Pharmaceutical Drug Companies Killing Middle America
Legally while Robbing You Blind

Source: Better Body Journal

In 2005, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC)
reported(1) that drug overdoses killed 33,000 people
that year. Roughly 10,000 people died in 1990 of the
same causes. In 1999, it was 20,000 people. Are you
seeing the trend? In 2005, drug deaths were second
only car accidents (44,000 people killed) in the
category of accidental deaths.

The category of drug-induced causes includes not
only deaths from dependent and nondependent use of
either legal or illegal drugs, but also includes
poisoning from medically prescribed and other drugs.

This huge increase in people dying is not because of a
heroin or crack epidemic. It’s not young, black people
who are dying either. This increase in deaths is
happening in the middle-aged, white demographic. CDC
epidemiologist Leonard Paulozzi stated to Congress,
  "Mortality statistics suggest that these deaths are
largely due to the misuse and abuse of prescription
drugs." (1a)

46% of of Americans(2) take at least one prescription
pill daily. Do we really need this shit? Are these
drugs really solving all of our problems? If so, why
is the pharmaceutical industry growing every single
year, with some of the biggest, if not the biggest,
profit margins of any industry?

How much is spent on marketing prescription drugs?

We all know about the commercials. But that only
accounts for a portion of total spend for marketing
pharmaceutical drugs. Big Pharma spends millions on
commercial email, online marketing, and print. They
will spend $1 billion in 2008 on direct marketing to
make a return of $10 billion (3). Now that’s
profitable!

Despite my best efforts, I cannot find a comprehensive
break-down of the total marketing spend of
pharmaceutical companies. The best I can do is a study
that shows that the 'pharmaceutical industry’s drug
promotion efforts estimate that the industry spent
$12.7 billion promoting its products in 1998.'(4)

The resulting estimate of $12.7 billion is high
not only in absolute terms but in relative terms, Ma
noted, as the pharmaceutical industry ranks 34th among
the 200 U.S. industries with the largest advertising
expenditures.

That was in 1998. The pharmaceutical industry has
grown exponentially since then. The commercials have
only gotten more rampant. And I thought drugs were so
expensive because of Research and Development!

-----------

Take a step back and look at your life.

Our bodies are incredibly well developed machines. Our
brains are marvels of modern science. We can fix 95%
of our problems because they are self-induced.

Article Resources

1. CDC Report: Deaths for 2005.
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr56/nvsr56_10.pdf
1a. Alternet: Overdose Death Rate Surges, Legal Drugs
Are Mostly to Blame
http://www.alternet.org/images/home/splash/splash.html
2. Healing Daily: Drug Companies
http://www.healingdaily.com/conditions/pharmaceutical-companies.htm
3. Marketing Charts: Pharmaceutical Sales to reach
10.6 billion in 2008
http://www.marketingcharts.com/print/pharmaceutical-sales-via-direct-marketing-to-reach-106b-in-2008-4331/
4. Stanford: STANFORD STUDY CALCULATES COST OF
PHARMACEUTICAL MARKETING EFFORTS
http://med.stanford.edu/news_releases/2003/may/Pharmaceutical.html