The headline read, “106,000 DIE IN DOMESTIC AIRLINE CRASHES SO FAR THIS YEAR.” This headline is fiction, but what if that number of people had died in airline crashes in the United States in one year? Do you think there would be an outcry demanding an investigation into the safety of the airline industry? Do you think the politicians would feel the pressure to more closely regulate aircraft safety? Do you think people would stay away in droves from flying on airliners? You better believe it!
Yet every day in the United States nearly 300 people die in such an ongoing disaster and virtually no one is aware of it. No one rages at the needlessness of these deaths. No one demands accountability of the perpetrators. You could be a potential victim and not even realize it. The disaster? DEATH BY PROPERLY PRESCRIBED LEGAL PHARMACEUTICALS. A study published in 2003 reported that over 106,000 people die every year due to properly prescribed drugs. Some say the number may be closer to 200,000 because of underreporting by the medical profession. Another study reported that accidental drug poisoning deaths rose 68% between 1998 and 2004.
As little as one percent of drug-induced injuries and deaths are even reported in the US Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) adverse event tracking system, the actual number of drug deaths is likely far higher than what has been publicly released. Based on 2008 data from an Institute for Safe Medication Practices (ISMP), estimates suggest that as many as HALF A MILLION Americans die every year from taking pharmaceutical drugs.
Think it won’t happen to you? You’re probably right, but over 46% of Americans take at least one prescription drug daily. Are you one of them? Do you know the side effects of the drug you’re taking? If you’re taking multiple drugs, do you know what their interactions are? I doubt many people do. I know my dad didn’t. An adverse drug interaction nearly killed him a few years ago.
Like a lot of people, he passively put himself in the hands of his doctors, not questioning medications or treatment protocols, and he nearly died because of it. Do you do the same thing? People will grill the mechanic that works on their car over every detail yet won’t ask one question of the doctor that’s going to work on their body. Your doctor is nothing more than a mechanic; a highly educated, highly trained, and hopefully intelligent mechanic, to be sure, but a mechanic nevertheless and your body is the machine he’s trained to work on. If your auto mechanic makes a mistake on your car, you could end up on the side of the road calling AAA for a tow and cussing out the mechanic. If your doctor makes a mistake with your body, you could end up dead.
How many of the over 106,000 people who died because of properly prescribed drugs would be alive if they hadn’t passively accepted their prescribed treatment? What if they had researched their prescribed drugs for side effects and interactions? What if they had questioned their doctors as they would their auto mechanics? What if they had investigated alternatives to allopathic medical practices? What if they had insisted that they and the doctors be partners in treatment rather than submitting unquestioningly to whatever the doctors said? Do you do any of these things for yourself? Why not? It’s your life!
Do you even need the drugs you are taking? Often, drugs are prescribed to treat the symptom of a problem rather than to treat the problem itself. Got heartburn? Take a pill to reduce the pain rather than investigate what is causing the heartburn in the first place. It may take longer to find the cause (and cure the problem) than it does to alleviate the symptom, and everyone is in a hurry these days. Gimme the quick fix. Go for this and you may end up living with something that could be cured and taking drugs you don’t really need, with side effects that negatively affect your quality of life.
There is a body of evidence that allopathic medicine even when properly applied can kill, but I have not been able to find one documented case of properly applied natural and herbal substances killing anyone. This is not to say that all drugs are bad; that is simply not the case. At least educate yourself about natural and herbal alternatives. Gather as much information as you can, from this site and other sources, and then make an informed decision. Remember, it’s your life.