Pharma researchers working on drug to erase your memories

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The kind of mechanical fix discussed in this article is not available to mental health technocrats at this point. Hopefully it may never be. But the article below highlights the kind of disease and disability producing ideation that is prevalent in our mental health system. Iatrogenic illness refers to illness that is created by medical procedures. When the mental health system becomes dominated with the view of human beings as thing-like entities it creates iatrogenic disorder on a mass scale. Mental health cannot imposed from without. Human beings -- as goal seeking, meaning affirming, conscious entities – cannot be fixed like cars. Who makes the decisions with regard to how to solve the problems in living that we face is a key factor in defining “mental health.” In the jargon of the profession this is referred to as the “locus of control” issue. The locus of control, or decision making about how problems should be solved, must be within the self if psychological, social and spiritual health are to be promoted. As we are not thing-like entities, the solutions to our problems must take into consideration questions of choice, purpose, and meaningful relationships.

(NaturalNews)

Drug researchers are working on a mind-altering chemical that could erase your memories. It's all being pursued under the umbrella of "mental health" with claims that this could help victims of emotional trauma. The idea that you can "heal" a patient by chemically lobotomizing them is, of course, entirely consistent with the core mythology of modern medicine: If something's wrong, you should poison it, burn it, irradiate it or cut it out... and then pronounce the patient "healed!"

In the case of memory-erasing drugs, scientists are reportedly working on a drug that would remove certain proteins from the brain's "fear center." This is based on the ludicrous idea, by the way, that memories are recorded solely by physical proteins in the brain -- an idea that's obviously based on an entirely outmoded mechanistic model of the human mind and brain.

Then again, modern medical science seems to be hopelessly stuck in the Dark Ages, believing that there must be a chemical cure for everything. Hence the ongoing waste of billions of dollars searching for a cancer cure as if it were some sort of acquired infection.

"Erasing a memory and then everything bad built on that is an amazing idea, and I can see all sorts of potential," said Kate Farinholt, executive director of the mental health support and information group NAMI Maryland, in a Baltimore Sun story (http://www.baltimoresun.com/health/...). But even she can see this approach could be fraught with danger: "Completely deleting a memory, assuming it's one memory, is a little scary. How do you remove a memory without removing a whole part of someone's life, and is it best to do that, considering that people grow and learn from their experiences?"

Torturing mammals in the name of "science"

In order to pursue this work on a memory-erasing drug, researchers used electroshocks on mice (which are mammals, of course) to "train" them to fear an audible tone. They noticed this electroshock torture resulted in the build-up of proteins in the brain's fear center (amygdala), so now they've leaped to the wild conclusion that proteins = memories and therefore the way to treat fearful memories is to chemically remove the proteins.

This is such sloppy quack science that I can't believe it even got published by a scientific magazine. It's the same sloppy thinking that caused medical doctors to leap to the erroneous conclusion that cholesterol is bad for you. That's one medical myth that has made Big Pharma hundreds of billions of dollars in cholesterol-lowering drugs that harm far more people than they help. See this animation video to learn more: http://naturalnews.tv/v.asp?v=2D691...

Western scientists, ever stuck in the world of the physical, are easily misled into thinking that mental processes are solely based on proteins and chemicals rather than the far more profound neural network phenomena that really drive the functioning of the mind. Memories are not merely logged in the brain with proteins. If they were, our skulls would be as large as houses, filled with proteins from all the memories of our lives. In reality, memories are holographically recorded throughout the neural network of our brain which also interfaces with the non-physical human mind -- an entity of consciousness that extends beyond the physical realm (and which virtually the entire conventional scientific community has so far failed to acknowledge because they ridiculously believe that they, themselves, are biological automatons who lack consciousness).

More drugs for soldiers

Right now, U.S. soldiers are being drugged out of their minds with amphetamines and antidepressants. PTSD is the latest financial windfall for Big Pharma because more trauma means more profits from prescribing more drugs.

