I will be excoriated for saying this, but I simply don’t believe most pharmacists are interested in reading any of the dozens of books critical of pharmaceuticals and the pharmaceutical industry.
This is an excerpt from Dennis Miller’s explosive new book The Shocking Truth About Pharmacy: A Pharmacist Reveals All The Disturbing Secrets. The entire book is available for download from Amazon for 99 cents.
Dozens of Books Are Critical of Pharmaceuticals and the Pharmaceutical Industry:
At the end of this article, you will find a list of over 50 books that are, in some significant way, critical of pharmaceuticals and/or the pharmaceutical industry (Big Pharma). In my experience, most pharmacists are not eager to read these books.
Most pharmacists don’t seem to be aware of—or concerned about—the existence of a huge number of books that are extremely critical of the fact that this country has allowed our health care system to be so completely dominated by pills. Nor do pharmacists seem to be particularly concerned that there are serious questions about the safety and effectiveness of so many of those pills. It has often been said that yesterday’s wonder drugs are today’s class action lawsuits.
Have You Read About Books Critical of Big Pharma?
In my opinion, it is quite possible to spend several hours or a day on Amazon reading reviews of the dozens of books critical of pharmaceuticals and the pharmaceutical industry and consequently become more informed about the critique of Big Pharma than most pharmacists in America.
Why aren’t more pharmacists interested in reading these books? Worse, why do many pharmacists get angry when someone questions the widespread use of prescription and non-prescription drugs in America?
True scientists welcome criticism of basic assumptions in their field. However, I suspect that the majority of pharmacists will be angered by this article. I almost feel that I am being subversive to the profession by suggesting to pharmacists that prevention (via changes in diet and lifestyles) is better than pills.
With very few exceptions during my career, I did not meet pharmacists who were eager or at least willing to discuss the safety and effectiveness of pharmaceuticals. If pharmacists were true scientists, they would welcome such discussions. The reality is that most pharmacists would view such discussions with disdain, as a threat to their livelihood, to their self-image and to their profession.
If pharmacists were true scientists, they would welcome a vigorous discussion of the foundations and assumptions upon which our education is built.
Are Hospital Pharmacists More Critical of Pharmaceuticals?
The vast majority of pharmacists I met during my career worked for chain drug stores, not hospitals. It is possible that hospital pharmacists see their jobs somewhat differently from chain store pharmacists. That is because hospital pharmacists, unlike chain store pharmacists, are perhaps not under the same degree of pressure from corporate bosses to increase profits by decreasing payroll (staffing). Even though I’ve never worked in a hospital pharmacy, my impression is that hospital pharmacists do not suffer the same level of oppressive production metrics that chain store pharmacists certainly do. Many hospital pharmacists do say, however, that understaffing is a serious problem.
Fear of a Reputation as Critical of Pharmaceuticals:
It is quite possible that many pharmacists agree with my views about overmedication, but those pharmacists fear discussing this topic because they are afraid they could get a reputation as a pharmacist who questions the pill circus in America. With an oversupply of pharmacists in many parts of the country, pharmacists fear that their supervisor could find out that specific pharmacists are less than completely enthusiastic about all the pills they dispense. The district supervisor could consequently concoct some pretext to ease those pharmacists out of their job or make them want to quit.
District supervisors typically have ten to twenty pharmacies under their control. Among the small talk we make with our district supervisor when he/she visits our store, the subject of overmedication is probably at the bottom of the list of acceptable topics if we want our supervisor to view us as a loyal team player. Pharmacists are employed by the big chains to move pills, not to question the legitimacy of basing a health care system on a tsunami of pills.
Pharmacists Largely Accept Pharma’s Outlook:
Even though many pharmacists are willing to admit privately that Americans are overmedicated, in my experience most pharmacists remain fundamentally convinced that pills are a rational approach to health. In my opinion, most pharmacists seem to believe that human health is directly proportional to the per capita consumption of pills.
Most pharmacists seem to be very comfortable with Big Pharma’s focus on manipulating molecules and cells with synthetic chemicals (pharmaceuticals) that are foreign to human evolution. Pharma routinely tinkers with highly complex and often poorly understood biological processes that Mother Nature had well in hand for hundreds of thousands of years.
It never ceases to amaze me that there are dozens of books on the market that are critical of pharmaceuticals and the pharmaceutical industry, yet pharmacists seem to be among the people least eager to read these books. Why don’t most pharmacists want to learn what critics say about pharmaceuticals and about the wisdom of basing a health care system on pills rather than prevention?
Is Pharma Fixing Errors in Human Evolution?
