Death from Prescription Drugs: The New Epidemic Sweeping Across America

By Dr. Mercola

Death by medicine is a 21st-century epidemic, and America's "war on drugs" is clearly directed at the wrong enemy!

Prescription drugs are now killing far more people than illegal drugs, and while most major causes of preventable deaths are declining, those from prescription drug use are increasing, an analysis of recently released data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) by the Los Angeles Timesrevealed.

The Times analysis of 2009 death statistics, the most recent available, showed:

• For the first time ever in the US, more people were killed by drugs than motor vehicle accidents
• 37,485 people died from drugs, a rate fueled by overdoses on prescription pain and anxiety medications, versus 36,284 from traffic accidents
• Drug fatalities more than doubled among teens and young adults between 2000 and 2008, and more than tripled among people aged 50 to 69

Again, these drug-induced fatalities are not being driven by illegal street drugs; the analysis found that the most commonly abused prescription drugs like OxyContin, Vicodin, Xanax and Soma now cause more deaths than heroin and cocaine combined.

'Pharmageddon' Is Upon Us

Pharmageddon¹ is "the prospect of a world in which medicines and medicine produce more ill-health than health, and when medical progress does more harm than good" -- and it is no longer a prospect but fully upon us. Those most at risk from dying from this new drug crisis are people you would least expect; the analysis revealed the death toll is highest among people in their 40s, but all ages, from teenagers to the elderly, and all walks of life are being affected. In fact, prescription drugs are now the preferred "high" for many, especially teens, as they are typically used legally, which eliminates the stigma of being a "junkie."

And even if you don't have your own prescription, drugs of all kinds can be found in the nearest medicine cabinet in most homes.

Yet, these drugs are also now being sold on the black market and on street corners, where people who have run out of prescriptions are willing to pay upwards of $80 a pill to get their fix.

Many become addicted after using the drugs for headaches or back pain, and teens are increasingly taking the pills from their parents to use recreationally, under the false assumption that they are not dangerous.

As written in the Baltimore Sun:²

"According to the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, prescription drugs are second to marijuana as the drug of choice for today's teens. In fact, seven of the top 10 drugs used by 12th-graders were prescription drugs.

More than 40 percent of high school seniors reported that painkillers are 'fairly' or 'very' easy to get. They also reported that they believed that if they were to get caught, there was less shame attached to the use of prescription drugs than to street drugs. This mirrors the perceptions of their parents, who when queried said that they felt prescription drugs were a safer alternative to drugs typically sold by a drug dealer."

How Many Are Dying From Prescription Drugs?

Nearly 20 percent of Americans have used prescription drugs for non-medicinal reasons, three-quarters of whom may be abusing them. Legal prescription drug abuse is a silent epidemic, and is part of the reason why the modern American medical system has become the leading cause of death and injury in the United States. Authored in two parts by Gary Null, PhD, Carolyn Dean, MD ND, Martin Feldman, MD, Debora Rasio, MD, and Dorothy Smith, PhD, the comprehensiveDeath by Medicine article described in excruciating detail how everything from medical errors to adverse drug reactions to unnecessary procedures caused more harm than good.

Seven years after the original article was written, an analysis in the New England Journal of Medicine³ on November 25, 2010 piqued my interest -- the researchers found that, despite efforts to improve patient safety in the past few years, the health care system hasn't changed much at all. So, earlier this year, I updated the original Death by Medicine article, which, unfortunately, shows more of the same:

• In a June 2010 report in the Journal of General Internal Medicine, study authors said that in looking over records⁴ that spanned from 1976 to 2006 (the most recent year available) they found that, of 62 million death certificates, almost a quarter-million deaths were coded as havingoccurred in a hospital setting due to medication errors.
• An estimated 450,000 preventable medication-related adverse events occur in the U.S. every year.
• The costs of adverse drug reactions⁵ to society are more than $136 billion annually -- greater than the total cost of cardiovascular or diabetic care.
• Adverse drug reactions cause injuries or death in one of five hospital patients.
• The reason there are so many adverse drug events in the U.S.⁶ is that so many drugs are used and prescribed – and many patients receive multiple prescriptions at varying strengths, some of which may counteract each other or cause more severe reactions when combined.

There are numerous repercussions to a society that eats, breathes, and sleeps prescription medications, not the least of which is its impact on children. Between 2001 and 2008, there was a 36 percent increase in hospital admissions,⁷ and a 28 percent increase in emergency room visits, among children age five and younger who had accidentally ingested medication. ER visits for ingestion of prescription opioid painkillers, such as Oxycodone, increased 101 percent!

And in 2009, there were nearly 4.6 million drug-related visits to U.S. emergency rooms nationwide,⁸ with more than half due to adverse reactions to prescription medications – most of which were being taken exactly as prescribed.⁹ When you add in the growing numbers of people who are using these drugs recreationally or due to addiction, you begin to see the magnitude of the problem that the pharmaceutical industry is propagating

Unfortunately, this problem is now seriously impacting the next generation. When you were a teenager you may have snuck a beer or two at a party… nowadays teens will mix a variety of prescription pills together in a bowl and take a mouthful of them like candy! The kids think this is a safe way to get high, since they see their parents taking the same medications all the time, but it often turns out to be a literal prescription for disaster that can even be deadly.