Just imagine how these "memory erasing drugs" might be used if they existed. First, they send you off to war, and if you somehow manage to survive that, they erase your memories when you come back home so you can't talk to the press about what really happened.

It's the perfect crime for a police state society: Destroy peoples' memories with the excuse of calling it "mental health treatment."

These drugs could be used on political prisoners, of course. Got someone speaking out against the government? Just arrest them, diagnose them with some mental disorder such as Oppositional Defiance Disorder, then force-feed them drugs that erase their memories.

A few months later, release them back into the world as mind-numbed zombies, where they are sure to go along with the rest of the crowd that's already lining up for vaccines, TSA pat-downs and mind-altering pharmaceuticals.

A memory-erasing drug is the ultimate Big Brother weapon because it could be used to destroy the personality of free-thinking individuals without blatantly killing them in the process.

No wonder pharma researchers are already working on this drug. It could be a powerful weapon in the corporate war on the people of our world -- a war that's already being waged against peoples' bodies and could soon extend to their very memories.

Sources for this story include:
http://www.baltimoresun.com/health/...

Reducing Harm: Treatment and Beyond

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This brief article outlines some of the basic tenets of a compassionate and realistic approach to dealing with the impact of harmful drug use. There are alternatives to the current failed "war on drugs."

Drug Policy Alliance

Harm reduction is a public health philosophy that seeks to lessen the dangers that drug abuse and our drug policies cause to society. A harm reduction strategy is a comprehensive approach to drug abuse and drug policy. Harm reduction's complexity lends to its misperception as a drug legalization tool.

Harm reduction rests on several basic assumptions. A basic tenet of harm reduction is that there has never been, is not now, and never will be a drug-free society.  

* A harm reduction strategy seeks pragmatic solutions to the harms that drugs and drug policies cause. It has been said that harm reduction is not what's nice, it's what works.
* A harm reduction approach acknowledges that there is no ultimate solution to the problem of drugs in a free society, and that many different interventions may work. Those interventions should be based on science, compassion, health and human rights.
* A harm reduction strategy demands new outcome measurements. Whereas the success of current drug policies is primarily measured by the change in use rates, the success of a harm reduction strategy is measured by the change in rates of death, disease, crime and suffering.
* Because incarceration does little to reduce the harms that ever-present drugs cause to our society, a harm reduction approach favors treatment of drug addiction by health care professionals over incarceration in the penal system.
* Because some drugs, such as marijuana, have proven medicinal uses, a harm reduction strategy not only seeks to reduce the harm that drugs cause, but also to maximize their potential benefits.
* A harm reduction strategy recognizes that some drugs, such as marijuana, are less harmful than others, such as cocaine and alcohol. Harm reduction mandates that the emphasis on intervention should be based on the relative harmfulness of the drug to society.
* A harm reduction approach advocates lessening the harms of drugs through education, prevention, and treatment.
* Harm reduction seeks to reduce the harms of drug policies dependent on an over-emphasis on interdiction, such as arrest, incarceration, establishment of a felony record, lack of treatment, lack of adequate information about drugs, the expansion of military source control intervention efforts in other countries, and intrusion on personal freedoms.
* Harm reduction also seeks to reduce the harms caused by an over-emphasis on prohibition, such as increased purity, black market adulterants, black market sale to minors, and black market crime.
* A harm reduction strategy seeks to protect youth from the dangers of drugs by offering factual, science-based drug education and eliminating youth's black market exposure to drugs.
* Finally, harm reduction seeks to restore basic human dignity to dealing with the disease of addiction.

Death By Ritalin

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Written by Lawrence T. Smith

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Whatever one may think about the merits of ritalin and similar drugs that are used to make children more manageable in schools, this article brings the point home that these drugs are not without serious risks.

Our fourteen year old son Matthew suddenly died on March 21, 2000. The cause of death was determined to be from the long-term (age 7-14) use of Methylphenidate, a drug commonly known as Ritalin.