The pharmaceutical industry essentially promotes the concept that it has discovered a huge number of biological errors in human evolution, necessitating the widespread prescribing of a huge number of drugs classified as inhibitors, antagonists, and blockers (alpha blockers, beta blockers, calcium channel blockers, angiotensin receptor blockers, HMGCoA reductase inhibitors (statins), serotonin specific reuptake inhibitors, H2 antagonists, etc.). These drugs inhibit, antagonize or block the delicate physiological mechanisms that have been fine-tuned over the long course of evolution. Pharma probably would like you to believe that these pharmaceuticals are superior to the biochemicals we were born with.
Starry-eyed over Technology:
In my opinion, most pharmacy students graduate from pharmacy school starry-eyed over this molecular and cellular approach to health. They maintain throughout their career a fervent belief in a technological approach to human health, rather than an approach based on the importance of dietary and lifestyle factors. The absence of emphasis on the importance of dietary and lifestyle factors in my pharmacy school curricula was, to me, egregious and shocking.
Which Is More Artificial: Pills or Processed Foods?
In my opinion, too many pharmacists see the products we dispense as no more controversial than the products on grocery store shelves. Of course, there’s lots of controversy about the products on grocery store shelves, most of which are highly processed food-like substances which are filled with additives including sugar, salt, refined flour, artificial colors, artificial flavors, high fructose corn syrup, sodium nitrite, monosodium glutamate, sodium benzoate, guar gum, trans fat, xanthan gum, etc.
In my opinion, the products on pharmacy shelves represent a higher level of artificiality in comparison to the highly processed concoctions on grocery store shelves which masquerade as food. I naively dream of the day when there is a warning sign outside every grocery store stating that whole foods which exist in nature are healthier than processed foods.
Our Obsession with Pills Made Us Poorly Prepared for a Pandemic:
It is quite remarkable to me that we in the USA have allowed our health care system to be so completely dominated by pills, and that basic disease prevention is given so little attention. Our obsession with pills—as opposed to public health measures—left us very poorly prepared to handle the Covid-19 pandemic.
We have a hyperindividualistic culture in the USA which focuses on the health of the individual (by treating individuals with pills) rather than focusing on population health. Therefore, the concept of prevention (for example, by wearing a mask) is foreign to most Americans who are accustomed to taking pills, not changing their lifestyles, diet or personal conduct. Our health care system expects patients to be passive and docile consumers of pills, rather than citizens who are fully engaged in disease prevention.
Why Does Mainstream Media Run More Articles Critical of Pharmaceuticals Than Pharmacy Magazines?
It is very remarkable to me that critiques of the pharmaceutical industry are quite common in the mainstream media (New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg BusinessWeek, etc.) but are completely absent from the largest circulation pharmacy magazines (Drug Topics, Pharmacy Times, US Pharmacist, etc.). The major pharmacy magazines are typically very pro-industry because they receive most of their revenue from lavish Big Pharma advertising for their latest “wonder drugs.”
Why Magazines Talk About “Polypharmacy:”
In my opinion, pharmacy magazines use the peculiar term “polypharmacy” because it is less threatening to the acceptance of widespread prescribing than the term “overmedication.” The general public is less likely to be alarmed by the strange term “polypharmacy” than by the clearer term “overmedication.” I asked my brother, a retired math teacher, if he could guess what the term “polypharmacy” means. He guessed incorrectly: “several pharmacies.”
The field of pharmacy has many deceptive terms to soften concerns about safety. For example, the terms “untoward effects” or “medical misadventures” are often employed instead of “side effects” or “adverse effects.”
Physical and Mental Pathology in Society:
For some reason, the entire field of sociology seems to be irrelevant to pharmacists. It doesn’t take a degree in sociology to see that American society is a case study in pathology. Some observers say that psychosis is a perfectly sane reaction to our insane and pathological society. Some examples:
—We live in a society with a very wide political schism in which the left and right seem to be living on two different planets and experiencing two completely different realities.
—We live in a society with extensive worship of celebrities like athletes and actors/actresses.
—We live in a society in which we are constantly bombarded by highly manipulative advertising for cars, insurance, detergent, beer, processed foods, etc.
—We live in a society which defines success as material accumulation.
—We live in a society in which people work in deadeningly repetitive and monotonous jobs.
—We live in a society in which our diet consists of highly processed foods that bear little resemblance to foods that exist in nature.
—We live in a society in which toxic chemicals and carcinogens are ubiquitous in our air, water, furniture, carpets, etc.
