Legal drugs include: Pharmaceutical drugs such as Oxycontin, Vicodin, Xanax, Soma, Lipitor, Chantix, Nexium, Prilosec, Methamphetamines, over the counter medication such as painkillers and allergy antihistamines, etc, alcohol, nicotine and the most widely used drug in the world is caffeine.  In the U.S. illegal drugs among others include: Cocaine, Heroin and the most widely used Marijuana.

Broadly speaking the definition of a drug is any substance that when taken in by a living organism alters mood and normal bodily function. With this said food additives such as Monosodium Glutamate and other chemicals in food would easily be classified as drugs as they affect mood and instill cravings both mentally and physically.

Based on data from The Center for Disease Control and Prevention the United States has only 5% of the total world population yet consumes 50% of the worlds’ pharmaceutical drugs.  The latest data suggests that the illegal drug trade in the U.S. is 60 billion dollars and the legal pharmaceutical drug trade in excess of 250 billion.

Drug use and drug addiction, or dependency, go hand in hand. But now we live in an age where every conceivable addictive substance, legal or illegal, is being altered to be even more addictive. Caffeine is coupled with chemicals in certain soft drinks for example to increase its’ potency and you can be sure the average Mocha Latte is getting a little help as well. Tobacco gets some help from a host of chemicals to enhance the absorption and potency of nicotine. Alcohol is no different, who knows what chemicals are being used as the FDA does not require such labeling. It is nearly impossible to find any of these substances in their natural, less intense and addictive state.

Whether it is the street pusher or pharmaceutical companies, both desire repeat customers. The illegal drug trade enhances their product by adding chemicals to increase potency. But for the pharmaceutical industry it would appear the sky is the limit. Example: Heroin from the Opium Poppy Plant is sold on the street and many times enhanced and used in a variety of ways to increase the affect. Most all of the popular pain suppressors marketed by the pharmaceutical companies are derived from opium. With that point made, is there really that much difference between the street dealer, the medical community and the pharmaceutical company when they are both selling essentially the same drug?  Here is one difference.  There are legal pain killing drugs made from opium derivatives and enhanced through science and marketed by none other than the pharmaceutical companies that are as much as 100 times more powerful than morphine a derivative of heroin that can be purchased with a Doctors’ prescription at your local drug store.

Regardless of where a person stands on the whole drug issue legal or otherwise, the fact is we are a nation using drugs in a variety of ways and from a variety of sources both legal and recreational. Which one is truly more dangerous and which ones should be legal or not legal, well that’s likely not going to be solved anytime soon. But perhaps the biggest concern is that the medical community is marketing drugs for pain, anxiety, lack of energy, high cholesterol, acid reflux you name it, it’s out there, and not one of these drugs cures anything or anyone. At the end of the day how are they all that different than the average street drug? They cure nothing, are highly toxic and addictive and only address the symptoms and ultimately they weaken the individual and create other conditions that require more drugs and more dependency and line the pockets of the Doctors, the pharmaceutical companies and medical community in general. Meanwhile we as a country aren’t getting healthier we are getting sicker, all in the name of modern medicine.

Written by DMK of Seven Grains