16-Year-Old Boy Gets Prozac in Mail By THERESA AGOVINO, AP Business Writer - Commentary by Fred A. Baughman Jr., MD

[Fred A. Baughman Jr., MD:
Hello all,
They are nothing but drug-pushers. They are just more sophisticated.
They have taken over this country and this government no less than the
cocaine cartels have taken over Colombia...more perhaps, than the drug
cartels commandeer Mexico. Who, after all, drugs 15-20 % of it's normal
children? What other cartel is so monstously wealthy, masquerades so
successfully as the part of the medical profession, has co-conspirators
throughout government (Surgeon General, NIH, NIMH) and the medical
profession (pediatrics, neurology, family practice, psychology)? As for
me...I am of the medical profession, I did not, do not, will not, put
money before my patients, I have been true to the Hippocratic oath,
they--those who make patients of normal, troubled, sometimes troublesome
infants, children, teens, adults, elders defile their trust as standard
practice, do not practice medicine...they may not call it that...I
repudiate them, I expose them to patients who would trust them. Fred
Baughman, MD 7/20/02]

HValent917@aol.com wrote:
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Subject:
>
> 16-Year-Old Boy Gets Prozac in Mail
> From:
>
> "VERACARE" 
> Date:
>
> Sat, 20 Jul 2002 07:31:29 -0400
> To:
>
> 
>
> To: President George W. Bush 
>
> Cc:Wendy Baldwin  ; Thomas Laughren 
>  ; Robert Temple 
>  ; Kathryn Zoon  
> ; Janet Woodcock [FDA]  ; Dianne Murphy 
>  ; David LePay  
> ; Bernard A. Schwetz  ; John Ashcroft [AG] 
> 
>
> ALLIANCE FOR HUMAN RESEARCH PROTECTION (AHRP)
> http://www.researchprotection.org 
>
> Contact: Vera Hassner Sharav
> 212-595-8974
> e-mail: vera-ahrp@rcn.com 
> FYI
>
> The Associated Press reports: that a 16-Year-Old Boy  who was never 
> treated for depression received a month's supply of Prozac in 
> mail.  "The Florida Attorney General has already issued subpoenas to 
> Eli Lilly,
> Walgreen and S. K.'s doctors to determine if any state laws were broken."
>
> Prozac has been wrapped in controversy since it was first 
> launched: sales outstripped every other drug with a promotional 
> marketing blitz that drowned out thousands of reports of severe side 
> effects.  Now that the drug's luster has been tarnished by hard 
> evidence-- which the FDA until now didn't release -- its sales 
> plummeted. This seems to have prompted those who market the drug 
> to venture into illegal practices--such as sending a controlled 
> substance through the mail to children!
>
> Among other severe side effects that Prozac has been linked to, in 
> some people who take it, is violent and suicidal behavior. Several 
> lawsuits are winding their way through the courts.  The Boston 
> Globe--which had obtained internal Eli Lilly documents-- reported in 
> June, 2000: "This is a story about a drug that changed the world, the 
> bravery of rats, the evolution of a psychiatrist, the Jekyll and Hyde 
> nature of man-made chemicals, the Church of Scientology, and the 
> impulses that lead some people to kill."
> [See PROZAC - Science, money drive a makeover, By Mitchell Zuckoff, 
> Boston,  6/11/2000: 
> http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/163/nation/Science_money_drive_a_makeover+.shtml 
> ;
>
> Se also,  When Depression Turns Deadly:Can Antidepressants Transform 
> Despair into Suicide?  By ANNE McILROY, THE GLOBE AND MAIL, (Canada),  
> April 21, 2001: www.globeandmail.com   ]
>
> Question: The marketing of Prozac (nd other drugs) is conducted across 
> state lines.  Will the Bush Administration favor industry's  business 
> interests, or will it step in to protect children from being solicited 
> to take dangerous drugs?
>
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>
> website
>
>
> 16-Year-Old Boy Gets Prozac in Mail
> Fri Jul 19, 7:22 PM ET
> By THERESA AGOVINO, AP Business Writer
>
> NEW YORK (AP) - A 16-year-old boy was among southern Florida residents
> who received unsolicited samples of the antidepressant drug Prozac in the
> mail in a much-criticized and highly unorthodox marketing campaign.
>
> "I was livid," said the boy's mother, Sue Grinstead of Palm Beach. "My
> son knew enough not to take it, but what about the other kids?"
>
> A spokesman for the Walgreen Co. drugstore chain, Michael Polzin,
> confirmed the family's account that a month's supply of Prozac was 
> sent to
> 16-year-oldMichael Grinstead. He said the boy's name was among others 
> sent by a
> local doctors' office to a Walgreen's in Palm Beach with instructions 
> to send
> them the drug samples.
>
> "We apologize to the patients who received the drug," Polzin said by
> telephone. He said there were so many names on the doctors' list of
> intended recipients that the pharmacy called to doctors' office to 
> confirm the
> prescriptions before sending them out.
>
> The mailings already have prompted an invasion of privacy lawsuit by a
> 59-year-old woman who was among the recipients. Identified only by the
> initials S.K., she sued Eli Lilly & Co, which makes the drug, Walgreen
> Co, which sent it, and her doctors.
>
> Michael's family has retained the same lawyer, Gary Farmer Jr., and
> plans to file a lawsuit alleging invasion of privacy and possible 
> unauthorized
> practice of medicine. Under Florida law, it is illegal to prescribe a
> drug to a minor without consent of a parent or guardian.
>
> The Florida Attorney General has already issued subpoenas to Eli Lilly,
> Walgreen and S. K.'s doctors to determine if any state laws were
> broken.
> More could be issued if warranted, said John Newton, senior assistant
> attorney general in Florida.
>
> Eli Lilly has also apologized for the mailing, which it believes
> reached less than 150 people. The Indianapolis-based drug giant said the
> campaign was not an official promotion and it is trying to determine 
> exactly who
> is responsible. Several Eli Lilly employees in Florida have been 
> suspended
> with pay, the company said.
>
> The mailings at first appeared to target people who were already taking
> an antidepressant and who might then switch to Prozac. However, Michael's
> mother said he had never been prescribed such a drug or even been
> treated for depression.
>
> The family had used a different pharmacy, an Eckerd store, not
> Walgreen's.
> Farmer said the family is worried that Michael's name was passed along
> in a customer list, but Eckard spokeswoman Tami Alderman said patient 
> names
> are not given to drug companies.
>
> "We are still trying to get to the bottom of what is going on," Farmer
> said.
> "But it looks like drug companies are taking marketing to a whole new
> level."
>
> Michael's mother said the Prozac was accompanied by a letter from a
> doctor who is not their family's primary physician but works in the same
> doctors' group. The letter suggested switching to Prozac.
>
> FAIR USE NOTICE: This may contain copyrighted (© ) material the use of 
> which has not always been specifically authorized
>
> by the copyright owner. Such material is made available to advance 
> understanding of ecological, political, human rights, economic, 
> democracy, scientific, moral, ethical, and social justice issues, etc. 
> It is believed that this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such 
> copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US 
> Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this 
> material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a 
> prior general interest in receiving similar information for research 
> and educational purposes. For more information go to: 
> http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml If you wish to use 
> copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair 
> use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.