Pharmacists Reinforce Common Assumptions about Drugs and Health:
In our society with its abundant physical and psychological threats and stressors, why do pharmacists cling so tightly to molecular and cellular explanations for disease and health? Why don’t pharmacists look around and see the widespread pathology in our society and see how it adversely affects human health?
Pharmacists are exceedingly complicit in promoting a mechanistic and reductionist approach to health that pleases the pharmaceutical industry. Of course, schools of pharmacy are equally complicit by indoctrinating students in the same narrow view of health.
Why aren’t pharmacists very concerned that the drug industry lobbies Congress to speed up drug approvals? Why aren’t pharmacists very concerned when they see the FDA removing drugs from the market (or adding black box warnings) because of serious concerns about the safety of drugs that in fact passed the FDA drug approval process? How well does the FDA really know the drugs it approves?
The Ever-Expanding Anti-Pharma Library:
The politics of cancer—There is a huge number of books on the market about the politics of cancer, which focuses on cancer chemotherapy (attacking aberrant cells) rather than on environmental carcinogenesis.
Brain chemistry has displaced psychoanalysis—There is a huge number of books on the market about how a mechanistic view of mental problems (a brain chemical imbalance) has displaced a psychoanalytic view (poverty, unfulfilling jobs, scars that remain from childhood, abusive relationships including abusive spouse, abusive bosses and abusive coworkers, etc.).
Female physiology is inherently pathological—There is a huge number of books about how the medical profession and the drug industry have conspired to define female physiology as inherently pathological. That includes medicalizing birth and menopause.
The medicalization of common life experiences—There is a huge number of books about how the pharmaceutical industry has medicalized common life experiences and labeled them as “disorders”: shyness (“social anxiety disorder”), road rage (“intermittent explosive disorder”), winter blues (“seasonal affective disorder”), poor school performance (“attention deficit hyperactivity disorder”), poor image of one’s body (“body dysmorphic disorder”), excessive hand washing (“obsessive compulsive disorder”), excessive shopping (“compulsive shopping disorder”), excessive gambling (“compulsive gambling disorder”), etc.
Pharmacists Have a Financial Incentive to Downplay Adverse Effects of Drugs:
The case can, of course, be made that pharmacists have a huge financial incentive not to be critical of pharmaceuticals. Most pharmacists have a family and are confronted with house payments, car payments, saving for kids’ college education, etc. Pharmacists, perhaps understandably, don’t want to hear criticism of pharmaceuticals because such criticism represents a threat to their livelihood. Without a doubt, dispensing pills is far more financially lucrative than teaching people to be healthy so they need fewer pills.
Books That Will Help You Understand Pharma Better:
Here’s a sample of books that, from my perspective, pharmacists don’t seem to be eager to read. In my opinion, if you read several of these books, you may have a better understanding of the pharmaceutical industry than your local pharmacist. I will be excoriated for saying this but I simply don’t believe most pharmacists are interested in reading a critique of pharmaceuticals and the pharmaceutical industry.
1. Overdosed America: The Broken Promise of American Medicine by John Abramson, M.D.
2. Prescription for Disaster: The Hidden Dangers in Your Medicine Cabinet by Thomas J. Moore
3. Bitter Pills: Inside the Hazardous World of Legal Drugs by Stephen Fried
4. The Truth About the Drug Companies: How They Deceive Us and What to Do About It by Marcia Angell, M.D.
5. Powerful Medicines: The Benefits, Risks, and Costs of Prescription Drugs by Jerry Avorn, M.D.
6. Natural Causes: Death, Lies, and Politics in America’s Vitamin and Herbal Supplement Industry by Dan Hurley
7. Selling Sickness: How the World’s Biggest Pharmaceutical Companies Are Turning Us All into Patients by Ray Moynihan and Alan Cassels
8. The $800 Million Pill: The Truth behind the Cost of New Drugs by Merrill Goozner
9. The Big Fix: How the Pharmaceutical Industry Rips Off American Consumers by Katharine Greider
10. Protecting America’s Health: The FDA, Business, and One Hundred Years of Regulation by Philip J. Hilts
11. Inside the FDA: The Business and Politics Behind the Drugs We Take and the Food We Eat by Fran Hawthorne
12. The Whistleblower: Confessions of a Healthcare Hitman by Peter Rost, M.D.
13. Big Pharma: Exposing the Global Healthcare Agenda by Jacky Law
14. On The Take: How Medicine’s Complicity with Big Business Can Endanger Your Health by Jerome Kassirer, M.D.
15. Critical Condition: How Health Care in America Became Big Business–and Bad Medicine by Donald L. Barlett and James B. Steele
16. Poison Pills: The Untold Story of the Vioxx Drug Scandal by Tom Nesi
17. Hope or Hype: The Obsession with Medical Advances and the High Cost of False Promises by Richard A. Deyo, M.D., and Donald L. Patrick, Ph.D.
