Prescription Thugs

What do we have here? We have Chris, who have made this film. Chris is one of three brothers. These brothers are heavy users of anabolic steroids. Which, by the way, strangely enough is not a topic in this movie, although my 13-year old daughter saw that right away. Chris's oldest brother have been in wrestling and wants to be a famous superstar, and he is addicted to painkillers. Painkillers are the topic in this film.

In the film Chris is going after the painkiller industry, the pharmaceutical industry.

In his tour around for showing us how this dirty business really works, he interviews a lot of guys. The guys are medical junkies, no doubt, all on heavy doses of anabolic steroids, like Chris himself, big strong guys who cries sometimes in front of the camera, really crying tears, obviously in mental disorder. And he interview a homeopathic doctor who tell us all the bad things the pharmaceutical industry does. A homeopathic doctor! Why does he interview a homeopathic doctor? Well, because homeopathy is quackery, and the whole movie is in some way quackery.

I feel sorry for these guys. I really do. And for Chris, the little guy who wants to be big as his bigger brothers. They obviously need help, all of them. But when they combine all this drugs that they do combine, and blame it on painkillers, that really is just too stupid.

Someone should have told Chris, because he is not in a condition to see for himself, as we will find out in the movie. But someone should have told him: "Don't make this movie, you are out of balance and don't see clear, Chris".

This is really just the filmmaker exploring his familial issues involving drug addiction - and trying to blame it all on the pharmaceutical industry. His go-to source for the "medical" voice on the issue is........ a homeopathic doctor. Seriously. Cause sure, homeopathic doctors don't try to sell people on ingesting pill after pill of questionable, non-FDA approved or monitored substances. SMH. Clearly, this filmmaker has some personal issues and I feel it would have been a good idea for someone to stop him from making this. Of course, the pharamceutical industry is not blameless in opioid addiction, but there is a lot more to the story than that and you don't get any of that - or anything actually backed up with data/science/studies in this film.

The very first thing we learn from this film is "Americans consume 75% of the world's prescription drugs."

This claim has been debunked over and over. For example Canadians. French, Germans and Brits consume the same drugs at the same per capita rates. In fact maybe even more so given that many drugs in the US that require a prescription do not require one in many other places and therefore are not "prescription drugs." In Denmark for example you can walk into a pharmacy and with a "consultation' with the pharmacist get antibiotics -- and it doesn't count a s "prescription" using the metric the "75%" claim uses

and what is with the interview with the "homeopathic'" doctor"? LOL

Seems like the mother set her sons up for addiction with rampant overeating, in the process demonstrating that one solves pain by consuming substances. Food can be a drug; its overconsumption is often a compulsive behavior.

Short version: Suffering needs an external factor to blame. Mix that with the locker room game of who's penis is bigger and poor state education and you have enough to add more voices to the Conspiracy Theory.

Long version: I remember enjoying Bigger, Faster. I don't remember much of its argument. It was about all people going for performance using anything that might enhance performance. Which makes perfect sense.

This one is a different story. It is well made as a personal trip. But it is a trip down the conspiracy lunacy. The stars are the three Bell brothers. Not much school. Not much science. But hard work. Really hard work. Meaning they are not very qualified at reasoning, the same way a couch potato is not very qualified at pushing weights like the Bell brothers. To add more drama, the older brother is very dear to all, and he dies. Somebody has to be blamed. Not the family. Because the family is telling the story. Thus some external factor has to be found. The extreme sports? Nope. They gain their living from there. The state school that failed all three of them with mediocre education and high dreams? Nope. Because they believe that education, like church is by definition good.

And here it comes the relevant part: the mindless state run campaigns against what they call drugs. That was only a smart way to use public money to reinforce and expand state control. All Chris Bell had to do was realize that legal drugs are not much different from illegal drugs. And than it spiraled down the Big Pharma conspiracy.

Instead of talking how the state employees kill almost every overdose victim because street chemicals can't possibly be on a par with the quality of the pharmacy-sold chemicals, Bell talks about the rising profits of those who do the well made chemicals. Are the profits rising? Sure. Inflation is one reason. The same way the plumber asks me for more money in 2017 than in 2007 than in 1997, the pharmaceutical companies also do that.

But Chris Bell is spiraling down and cheating like with other aspects of his life. He does not talk about profits. He pushes the income of those companies. And that is a scam. Because the state is taxing more money. From the minimal wage, to the mandatory health insurance to the ridiculous sums for medical trials, to all sort of other taxes. Everything the state is taking is finally going to come out of the consumers' pockets.

Are Americans consuming 75% of the pharmaceutical production? I haven't seen the reference to that. I assume this is only a sleight of hand trick. A rough 75% of the value and letting the viewer assume 75% of the quantity. But that is only my speculation. Let's assume it's true and the Americans take 75%. Do they take 75%? Nobody can know that. Take the online pharmacies. That quantity is never taken into account. Now take the case of the person being impressed so much by this movie that they goes flushing down the toilet the personal stock only to find out they can't live without the painkillers, thus buying more even if they doesn't consume more.

And even if Americans do consume 75% of the number of pills, so what? It does not mean anything. One pill can have a certain dosage and another pill, the exact same size can have ten times the quantity of active ingredients. Making a quantitative measure makes no sense. Now add that the Bell family is made out of adults, all paying taxes. And those taxes go to fuel the many wars and blockades the Global Policeman wishes upon other regions of the world. Regions that are left without basic medication. People that would take that medication, but they can't. Do the people in the remote areas take pills? No. Because they can't afford the many days of walking to the nearest town with a pharmacy or doctor.

Or maybe the people living below the poverty line do not suffer any illness or injury.

Anyway: why is the quantity of pills relevant? A 12 year old in a poor neighborhood will not take pills even if he need them and a 85 year old aids sufferer will take pills by the fist. Quantity means nothing.

Why is the price relevant? The Average American pays more for lunch than the Average Indian. The quality is better for the American. The American lunch is full of proteins which happen to be more expensive anywhere in the world than starch. And even if the lunches were comparable, food prices are higher in the States so the American is left with the more expensive bill. So does the price say anything? Yes. That the Americans are richer.

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