Lethal Dose Of Cynicism
From Makers Of Tylenol Poll On Aspirin Dangers
– Context Of Medical Marijuana Debate
(Marijuananews note: I often remark on the odd
coincidences in the appearances of news and/or email. This is an extreme example of this.
Yesterday a reader emailed me:
"I called my friend tonight to chat and she told me her sister was admitted to a
hospital early this morning.... She is in a coma suffering from liver poisoning and kidney
failure from taking too much Tylenol."Today I received the following message,
and then the story below.
"My friend’s sister died last night. I believe she took too much pain
medication along with the Tylenol while she was being treated by her dentist . She also
had a history of addiction to pain relievers. She had been in recovery until the dentist
gave her the pain relievers for an abscessed tooth he removed."
There is nothing about marijuana here, but think about all this as the context for the
medical marijuana debate.)
From the Orange County Register
letters@link.freedom.com
http://www.ocregister.com/
October 29, 1998
SOMETIMES FATAL RISKS OF PAINKILLERS IGNORED
Most Americans are ignorant of potentially fatal risks associated with taking aspirin
and other painkillers, and many do not even bother to read the labels, a survey published
Wednesday found.
Although 85 percent of the 1,000 people polled had taken a pain reliever such as
aspirin or ibuprofen at some point, 47 percent said they did not always read the labels
and a third were not aware of the risks associated with the drugs.
The survey, commissioned by Johnson &Johnson unit McNeal
Consumer Products, found that 74 percent of Americans do not know that aspirin and other
agents known as non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs can cause stomach bleeding.
NSAID’s are taken by millions of Americans daily to relieve arthritis or muscular
pain, but they can cause potentially fatal bleeding with normal use.
Copyright: 1998 The Orange County Register
(Marijuananews note: The story does not inform the reader that McNeal is the maker of
Tylenol, which competes with aspirin. And of course, the story does not inform the reader
that the founder of the Partnership For a Drug-Free America is the former CEO of J&J.
No reason why they should really, except that, according to Forbes, Tylenol kills even
more people than cocaine every year.)
Supported