Time to read: 2 mins & 55 seconds — 584 words. Written by Joseph Pack.
Big Pharma execs should be forced to take ADHD drugs before they sell them.
Why it matters: If a plane malfunctions at 30,000ft, the pilot dies too — so they check it properly. Big Pharma execs aren’t directly harmed when their drugs harm others. To make drugs safer, execs should be at risk of harm too.
Go deeper: this is Skin in the Game. An ancient idea that goes back at least 3,800 years.
Hammurabi’s law stated:
If a builder builds a house and the house collapses killing the owner of the house — the builder shall be put to death.
Roman bridge builders were forced to sleep under the bridge they built.
Why?
Because they knew more, a lot more, about the structural safety of the bridge. The Roman’s simply stated: if the bridge is so safe won’t you sleep under it sir?!
As the bridge builders were the victims of their mistakes, they got better — the bridges stronger. There are over 300 Roman bridges still standing today. The direct result of skin in the game.
Reality check: Big Pharma are not the victims of their mistakes.
They dole out medication without direct experience of the effects or any consequence for the harm it may cause.
Unlike the bridge builders, they don’t learn.
Big Pharma know more, a lot more, than any patient about what’s hidden inside that medication. The best risk management rule is simply to force them to take it first.
As the pilot will not bored a broken plane. The execs will not take unsafe drugs.
Thus, they won’t pass hidden risks onto you.
Big Pharma are the real villains here. Make no mistake.
But are they the only ones avoiding the risk?
Doctors & pharmacists: those prescribing medication should also have something to lose, to save them transferring the risk onto the rest of us.
As Nassim Taleb said:
“Avoid taking advice from anyone who gives advice for a living, unless there is a penalty for their advice.”
If my doctor is happy taking the medication, perhaps I’d be more open minded to it.
But they won’t.
Because they know the following:
By the numbers: What do we know about the risks of ADHD meds?
We know that long term use of ADHD medication increases the risk of diseases of the basal ganglia (Parkinson’s for example) by up to 8.6x.
We know that ADHD medication seems to work well for the first 18 months.
But in follow-up studies, over 3 to 5 years, of the very same patients the effectiveness of ADHD medication appears to drop dramatically — all while increasing the risk of a many problems.
Why are we shocked about this? Drugs have side effects. Often severe. ADHD drugs are derivatives of amphetamines — they can’t be 100% safe.
In Australia, Adderall (the most commonly prescribed ADHD drug in the USA) is classed in the same category as OxyContin (a schedule II controlled substance).
I hear story after story from subscribers of this very newsletter that they or their children have turned to harder street drugs after years on ADHD medication.
As Dr. Chris Van Tullekin said:
"All drugs do harm, without exception. We just hope the benefits outweigh the negatives"
Read that quote again.
We just hope the benefits outweigh the negatives.
For some people, the risks are worth it.
You have agency: You can do whatever the hell you want.
Me, your family, or anyone else have no control or influence over what you decide to do.
But let’s all sit down and think about how it could be safer, more effective, and lets hold that Big Pharma shills accountable by forcing them to have SKIN IN THE GAME.
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