Michael Jackson, Demerol and Prescription Drug Abuse

Did Michael Jackson die from a prescription drug overdose?  As I write this it is barely 12 hours since the death of the “King of Pop” and rumors are circulating that there is a strong possibility an overdose of Demerol, a prescription pain killer similar to morphine might have triggered or caused his cardiac arrest.  While tragic, if true then Michael Jackson is just another in a long line of meaningless deaths at the hands of prescription medications…an epidemic that has gone on for far too long.

From Elvis Presley to Marilyn Monroe to Janis Joplin and now Michael, the list of victims from prescription drugs reads like a who’s who of the talented and successful.  But what isn’t reported in the mass media are the millions of people that are killed from prescription drugs that aren’t rich and famous.  These people listen to their doctors, believe the propaganda of the pharmaceutical companies and think they are doing ‘the right thing’ by buying often toxic man-made chemicals and poisons to treat what ails them.

The truth is that 90% of illnesses, pains and other complaints that people go to their doctors for are treatable just as easily and more effectively without using drugs than with them.  Pharmaceutical companies have made billions and billions of dollars convincing people that they ‘need pills’ in order to deal with what are ordinary, simple health issues that the body will correct by itself without medication.

Painkillers and Antidepressants are the two most abused kinds of drugs.  If you think about it, they are really two sides of the same coin.  Antidepressants after all are simply ‘emotional’ painkillers.  Unfortunately people have bought into the bogus logic that medicating away your fears, anxieties and problems is ‘better’ and ‘more effective’ than actually tackling life’s challenges through hard work, focus and follow-through. 

Similarly, denial is a condition that is rampant in our society and using painkillers both the physical and mental kind are a key way that pharmaceutical companies encourage denial.  Let’s take Michael Jackson as an example.  It has been widely reported that Michael had suffered from debilitating physical problems with his back and legs from injuries during the years and years of rigorous performing.  Instead of accepting that at 50 years old he was not the spry, malleable 25 year old of yesterday and forcing himself to try and live up to what were unexpectedly high levels of physical stress…he turned to painkillers. 

Pain has a purpose.  It is the way a person’s body tells them that they are pushing themselves too hard or under too much stress.  Emotional pain comes out as anxiety or depression.  It is no different in that way than physical pain.  By taking painkillers for his physical pain, Michael very well might have caused his life to be taken far too young.  Similarly, people that don’t heed their own emotional pain and camouflage it with antidepressants or turning to other drugs both legal or illegal or alcohol are simply emulating the same denial.  The end result is ALWAYS bad and sometimes leads to tragedy.

It’s a tragedy that we’ve lost a great soul like Michael Jackson.  Please visit www.SedatedNation.com for more great articles and insight.