are therefore 16,400 percent more dangerous than terrorism.

4. If deaths from over-the-counter drugs are also included, then drug consumption leaps to being 32,000 percent more dangerous than terrorism. And conventional medicine viewed as a whole is 104,700 percent deadlier than terrorism

With these kinds of odds, do you still think it's worth it to take prescription drugs for problems that lifestyle changes can often resolve?

Most Prescription Drugs are Simply Unnecessary

As much as the drug companies want you to believe that it's normal to take medicine every day, it's not. It is the rare exception that you should ever need to take a drug.

Of course, you should work with your health care provider (preferably a holistic-minded one) in determining which ones are really vital, but I can tell you this: if you are suffering from any one of the following common conditions, drugs are not the answer:

1. Arthritis
2. High cholesterol
3. Cognitive decline
4. Depression
5. Diabetes
6. High blood pressure
7. Osteoporosis

And this is only the tip of the iceberg.

Let's spread the word as far as we can. Relying on drugs will never give you the healthy body and mind you desire. What will give you optimal health is a bit of work on your part, to eat healthy, to exercise, to relieve your stress -- all of the things I detail in Take Control of Your Health.

Already, we are making a difference. The drug cartel is slated to have negative growth in 2011 -- for the first time in history!

So let's keep the momentum going. One of the easiest things you can do is to regularly review this newsletter to keep you current on the latest deceptions and frauds the drug companies are trying to get away with, and share it with all of your friends and family so that they're aware of the issues too."

from mercola.com