http://www.jonbarron.org/blog_published/2008/05/scientists_and_doctors_on_drug.html
Scientists and Doctors on Drugs
Posted By: Jon Barron | May 20, 2008 2:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
mad_doctor
Many modern anesthetics and pain killers were developed from
experiments that scientists conducted on themselves, often getting
addicted in the process. There was the chemist Humphry Davy,who
discovered laughing gas in the early 1800's, enjoyed it with the poets
Robert Southey and Samuel Coleridge, but got so addicted that he never
did anything with his discovery. Then there was dentist Horace Wells,
who used the gas successfully to sedate his patients, but soon
discovered chloroform, which he preferred, and sniffed his way into
desperate addiction. Cocaine came on the scene after surgeons William
Hall and Richard Halsted enjoyed testing the effects until they got
hopelessly hooked. And so the stories go, right up to recent times
with Timothy Leary and Richard Alpert exploring the limits of LSD in
their Harvard labs.
Still, it's shocking to learn that, according to a recent survey, 20
percent of scientists use prescription drugs recreationally to improve
concentration or memory, with about half of those using the drugs
daily or weekly. The internet survey, sponsored by the Nature Network,
had 1427 respondents from 60 countries, with two-thirds from the US.
The most popular of the drugs was the stimulant Ritalin, preferred by
62 percent of the pill-popping respondents. Ritalin is commonly known
as a hyperactivity drug given to ADHD kids to help them focus. Runner
up was Provigil (modafinil), which fights fatigue, named by 44% of the
drug-users, and then anti-anxiety beta blockers like Inderol. The
chief reasons for taking these drugs included wanting to improve
concentration, needing a boost to complete a specific task, and
wanting to recover from jetlag.
Seventy percent of the respondents said they would be willing to risk
side effects in order to boost brain power, and 80 percent (including
those who didn't take the drugs) agreed that there shouldn't be
restrictions on access to these drugs and that healthy people should
be allowed to use them to increase performance.
But that's just scientists and researchers. What about doctors? Well,
according to conservative estimates, an astounding seven percent of
practicing physicians are drug addicted, particularly to alcohol,
benzodiazepines, an assortment of opiates, and cocaine. Most sources,
however, say the numbers are more like 10 to 15 percent. At that
percentage, we're talking about close to two-hundred thousand addicted
physicians in the US alone. But what's even worse is that addicted
physicians are allowed to continue practicing medicine even while
undergoing confidential treatment. (Something to think about the next
time your doctor is treating you.) And that's the better half of the
equation. What about those physicians who continue to practice
medicine and never even seek treatment?
What's the big deal, when even in primitive times the tribe sat around
the fire smoking hallucinogens to get clear so they could communicate
with their dead ancestors? How is popping Ritalin to focus on an
experiment, or taking Xanax to stay calm during surgery, any different
than downing magic mushrooms with the elders to listen to the gods?
Well, for one, we're talking about physicians, not tribal elders.
Physicians make decisions that can have rather instantaneous life and
death impact on our lives -- and the drugs these physicians are
popping can affect those decisions. Do you want a neurosurgeon, no
matter how brilliant she may be, operating on you while suffering from
loss of coordination and cognitive impairment due to excessive alcohol
intake or a benzodiazepine addiction? Dr. House aside, I think not.
On the other hand, why should we be surprised? We live in a
drug-obsessed world, where magic pills are sold on almost every city
street corner, offering instantaneous panaceas for all our aches,
pains, and perceived deficiencies. Is it any wonder that at least some
doctors have bought into the prescription-drug paradigm that they have
sold the world, in collusion with the pharmaceutical companies who
subsidize their addictions?
Meanwhile, natural alternatives, which can offer non-addictive,
non-side effected solutions, are steadily being legislated out of
existence -- again under the auspices of these self-same physicians.
Maybe they really are smarter than the rest of us. After all, we now
know that hundreds of thousands of them regularly use "brain
enhancing," mellow-making prescription drugs. Who wouldn't believe
such "smart" people?
:hc
Comments
Posted By: JD | May 21, 2008 9:53 AM
Jon:
I find the 10-15% of doc's are addicted with higher concentrations
in certain specialties. One of the specialties with the highest
addiction rate is anesthesiologists. Obviously, the close proximity to
addictive substances and their perception that they can control it
help influence this. Now, give thought to this. If 10 to 15 % of
anesthesiologists are addicted, what are your chances that if you have
surgery your anesthesiologist will be under the influence of an
addictive substance? Remember, the anesthesiologist, even more so than
the surgeon, will be in control of your life while you are under the
influence of the anesthesia. Not a pleasant thought, is it.
.
