KEITH HALDERMAN: Which is the Dangerous Drug?. Jeff Schaler has posted a link on the Szasz Blog to an outstanding article on anti-depressant (SSRI’s) medications, such as Prozac and Zoloft, from Australia. In addition to an in depth discussion of the pros and mostly cons of these drugs, author Daniels Williams relates the case of Rebekah Beddoe who was diagnosed as having postnatal depression and put on Zoloft. He describes the results as follows: “Immediately before her encounter with psychiatry, Rebekah Beddoe was a normal girl having a rough trot. By the time of her inspired decision three years later to take herself off her medications, she'd been diagnosed with five separate mental disorders and drugged to within an inch of her life. Heavy doses of an antipsychotic have left her a diabetic and her left arm is a canvas of self-inflicted scars.”
Now, I believe that if back when Beddoe was having her “rough trot” someone had handed her a marijuana joint she would have been much better off than with the Zoloft. The basis for this assessment comes from among other places here and here. I also think that the above conviction is one of the primary reasons why marijuana is still illegal. A simple case of government regulating more effective competition out of the marketplace. [Liberty & Power: Group Blog]
There's something else to consider that is only hinted at by the Time article. Even if these drugs worked perfectly and had no side effects, they still wouldn't actually be helping.
Suppose a person has a lousy job, is stuck in a marriage with someone who hates them, or has a kid she isn't prepared to take care of, and is depressed. If this person starts taking drugs, at best she now feels perfectly fine. But the fact is that this person's life hasn't improved at all, she just doesn't mind because she's on drugs. What's more, because the drugs are making her feel okay, she no longer has the incentive to make a meaningful change in her life to remove the source of the problem.
I don't really see how anyone could consider this a desirable outcome, unless they're drug dealers or psychiatrists.
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The Christmas Truce, which occurred primarily between the British and German soldiers along the Western Front in December 1914, writes John Denson, is an event the official histories of the "Great War" leave out, and the Orwellian historians hide from the public. Stanley Weintraub has broken through this barrier of silence and written a moving account of this significant event by compiling letters sent home from the front, as well as diaries of the soldiers involved. [