The Real Thugs of the Drug World

The "war on drugs" has focused nearly exclusively on the illegal trafficking of drugs like cocaine, heroin, and marijuana, while the most powerful drug dealers of all -- the pharmaceutical companies -- are allowed to grow their businesses with the U.S. government's gold seal of approval.

But make no mistake – the leading pharmaceutical companies are also among the largest corporate criminals in the world, and they are really nothing more than white-collar drug dealers.

Although many fail to realize this, prescription drugs can be just as addictive as illegal drugs. In fact, in many cases there's no difference between a street drug and a prescription drug. For example, hydrocodone, a prescription opiate, is synthetic heroin. It's indistinguishable from any other heroine as far as your brain and body is concerned. So, if you're hooked on hydrocodone, you are in fact a good-old-fashioned heroin addict

But aside from the nature of their business, fraud, kickbacks, price-setting, bribery, and illegal sales activities are all par for the course for big-name drug companies. Last year I set out to investigate some of the criminal activities that some of the largestpharmaceutical companies had been convicted of lately, and the amount of gross misconduct, fraud and deceit I found was so insidious, so massive, and so overwhelming that it shocked even me.

You can read the grim details in full on the article, but here is just a sampling of what the top drug companies are up to:

• Merck: With a long list of deaths to its credit, and more than $5.5 billion in judgments and fines levied against it, it was five years before Merck made its $30-billion recall of the painkiller Vioxx that I warned my readers that it might be a realkiller for some people. After the drug was withdrawn, and 60,000 had already died, Merck picked up the pieces painlessly by getting a new drug fast-tracked and on the market.
  
  
  That drug is Gardasil, a vaccine that so far has been linked to thousands of adverse events and at least 49 unexplained deaths. It's a situation that the FDA and CDC have been denying repeatedly, keeping their heads buried in the sand even as the adverse reports mount.
• Baxter: Dozens of recalls of products that caused deaths and injuries, at least 11 different guilty pleas to fraud and illegal sales activity, more than 200 lawsuits – many of them stemming from selling AIDS-tainted blood to hemophiliacs – and more than $1.3 billion in criminal fines and civil penalties.
• Pfizer: In the largest health care fraud settlement in history, Pfizer was ordered to pay $2.3 billion to resolve criminal and civil allegations that the company illegally promoted uses of four of its drugs, including the painkiller Bextra, the antipsychotic Geodon, the antibiotic Zyvox, and the anti-epileptic Lyrica.

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2011/10/26/prescription-drugs-number-one-cause-preventable-death-in-us.aspx 

K West Hotel & Spa

West Hotel & Spa in stylish West London. A stone’s throw from Westfield London and one of the best value 4-star hotels London has to offer. 

As part of our quest to stay at every hotel in our fair nation’s capital – for the good of our readers, of course – we recently checked into Shepherd’s Bush style-haven, the K West Hotel & Spa with the purpose of giving their recently refurbished spa the once over. Situated a stones throw from the country’s most stylish shopping centre, within close reach of BBC HQ, and a number of the city’s most famous music venues, the K West is perfectly located to attract a significantly cool clientèle of rock stars and media types (Richard Ashcroft was supping Peroni’s in the bar on the night we checked in)….

INTERNATIONAL INTERIOR DESIGN AWARD, THE ROYAL CHILDREN’S HOSPITAL, MELBOURNE

Melbourne’s new $1 billion (Aus) Royal Children’s Hospital,  unveiled by Queen Elizabeth II was Designed by joint venture between Billard Leece Partnership and Bates Smart Architects (BLBS), with US-based HKS as international advisors. The RCH received the ‘International Interior Design Award’ at the 2012 Emirates Glass LEAF Awards, which took place during this year’s London Design Festival.

RCH is based on state-of-the- art ideas developed by the hospital around a family-centred care model that puts children and their families at the centre of the facility. Using innovative and evidence-based design principles, the RCH reflects changing healthcare practices, workplace patterns, user expectations, community aspirations and environmental responsibility.

The therapeutic benefits of nature in healing underpin the overall design. The design story is derived from forms, patination and colour mapped from the natural world to form an enriching and restorative environment for children, staff and the public. Through investigating the textures, forms and colours of the surrounding Royal Park, a unique aesthetic language formed a new benchmark for hospital design, demonstrating how healthcare spaces infused with nature can speak to children. Considered detailing invites the human touch, respectfully acknowledges the child and provides a safe environment while deinstitutionalising the hospital genre. The approach to colour is intrinsically linked to the way finding strategy, celebrating the landscapes which make up the state of Victoria. Colours derived from the environment define each level; applied in a coordinated approach from signage through to environmental graphics, paint, joinery, vinyl, furniture and soft furnishings, resulting in engaging and coherent, joyful and uplifting interiors.