According to Dr. Ljuba Dragovic, the Chief Pathologist of Oakland County, Michigan, upon autopsy, Matthew's heart showed clear signs of small vessel damage caused from the use of Methylphenidate (Ritalin).

The certificate of death reads: "Death caused from Long Term Use of Methylphenidate, (Ritalin).

I was told by one of the medical examiners that a full-grown man's heart weighs about 350 grams and that Matthew's heart's weight was about 402 grams. Dr. Dragovic said this type of heart damage is smoldering and not easily detected with the standard test done for prescription refills. The standard test usually consists of blood work, listening to the heart, and questions about school behaviors, sleeping and eating habits.

What is important to note here is that Matthew did not have any pre-existing heart condition or defect.

Matthew's story started in a small town within Berkley, Michigan. While in first grade Matthew was evaluated by the school, who believed he had ADHD. The school social worker, Monica Fuchs, kept calling us in for meetings. One morning at one of these meetings while waiting for the others to arrive, Monica told us that if we refused to take Matthew to the doctor and get him on Ritalin, child protective services could charge us for neglecting his educational and emotional needs. My wife and I were intimidated and scared. We believed that there was a very real possibility of losing our children if we did not comply with the schools threats.

Monica further explained ADHD to us, stating that it was a real brain disorder. She also went on to tell us that the Methylphenidate (Ritalin) was a very mild medication and would stimulate the brain stem and help Matthew focus.

We gave into the schools pressure and took our son to a pediatrician that they recommended. His name was Dr. John Dorsey of Birmingham, Michigan. While visiting Dr. Dorsey with the schools recommendation for Methylphenidate (Ritalin) in hand, I noted that he seemed frustrated with the school. He asked us to remind the school that he was not a pharmacy. I can only conclude from his comment that we were not the first parents sent to him by this school. Dr. Dorsey officially diagnosed Matthew with ADHD. The test used for the diagnosis was a five minute pencil twirling trick, resulting in me being handed a prescription for Methylphenidate/Ritalin.

It is important to note that the schools insistence and role in our son's drugging was documented in a letter written by Monica to the pediatrician stating: "We would have hoped you would have started Matthew on a trial of medication by now".

At no time were my wife and I ever told significant facts regarding the issue of ADHD and the drugs used to "treat it". These significant facts withheld from us inevitably would have changed the road that we were headed down by ultimately altering the decisions we would have made.

We were not told that The Drug Enforcement Administration had classified Methylphenidate (Ritalin) as a Schedule II drug, comparable to Cocaine.

We were not told that Methylphenidate is also one of the top ten abused prescription drugs.

At no time were we informed of the unscientific nature of the disorder.

We were not told that there was widespread controversy among the medical establishment in regards to the validity of the disorder.

Furthermore, we were not provided with information involving the dangers of using Methylphenidate (Ritalin) as "treatment" for ADHD. One of these dangers includes the fact that Methylphenidate causes constriction of veins and arteries, causing the heart to work overtime and inevitably leading to damage to the organ itself.

We were not made aware of the large number of children's deaths, that have been linked with these types of drugs used as "treatment".

While Matthew was taking Methylphenidate (Ritalin), at no time, were we informed of any test: EKG, echocardiogram. These types of tests could have detected the damage done to his heart. These test are not considered "standard" in monitoring "treatment" of ADHD they are usually never administered to children. Sadly death is inevitable without the possibility of detection.

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For further information see the Death by Ritalin home page.

Drugs 'R' Us If We Were Honest

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In this provocative article, Salim Muwakkil challenges the quasi-religious and hysterical assumptions that underpin our destructive and unworkable drug policies. By viewing the issue of drugs in the context of biological evolution, he opens us to a fresh perspective that that might provide a more productive and rational approach to the problems associated with drug abuse.

