Opinions - Big Pharma and the Drug War

[Heretic.Ape.]

This question was recently brought up in another thread but I'd like to open this thread to directly tackle it: What is the role of Big Pharma in the War on Drugs?
This has been on my mind today as I've been researching the funding for the Partnership for a Drug Free America. At first glance I would say that over half of their funding comes directly or indirectly from the pharmaceutical industry. For example around 40% of their funding comes from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, which has ties to Johnson + Johnson, 1.5 million dollars (the largest donation from an individual) came from James Burke, the chairman of Johnson +Johnson, and several other donations came from pharmaceutical companies. I have not yet looked into each organization and individual, only the largest contributors, so I can't say exactly how many or how much money this comes to.
Drug companies have been known to be quite tenacious about keeping their profits up (just look into their reaction to President Clinton talking about covering senior citizen's under medicare--the frenzy of pouring over 200 million dollars if I remember correctly in lobbying, campaign donations, etc to buy the policy). They have a considerable presence in Washington, one of the largest. The question naturally arises "why would they pour money into keeping certain drugs that have a large market to tap illegal rather than trying to sell them for a profit?"
Big Pharma is also notorious for suppressing the generic drug market (look into the company Gilead and their attempt to control AIDS medication for a nice nasty feel this). So obviously, as in most cases, it is the money we have to look at.
One thought that comes to mind is that it might be interesting to look into correlations between which drugs are outlawed and the timing of those drugs patent expirations. Also it might be interesting to look into correlations between how easy it is to make a particular drug for ones self and banning--for example magic mushrooms and cannabis would be hard to make a buck off of if they were legal.
Such availability of drugs makes these substances not only something that they cannot make money off of but also creates competition for the drug companies. If you can treat a bunch of problems with some weed you grow in your back yard you are not going to buy their expensive ass pills.
Further thoughts anyone?
h.a.

[Heretic.Ape.]

Here's an interesting article I just came across on the matter.

http://www.newstarget.com/z021768.html
Originally published April 3 2007 The secret history of Big Pharma's role in creating and marketing heroin, LSD, meth, Ecstasy and speed

by Mike Adams

Most consumers think that street drugs are in an entirely different class than prescription drugs, and they believe that pharmaceutical companies would never manufacture or sell street drugs. But guess what? As you'll read here, drug companies actually invented many of the street drugs now considered to be the most devastating, including heroin and meth ("ice").

Here are seven facts you probably never knew about the connection between street drugs and pharmaceutical companies:

1. Heroin was launched as a medicine by Felix Hoffman, an employee of Bayer, only a few days after he invented aspirin. Bayer immediately applied for a trademark on the term "heroin," then began marketing the drug as a cure for morphine addiction. It was also marketed as cough syrup for children.

2. Parke-Davis, a subsidiary of Pfizer, promoted and sold cocaine. It even produced a "cocaine injection kit" complete with a syringe for shooting up. Skeptical? You can view the picture yourself by clicking www.NewsTarget.com/gallery/articles/ParkeDavisInjection.jpg

3. A subsidiary of Novartis, Sandoz Laboratories, introduced the world to LSD in 1938, marketing it as a psychiatric drug named Delysid. This same drug company also created saccharin, the artificial chemical sweetener.

4. Drug giant Merck pioneered the commercial manufacture of morphine from opium and was a heavy pusher and marketer of cocaine. Merck also patented MDMA (Ecstasy, the rave drug). After World War II, Merck also began producing pesticides and food preservatives.

5. Ritalin is "speed" for children. A chemical amphetamine, Ritalin is made of controlled substances that would land you in prison if you sold them to a kid on the street, yet the drug is currently prescribed to millions of schoolchildren in the United States to treat a "brain chemistry condition" that was invented by the drug companies.

6. In the 1930's, drug companies marketed amphetamines as over-the-counter inhaler medicines for treating nasal congestion. Tablet amphetamines were also widely available in tablet form and frequently abused by students, truck drivers and other groups.

7. Meth was originally synthesized by chemists and later refined by drug companies. During WWII, "meth" was actually prescribed to soldiers by the U.S., Germany and Japan. Even Hitler was known as a "meth head" by his own staff. By the end of the war, millions of military personnel were addicted to the drug.

Today, meth ("crank") is made from ingredients found in over-the-counter cold medicines. While a meth epidemic sweeps America, destroying entire communities and even threatening some states (Hawaii in particular), drug companies insist their cold medicines should remain over the counter and not be classified as controlled substances. There is currently no legislative effort whatsoever to ban over-the-counter cold medicines containing the chemicals used to create meth.

Also related: Coca-Cola really did contain cocaine during its first few decades on the market (it also contained kola nut extract, hence the name). Cocaine was later removed from the formula and replaced with caffeine, a substance that is similarly addictive and serves much the same purpose.

Once you realize the connection between street drugs and prescription drugs, it's easy to figure out why Big Pharma is such a strong supporter of the Partnership For A Drug-Free America -- because they don't want consumers getting their drugs from street dealers, they want people buying their drugs from drug companies! Drug companies' attempts to outlaw street drugs are little more than a way of eliminating the competition and monopolizing the drug market.

Ultimately, Big Pharma is just another drug pushing cartel that has the same goals as any drug dealer: Convince customers they need your drug, get them hooked on it, and eliminate the competition.

The only difference is that Big Pharma has been so successful at dealing drugs that it has enough funds to buy off Congress, the Food and Drug Administration and practically the entire psychiatric industry (not to mention medical schools and mainstream media outlets).

Today, more than 40 percent of the U.S. population ingests FDA-approved synthetic chemicals manufactured and marketed by drug companies.

Drug companies think this number is too low. Their goal is to have 100 percent of the U.S. population taking not just one drug per day, but multiple drugs every day, for life.

Reputation Comments on this post:

good info

[Bikelbees]

I reckon in a legal climate big business could make a killing out of these drugs, even mushrooms. If commercially produced caps were available all year round it would to many be preferable to waiting all year to find a few, especially for the disabled. So surely they could clean up with legalisation and yet on more than one thread there is this (informative) financial analysis that says that Pharma is bankrolling the prohibition lobby.