Protestantism

» Migisi - "Drug-free school zones"??

In response to "Drug-free school zones"?? posted by pink101:

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Maybe it was, indeed.
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I never knew ANY pot smokers (and I knew plenty) who had the urge or energy to commit violence. "Make love" was their slogan. We could use a little more 'love' today, ay? (wink and )

-- posted by Migisi

» pink101 - "Drug-free school zones"??

In response to "Drug-free school zones"?? posted by Migisi:

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A lot more.
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-- posted by pink101

» redback - Reply to Red

In response to Reply to Red posted by Migisi:

When I posted There are poor prescribing practices and ineffective therapies, poor patient compliance...

I wasn't intending it be an exhaustive list nor one excluding the examples you've added to the mix.

In most cases, SEVERAL drugs are prescribed concurrently to one patient...

There's a lot of confusion. Heath Ledger was supposedly prescribed a number of medications...OK singularly...but dangerous in combination. And against best or even standard practice. Is there 'doctor-shopping' to get such an "illegal" mix of legal drugs or were they all prescribed for concurrent use...thus WRONGLY...by the one doctor. Did the doctor want the patient to discontinue one drug before starting another and dispose of the old even if just purchased at great cost. (A prescription drug for an adult sold at schools to children without prescription, is technically a prescription drug...but not for objective analysis) ETC

Whatever 'mischief' the pharmaceutical companies get up to, there is a double whammy re public health. What facts will get into the public domain even if they most erode public confidence in psychiatric treatments and effects of medications. Religion? Scientology and its inroads into the propaganda game...the drug industry and its inroads...the underskilled or unethical, lazy doctor?

A lot of things to exclude to get to the core issues. Who really analyses the coping problems of patients...links it to a possible serious adverse effect of a medication and...reports it for public review/accountability?

I'm not excited about the link you gave as there is no background but I am going to ask about it when next we advocates meet here. I read an article at the link you provided. Does depression exist or is it part of the human condition? Is seratonin relevant or are the medications developed on a wrong premise? These issues may create a bias when examining what role if any, medications played in the massacres. Are the report authors within their skills base?

All this is not the sort of stuff that's discussed at public forums but it must be tackled if we're fair dinkum about PREVENTION. I think we ought to test our belief OZ does not have this problem. The data coming out of the Garvan Research Institute and the nature of the research

-- posted by redback

» redback - On A Toot

In response to On A Toot posted by pink101:

My brother was in and out of Vietnam in only one month...albeit minus a leg...he seems to have escaped (most) demons.

The people who need 'behavioural' meds have the very problems that should make poor compliance a no-brainer. And being on the streets suggests up-to-date diagnoses and medical reviews also problematic.

My late wife had been on Valium for too long and after all her problems with it, I'm not convinced it was prescribed and continued as carefully as one should expect from a specialist.

But it seems we're getting into a new phenomenon. That of high-risk prescription medication falling into the wrong hands and being used "recreationally". And narcotic psychosis being confused with schizophrenia etc. And as the pharmaceutical industry won't stop producing, the medical profession also needs to step up to the plate.

Maybe we should consider a move away from tablet form to injections only in clinics. That would stop playground sales even if invoking the laws of Draco.

-- posted by redback

» pink101 - Oh, Boy!

In response to On A Toot posted by redback:
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I understand your points very well--you are quite clear.
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But, there is another vein (no pun intended) here that needs to be entered.
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When it comes to mood altering drugs, we seem stuck in a world created by behaviorists. The subjectivity involved has it that anything that changes our behavior for the "better" is the ring we reach pit fpr on the merry-go-round of life. If all we're looking for is to change a person's mood, then, perhaps the method developed in the Soviet Union is what we will settle for the psychotropic reality offered us by the pharmaceuticals.
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Not me. I imagine other ways of seeing the reality of such a situation.
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Recreational drugs are just as legitimate as is a lot of the crap dumped on us by the dominant media--maybe more so in some cases.
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As long as we can have a Happy Hour where people gather to sip martinis and snack on salty tidbits, then, we'll have the other side of that coin--drug addiction.
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I watch these people I think I'm helping. They go in for these 12 step programs and other maneuvers they us go though for their "disease." If a person's choice to do whatever can be seen as a disease, we can excuse any behavior whatsoever on their affliction as though it were legitimate.
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In plain English, I ain't buyin' that!
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But, it is a fix. Albeit, with patches here and there.
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The word on the street is, "Oh Boy!"
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Oh, Boy, is a cheap shot of heroin, i.e., $10.00 U.S..
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-- posted by pink101

» redback - Oh, Boy!