18. Severed Trust: Why American Medicine Hasn’t Been Fixed by George Lundberg, M.D.
19. Worst Pills, Best Pills: A Consumer’s Guide to Avoiding Drug-Induced Death or Illness by Sidney Wolfe, M.D., and the Public Citizen Health Research Group
20. Disease Mongers: How Doctors, Drug Companies, and Insurers Are Making You Feel Sick by Lynn Payer
21. Our Daily Meds: How the Pharmaceutical Companies Transformed Themselves into Slick Marketing Machines and Hooked the Nation on Prescription Drugs by Melody Petersen
22. What Doctors Don’t Tell You: The Truth About the Dangers of Modern Medicine by Lynne McTaggart
23. The Merck Druggernaut: The Inside Story of a Pharmaceutical Giant by Fran Hawthorne
24. Overtreated: Why Too Much Medicine Is Making Us Sicker and Poorer by Shannon Brownlee
25. Worried Sick: A Prescription for Health in an Overtreated America by Nortin M. Hadler, M.D.
26. Overdiagnosed: Making People Sick in the Pursuit of Health by H. Gilbert Welch, M.D.
27. Confessions of an Rx Drug Pusher by Gwen Olsen
28. Death by Prescription: The Shocking Truth Behind an Overmedicated Nation by Ray. D. Strand, M.D.
29. Pharmageddon by David Healy
30. The Risks of Prescription Drugs by Don Light
31. Blood Feud: The Man Who Blew the Whistle on One of the Deadliest Prescription Drugs Ever by Kathleen Sharp
32. Cured to Death: The Effects of Prescription Drugs by Arabella Melville and Colin Johnson
33. Modern Medicine Is Killing You by Niraj Nijhawan
34. Dispensing With the Truth: The Victims, the Drug Companies, and the Dramatic Story Behind the Battle Over Fen-Phen by Alicia Mundy
35. Deadly Medicine: Why Tens of Thousands of Heart Patients Died in America’s Worst Drug Disaster by Thomas J. Moore
36. Are Your Meds Making You Sick? A Pharmacist’s Guide to Avoiding Dangerous Drug Interactions, Reactions, and Side Effects by Robert S. Gold
37. Pharma: Greed, Lies, and the Poisoning of America by Gerald Posner
38. Bottle of Lies: The Inside Story of the Generic Drug Boom by Katherine Eban
39. Bad Pharma: How Drug Companies Mislead Doctors and Harm Patients by Ben Goldacre
40. Are Your Prescriptions Killing You? By Armon Neel, Jr., Pharm.D.
41. Too Many Pills: How Too Much Medicine Is Endangering Our Health and What to Do About It by James Le Fanu, M.D.
42. Overkill: When Modern Medicine Goes Too Far by Paul Offit, M.D.
43. Do You Really Need That Pill? How to Avoid Side Effects, Interactions, and Other Dangers of Overmedication by Jennifer Jacobs, M.D., MPH
44. Before You Take That Pill: Why the Drug Industry May Be Bad For Your Health by J. Douglas Bremner, M.D.
45. Generation Rx: How Prescription Drugs Are Altering American Lives, Minds, and Bodies by Greg Critzer
46. Overdose: The Case Against the Drug Companies by Jay Cohen, M.D.
47. What the Drug Companies Won’t Tell You and Your Doctor Doesn’t Know by Michael Murray
48. The Big Pharma Conspiracy: The Drugging of America for Fast Profits by Max Fitzer
49. Side Effects: Death: Confessions of a Pharma Insider by John Virapen
50. Drugs, Money, and Secret Handshakes: The Unstoppable Growth of Prescription Drug Prices by Robin Feldman
51. Drug Wars: How Big Pharma Raises Prices and Keeps Generics Off the Market by Robin Feldman and Evan Frondorf
52. Deadly Medicines and Organized Crime: How Big Pharma Has Corrupted Healthcare by Peter Gøtzsche
53. The Price of Health: The Modern Pharmaceutical Industry and the Betrayal of a History of Care by Michael Kinch and Lori Weiman
This is an excerpt from Dennis Miller’s explosive new book The Shocking Truth About Pharmacy: A Pharmacist Reveals All The Disturbing Secrets. The entire book is available for download from Amazon for 99 cents.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08GL5354F/ref=rdr_kindle_ext_tmb
