| on 04-04-2008 15:30
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Published in : , Misc |
 Photo courtesy of bbc.co.uk
*In 2005, a group of dermatologists published a study showing that frequent tanners experience a loss of control over their tanning schedule, displaying a pattern of addiction similar to smokers and alcoholics. Biochemical evidence indicates that tanning addicts are addicted to an opioid release experienced during tanning. When frequent tanners took an endorphin blocker in a 2006 study, they experienced severe withdrawal symptoms, while infrequent tanners experienced no withdrawal symptoms under the same conditions.
*-Number of former members of Congress now serving as lobbyists for pharmaceutical industry: 24. -Amount of direct contributions from the pharmaceutical industry to political campaigns in 2002: $20 million. -Percentage of that given to Republicans: 75. *Tea's world consumption easily equals all other manufactured drinks in the world - including coffee, chocolate, soft drinks, and alcohol - put together. (Green Gold : The Empire of Tea, Alan and Iris MacFarlane.)
*It is estimated that smoking results in more deaths each year in the United States than alcohol, cocaine, heroin, AIDS, suicide, homicide, motor vehicle accidents, and fires combined (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services 2000).
*Sigmund Freud narrowly missed out on obtaining scientific priority for discovering cocaine's anesthetic properties. He was an early user and proponent of cocaine, as a stimulant as well as an analgesic.
*Influential philosopher and psychologist Carl Jung put forward the idea that addictions are a distortion of a need for spiritual ecstasy.
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*According to a report by Carolyn Dean on www.healthwatcher.net (a website that is, strangely enough, not sponsored by pharmaceutical companies!), the U.S government spends upwards of $30 billion a year on homeland security. Since 2001, 2,996 people in the United States have died from terrorism. In that same period of time, 490,000 people have died from prescription drugs. That means that prescription drugs in the U.S are at least 16,400 percent deadlier than terrorism. Again, those are the conservative numbers. A more realistic number, which would include deaths from over-the-counter drugs, makes drug consumption 32,000 percent deadlier than terrorism.
*As governor of Texas (1995 - 2000), George W. Bush, Jr. supported and signed legislation increasing penalties for drug possession in that state. In one instance, Governor Bush signed legislation mandating jail time for people caught with less than a single gram of cocaine. In 1972 Bush was arrested for cocaine possession, and taken to Harris County Jail, but avoided jail or formal charges through an informal diversion plan involving community service.
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