Comments: The Boston Globe Examines Seroquel's Street Drug Status
Seriously? There is no common street drug more dangerous than neuroleptics. There are some arguably in the same league as them, but the implied idea that they're safer than cannabis, any of the major hallucinogens, cocaine, or heroin bothers the heck out of me, both in the drug war propaganda sense and the extremes of biopsychiatry sense.
This is particularly screwed up in light of the effectiveness cannabinoids might have as antipsychotics. There's way more evidence to back up the claim that cannabis is safer than peanut butter (hint: there's no such thing as cannabis allergy) than there is to back up the safety of neuroleptics over, well, anything else that isn't blatantly poison, and it might even do the job that neuroleptics largely fail at.
I already hate that neuroleptics are used in spite of the many extreme health risks they pose, but the least these pushers could do is acknowledge that their drugs are dangerous. I happen to take issue with "effective" and "necessary" too, but to call them "safe" is really pushing it.
Posted by Bryan at July 13, 2009 10:33 AM
Just fyi, I passed along your posting about Seroquel as a street drug phenom in MA to my friends (and former co-workers) at The Boston Globe and they ran with it. Keep up the good work!
Alison
Posted by Alison Bass at July 13, 2009 10:38 AM
I agree, Bryan. I almost choked when my Genetics professor said, "A drug doesn't get past the FDA unless it's safe"
Seroquel is good... when you want a sledgehammer to the brain.
Posted by kimbriel at July 13, 2009 12:20 PM
Yeah, the main thing I've learned at college is that professors with impressive graduate degrees are fully capable of having questionable beliefs or even being flat out wrong (and don't get me started on "Communications" courses).
It doesn't help that many people not directly involved in debate over biopsychiatry imagine the false binary of modern medical science vs conspiracy theorist hippies. I have to admit I've been guilty of this kind of thinking in other areas where authority is challenged. It's an understandable side to take, which is why abuse of authority is such a dangerous thing.
Posted by Bryan at July 14, 2009 09:31 AM
Came accoss an article in Nature (extremely prestigious) that proposes a mechanism for addictive properties of antipsychotics back in 2001.
http://www.nature.com/npp/journal/v25/n3/full/1395680a.html
Posted by R at July 14, 2009 02:51 PM