In response to Oh, Boy! posted by pink101:

I watch these people I think I'm helping.

A source of my frustration too.

I've used throwaway umbrella terms like 'lazy diagnosis' here to cover a wide range of ills. It's almost pointless I guess to look at...diagnostic standards (in reality a whole range of problems are chronically, wrongly or prematurely diagnosed thus wrongly treated) the optimum treatments be they drug-free or not (in reality there is NOT equal access) any one single causation (in reality numerous). Almost pointless because it gets to be the patches here and there fix. What I call a bandaid society that nibbles at the edges.

We even move away from clear medically-based diagnoses to create a 'disorder' which is a cluster of 'abnormal' symptoms. And we aim to modify the behaviour of the person afflicted rather than the behaviour of the person causing the problem. The "ADHD child" vs the family environment.

No-one said it was easy or that TRUTH wears a flashing red flourescent shirt. (Redback 2008) ABC

Many people aim for a 'free ride' in life. Alleged illness aint the only excuse people get away with. It's a good excuse the drug companies get away with.

Oh Boy, is a cheap shot of heroin, i.e., $10.00 U.S..

Leaving $10 out for the next burglar may limit ransacking of your house?

-- posted by redback

» Migisi - Oh, Boy!

In response to Oh, Boy! posted by redback:
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Leaving $10 out for the next burglar may limit ransacking of your house?
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Heh heh. Ransacking would give me a good excuse to clean it.
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On the subject... I just don't know how I, my husband, and my kids have lived life without Prozac. (sarcasm) In our 'medicine' cabinet, you'll find pseudo aspirin, bandaids, alcohol, cotton balls, Q-tips for ears, vitamins, toothpaste, and a shaver.
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In my daughter-in-law's cabinet, you'll find a pharmacy. An assortment of colored pills, capsules, and syrups for everything that ~might~ ail you. Like her, her siblings and both her parents are on several prescribed uppers and downers taken daily.
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I'm starting to think that they are the typical American family today, and I am the odd duck.
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I'd bet that if most folks didn't have insurance or government assistance to pay for scripts, they'd have fewer to no scripts in their cabinets.

-- posted by Migisi

» pink101 - Oh, Boy!

In response to Oh, Boy! posted by Migisi:

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I am with you on that, Migisi.
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-- posted by pink101

» Brian Tubbs - Moral Perspective

I agree that prescription drugs are a major issue on this subject of school violence. As a former teacher, I can attest to that, having had several students under my teaching that were on medication.

But, I think there is a moral perspective to this. Check this YouTube video out. It's from Josh McDowell.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SM9Ad-9Bd...

» redback - Oh, Boy!

In response to Oh, Boy! posted by Migisi:

The perception some of us have here is that the typical American family has its own therapist to help it through EVERY rainy day, that most people who claim mental health problems, feign them or blindly trust their under-qualified every-street-corner behaviourist. That thy're closet Scientologist supporters.

Heh heh. Ransacking would give me a good excuse to clean it.

I leave my place permanently ransacked-looking to deter the would-be burglar who hopefully thinks they've left it too late. And I (aim to) clean it biannually whether it needs it or not.

My only medicine "cabinet" is the paper bag beside my lounge room chair...otherwise I'd forget to take them...more often than I now do. My endocronologist (diabetes) has been warned by me an increase in medication in one area means a reduction elsewhere. And country music...not drugs...still soothes the anxious beast within.

We ARE all different I'm guessing but then I have no daughter-in-law's cabinet to stickty beak in. ABC

-- posted by redback