According to Dr. Loren Mosher, in the video, “The Drugging of our Children”, between the years of 1995 and 2000 the number of prescriptions of psychotropic drugs, of all kinds, more than doubled. The pharmaceutical industry has similarities to the illegal drug industry, causing many consumers to become addicted. It is understandable that one might not be able to see the similarities between the two given that each profession is looked upon differently by society. For instance, pharmacists are looked at as heroes while drug dealers, as villains. Licensed pharmacists legally practice distributing drugs better known as prescriptions. Drug dealers (unlicensed pharmacists), on the other hand, operate under the eye of the law and distribute their products by their own rules. Pharmaceutical drugs are known to heal the sick and sustain life. Illegal drugs are only known for corrupting people and filling the streets with addicts. However, if people paid closer attention to both, Pharmacists and Drug Dealers, they’d see that they are all too similar. Similarities include location, addictiveness, and advertisements. The ultimate similarity is that they tend to target teens into using drugs that they may not really need to be healed or cured.
The team went to different websites to try to find what the true definition of a pharmacist and drug dealer were. However what was strange was that every where we searched, there were different definition found for a pharmacist. Things like, a person “licensed to prepare and dispense drugs and medicines;” “a health professional trained in the art of preparing and dispensing drugs;” and also “refers to anyone selling/making drugs”. However, everywhere we searched to find the definition of a drug dealer it was all the same. The definition was “an unlicensed dealer in illegal drugs.” We all understand that the “dealers” are unlicensed, but who determines whether the drugs are legal or not, and is that determination in anyway biased.
Some of the information you will find in this website was taken from a film called "The Drugging of Our Children." This film is approximately 1 hour and 43 minutes. When you have reached the site you must press play. The play button will be located in the bottom left corner of you screen. If you would like to view this film Click Here
Throughout our site you will see a series of graphs. These graphs were
made from a survey that was constructed by the team and distributed among
teens between the ages of 14 to 19. The graphs are small to fit the text
however, when you click on them they will open and expand on a new page,
where the question will be clearly displayed on the graph and percentage
that answer yes, no, or undecided. Also, while making this site we interviewd
Dr. Poe, who taught a class that was very similar to our topic. Throughout
our site you will see links that will send you to an audio interview that
will give his insight on the specific topic you are viewing at the time
you click on the link. Enjoy
(Click Here to View Text Site)
Sources:
http://dictionary.oed.com/cgi/findword?query_type=word&queryword=drug
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=define%3Adrugs