("The Alchymist..."
by Joseph Wright, 1734-1797)

The Article

Chicago Tribune

Deep in the hearts of Americans there lurks an almost religious belief that drug use is not just illegal, but inherently evil and immoral. If rationality guided our drug policies, most of the illegal substances now generating billions of dollars in underground profits would have been decriminalized and drug treatment centers would be wherever they're needed. But our society's attitude about (certain) psychoactive substances is oblivious to rational critique; our demonization of drugs has fanatical and cultlike dimensions.

The cold reality is that we'll never be free of these drugs.

Indeed, drugs are us. Serotonin, endorphins, Adrenalin, dopamine, norepinephrine, etc. are mind-altering chemicals produced by our own bodies. These powerful substances produce such dramatic changes in mood and behavior, there's little doubt they would be illicit were they not endogenous. Our circulatory systems are very efficient drug pushers.

Perhaps if we better understood our biological connection to drugs, we'd realize the need to avoid punitive social policies that command us to terminate our intimate relationship with drugs. And it is quite intimate; humanity evolved from herbivorous ancestors, whose diets regularly included plants with powerful psychoactive agents.

Virtually all pharmaceutical agents (legal and illegal drugs) originally derive from wild plants and fungi.

Much of this information is available in Daniel M. Perrine's 1996 path-breaking book, "The Chemistry of Mind-altering Drugs: History, Pharmacology and Cultural Context."

Scientists believe that our neurological system accommodated and, in some cases, incorporated these substances as our bodies became more complex.

Studies have found evidence of that co-evolution with the discovery of neurological receptor sites for most of the psychoactive drugs we now demonize. Those substances produce specific chemical transmitters that fit receptors within us like keys do a lock.

Marijuana, cocaine, opiates (heroin, morphine and codeine), "psychedelic" drugs like LSD and mescaline and even amphetamines have their own private receptor sites in the network of neurons that enable humans to think and feel.

Vitamins provide a good analogy of this evolutionary process. Produced in nature outside the human body, vitamins now are necessary for optimal human metabolism and well-being.

Since our contemporary diets lack many of those essential substances, we've created an entire "health-food" industry devoted to nutritional compensation.

Similarly, modern humanity no longer ingests the drug-rich plants that once typified our primal diets (and helped design our nervous systems), so we use external substances to compensate.

That's why the desire for drugs is such a universal need. Human beings can't "just say no" to physiology. We resist this conclusion because it humanizes rather than demonizes drug use and undermines the "bogeyman strategy" that motivates this nation's ridiculous war on drugs.

But it also is clear that certain drugs are demonized while others are lionized. Commercials for BuSpar, for example, a new drug made by Bristol-Myers Squibb, tout the substance's miraculous powers to reduce anxiety. Similar drugs, Prozac being the most prominent, are aggressively being marketed (pushed?) to anxiety-ridden Americans.

These drugs are not seen as chemical solutions to human problems, they have redefined human problems as chemical imbalances.

Our natural connection to drugs also increases our tendency to abuse them, which is undesirable. However, to discourage abuse, we recklessly exaggerate the dangers of certain drugs and criminalize their use. Rather than reducing the social harm caused by drug abuse, these misguided policies serve to exacerbate the problem.

I won't bore you by listing the negative effects and perverse incentives of our drug policies, though the list is expanding ominously. But even that lengthening list has failed to prevent drug czar Gen. Barry McCaffrey from ratcheting up the idiocy another notch.

We've exported our prohibitionist logic and $1.3 billion in mostly military aid to Colombia, where we're opening another front in the destructive drug war.

I'm arguing for rationality in our drug policies, but that line of argument apparently has little persuasive power over people who believe drugs are the work of supernatural demons or other theological bogeymen. Perhaps if we began to understand our drug policies as a series of fruitless assaults on human nature, we would assist rather than punish drug-abusing citizens. Perhaps we would bring our policies more into accord with those of several European countries that have learned to accept drugs as a part of humanity's biological heritage and decided to reduce the harm of abuse instead of denying reality.