Western psychiatric dope dealers are big money. Yeah that’s right - they’re legal too - and they have employees. Larger than any coke farm in Cuba or all the crack houses in the ghettos of America combined. Psycho-pharmacology is a multi-billion dollar industry which has exploded the past 18 years and continues to grow.

In August of 2001 Eli Lily’s patent of the pop-culture enthused anti-depressant Prozac expired and even though generic brands were able to flood the market, the reported sales of Prozac in 2001 were still a staggering $2.4 billion. Since then Big Pharma and the number one pharmaceutical company Pfizer in terms of sales have released their own nostrum for depression, Zoloft. Pfizer’s 2005 sales for their anti-depressant alone were $3.5 billion, accounting for almost 10% of Pfizer’s total revenue.

Our culture is so eager and yearning to alter our brain chemistry via drugs, not just the neighborhood crack heads and drunks… I’m also talking about the drugs medical doctors prescribe (i.e. Prozac, Zoloft, Paxil, Ritalin, etc) to treat “mental illness” and “chemical imbalances”. These users apply to all demographics and ethnicities.

Psychiatrists use this bible called the DSM (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of mental disorders) as a guide to diagnose their patients and drug them accordingly. The DSM itself is based on a checklist of “abnormal behaviors”, which consist as anything not socially adjusted or considered the norm by mainstream opinion. These behaviors are added on a chart and given a number, based on the magical number a diagnosis is given such as Bipolar, Schizophrenic, Obsessive Compulsive, etc. (we all know someone who’s supposedly is one of these). Mind you, psychiatry is classified as a medical science. In actuality, it’s solely based on subjective and theoretical hypotheses - which are still in testing. So parents just consider these facts when you decide to take your daughter Beth to get stimulants for her “ADD”.

All the theories of mental illness and chemical imbalances to this day are not verifiable pathologist. Pathologist in the past have proven theories to be facts such as knowing cancer patients lack white blood cells and diabetics lack insulin. Psychiatry is the laughing stock amongst many in the medical and scientific community - because it’s not a medical science, yet it’s regarded as one.

Okay psychiatry is one interesting field in the realm of psychology and it’s worth examining. It’s not though, the final answer in treating people with “mental illness”. Alright, so in some extreme cases, yes medication or drugs can be very beneficial and even life saving. However, just because little Johnny is running around starting little fires and graffiti doesn’t make him a murdering suicidal maniac. Put him in some art classes and teach him to displace (how’s that for “dime store” psychology?) his energy in an artistic way perhaps. At least, if society is going to invest billions of dollars in mind altering drugs, encourage patients to experiment with freebasing, snorting, and smoking (can you imagine little Beth snorting lines of Ritalin on her lunch-box at recess?). This way we people can really decide which method of consumption they prefer and which high works best for them.

Good lord, I hate to use a cliché but its like this girl friend of mine once told me when I was working at this call center… “Be confident in who you are”.

FM Popp(News) Agent Jared Pierce