According to a recent front page Denver Post article, 37% of Colorado teens in foster care are taking prescribed psychotropic drugs.
The article states: “Foster parents and therapists say heavily medicated children are detached from reality – as though ‘walking in a cloud’,” and “…use of the drugs has been fueled by pharmaceutical firms pursuing big profits with the help of willing doctors.” According to a court appointed special advocate for children, the medication is prescribed to help “foster parents, schools, therapists, caseworkers – the adults,” not the kids. It reminds me of the book “One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest” where hospital inmates were subdued and controlled with drugs.
A recent editorial in the New York Times was titled “Overselling Testosterone, Dangerously.” It referred to a recently published study done by researchers at UCLA and NIH.
It says “testosterone doubled the risk of cardiovascular disease in a cohort of more than 7,000 men who were 65 or older, essentially confirming findings in previous studies…..Testosterone almost tripled the risk of heart attacks in a group of more than 48,000 middle-aged men with a previous history of heart disease.” The Times goes on to say that “many American men have embarked on a perilous course of over treatment…..testosterone is now being prescribed to men who are simply reluctant to accept the fact that they are getting older…..doctors are prescribing testosterone without even ascertaining whether a patient’s testosterone levels are actually low…..The reason seems clear. Drug companies have shamelessly propagated the notion…..that their testosterone-boosting product can overcome a supposed disease called ‘low T,’ which is characterized by feelings of fatigue, loss of sexual drive, depressed moods, an increase in body fat, and a decrease on muscle strength, among other symptoms……The overselling is reminiscent of the reckless overprescribing of hormone replacement therapy to millions of American women as an anti-aging elixir…..Men need to recognize the dangers of seeking a quick-fix for aging.”