At the heart of the facility is the six storey atrium and main street, a naturally lit public thoroughfare that links the elements of the hospital. A truly civic space, the Main Street seamlessly integrates with the parkland through natural light and use of natural materials. The calming effects of nature are immediately apparent upon entry to the hospital, and a collection of engaging distractions allow families and staff moments of wonder. The two-storey coral reef aquarium, major installations by Australian artists, a meerkat enclosure managed by Melbourne Zoo and interactive video screens make an otherwise stressful visit to the hospital something special.

The interior design approach was born from the basic premise that nature and art can make children better, quicker, and provide a better environment for staff and visitors. Everything, with particular regard to the selection of colour, materials and detailing, considered this. Evidence based design adds objectivity to the design process, bypassing the traps of style and fashion.

http://www.adelto.co.uk/international-interior-design-award-the-royal-childrens-hospital-melbourne/

High Road Design

 

The High Road Design Studio, LLC was founded in 2013 by Megan Stone to provide interior design services to businesses in the cannabis industry across the country, and to educate cannabis business owners on the importance of design in professionalism, branding, customer loyalty, and profitability.

What began as a small dispensary on the Santa Ana-Irvine, CA border, grew to a professional and widely successful access point for MMJ patients within 6 months of their remodeling of their showroom. A healthy-sized showroom, complete with a 20′ skylight, was in need of a more contemporary atmosphere. The owner, a young entrepreneur himself, wanted to combine the class and luxury of a jewelry boutique with the modern, fresh feel of a lounge or nightclub. He was one of few owners in our area who realized the importance of design and the atmosphere a business can create with it.

Custom display and storage boxes create a unique and impressive backdrop. Back-lighting them with LED lights satisfies the owner's desire for a modern atmosphere and shows off the product displayed on it. New product display cases allow for a more open feel and were less bulky.

Replacing the dark carpet with light colored wood flooring and making the walls a neutral, sophisticated dark brown, creates a higher-end feel and allows products to stand out

http://thrdesignstudio.com/ocpc-santa-ana-ca/

MEDICAL MARIJUANA DISPENSARY

A medical marijuana dispensary designed by Sand Studios caught our attention. Its mission is to carry out medical cannabis from the shadows and into the light and help patients feel good in the place in which they receive cannabis. The menu and the price guide are shown on LCD screens

Hung and the product is stored in wooden boxes along one wall as a pharmacy of old times. Tables and benches are made of oak, and the hanging lamps are made of borosilicate glass. A glass façade represents transparency, legitimacy and a sort of come out. It makes sure that people know that you are not afraid of anything, that it is ashamed. It's therapy for a lot of people

 

SPARC, the San Francisco Patient Resource Center, is a nonprofit collective dedicated to providing high quality, lab-tested, affordable cannabis and subsidized health services to its members, many of whom are chronic and terminally ill patients. The architecture strove to convey their socially conscious philosophy by giving the medical cannabis industry a positive presence in the community, with an environment of grace and craft through environmentally sensitive design and inventive detail. The jury saluted the strong social commentary and apothecary-like feel of this beautiful project

 

 

 

 

- See more at: http://thesuperslice.com/2012/04/24/sparc-sf-marijuana-dispensary-wins-aia-award-sand-studios/#sthash.bgQrMhRm.dpuf

Apple for iPod Hi-Fi

Apple's window displays shatters all our preconceived notions on what a store window should look like. For its new iPod Hi-Fi, it simulated a broken window in front of a iPod Hi-Fi sound component. Way to shake it up, Apple!

The Apifera window installation for Selfridges Store

The Selfridges store in London asked Matthew Plummer Fernandez to create this window installation. The project uses the analogy of shops being plants, shoppers being bees, and shop windows being flowers; the part of a plant specialised in attracting bees. Taking inspiration from the science of attraction developed in flowers, the complex fractal geometry responds and changes its breathing rate according to the daylight and passers-by. Visually amazing.

Louis Vuitton: You're Under Surveillance

Look how coveted are those Louis Vuitton handbags? Enough to make a swarm of surveillance cameras stand on high alert. This creative window display makes us think we're constantly being watched by Big Brother. Then again..maybe if we're holding a Louis Vuitton we become an instant celebrity! Hello, paparazzi!

Vuitton & Murakami's: Multicolore “Wrapped”

The world renowned artist Takashi Murakami joined forces with Louis Vuitton to “wrap” the prominent flagship store with its signature “33 colors” for 2008's holiday season. "The idea to wrap the Fifth Avenue maison in Monogram Multicolore came about in an effort to do something truly unique for the holiday season," said Daniel Lalonde, president and chief executive officer of Louis Vuitton North America. How I would have loved walking past this store! 

The Art of Window Displays

Redefining everything we ever thought about window shopping, these creative window displays will stop anyone in their tracks. As a mix of art, fashion, design and marketing, they not only have to quickly grab our attention they must compel us to enter a store. By giving people an experience, these displays also have the important duty of helping define a brand's image. As window displays have started becoming more like amazing art installations or fantastic scenes from a movie, we can only imagine the time spent beforehand - conceptualizing, planning and installing. How wonderful is it, though, when your art comes to life...like this?