Digital Images for Textbook

(c) 2013 The Animating Apothecary

(c) 2013 The Animating Apothecary

Two more down, about another 300 to go...

Sultan of Psychopharmacology - link to UpNorth Broadcast

Bob Fawcett and his guitar summing up how to Feel Better: TAKE A PILL!

Here's the link: UpNorth Broadcast with Bob Fawcett - Sultan of Psychopharmacology

Battle Creek - You've Got A Problem!

The Michigan Automatic Prescription Service (MAPS) offers up a lot of information on controlled substance usage as reported from the state's pharmacies.  Their website even provides the raw data for the entire year of 2010, broken down by zip code.
After some research, it was possible to track down the populations for those zip code regions, then break the general use down 'per capita.'
The categories chosen for this snapshot of 2010 were 'stimulants' (meaning, all varieties of Ritalin, Adderall, Concerta, and its chemical relatives), 'hydrocodone' (for all drugs similar to Vicodin), 'oxycodone' (for those like Oxycontin), and 'methadone.'
The 49014 area corresponds to an area near Battle Creek known as "Harper Creek."  The 49015 refers to the "Lakeview" region, with 49016 being those who use a PO box as their primary address, 49017 referring to the city's northern side, and 49037 to the general region known as "Urbandale."
I recommend checking out the MAPS program and looking up your particular region and crafting a similar spreadsheet.  Battle Creek may look to be problematic, but I'm almost thinking that other regions may have a bigger problem....
Now, contemplate the causes.....

Repaired - well, sort of - Banned Pharmacy Promotion Film

Found out that the earlier posting for the Ferris pharmacy promotion film was glitched beyond comprehension.  Such is the fate of a 1976 1/2 inch video master.  This one has the sound slightly corrected...maybe it is viewable now...oh these archives...who came through with a magnet!!!! EGAD!!!!!!

The youtube link:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t4nrKIep0Uw
(about 10 minutes)

Losing Weight - Circa 1905

This has another Battle Creek connection.  Frank J. Kellogg was not related to either W.K. Kellogg (whose cereal used to be made in Battle Creek) or Dr. John Harvey Kellogg (whose 'biologic living' was ridiculed in the 2% accurate "Road to Wellville").  He sold a combination of laxatives and thyroid extracts by mail as a "obesity cure" and became one of Battle Creek's first millionaires - and was noteworthy for tying up the divorce courts so much that the Michigan Supreme Court annulled one of them, citing that the couple "deserved each other."

It took forever (it seemed) to track down a photograph of this Civil War supply sergeant-turned medical entrepreneur.  One emerged when this letter fell from the insides of a wall being torn out during a home remodel in Battle Creek.  It also gives an idea of how he did business AND how he was very, very proud of his signature.

The "Professor" is a title he bestowed upon himself. 

There's an article about his life and times, and multiple marriages, at this site:  The Kellogg Who Would Be King (shameless self-promotion alert - I wrote it!)

A Bit of Pharmacy History - 1919

A couple of drug pages from the E. R. Squibb and Son's "Materia Medica" book of fine, pure products from 1919.  At this point, the FDA had been in place 13 years....

...I am pretty certain that by 1919, these products required a prescription...
The text on cannabis reads:

"Cannabis has been employed as a Sedative, Anodyne and Hypnotic, in cases where opium does not agree with the patient. Unlike the latter, it causes neither nausea nor constipation. It produces at first a mental stimulation, which is later followed by a calmer mood and finally by sleep. It is used in acute and chronic mental derangements, in neuralgia, migraine, gout and rheumatism. In combination with the bromides (see Tab­lets Triple Bromides and Cannabis Compound) it is employed in hysteria, delirium tremens and mild cases of mania. All patients do not respond to it alike; and while no doubt idiosyn­crasy plays a great part, yet the quality of the drug has much to do with its constitutional effect. In all our preparations of this drug the best quality of hemp is used. "

Conscience in the Drug Industry?

copyright (c) 2001 The Animating Apothecary

So....when is a generic drug not a generic drug? When it's a BRAND NAME drug!

Two examples of companies selling the exact same drug as a "brand" and a "generic" at the same time, at vastly different prices!
Press Here for the Youtube video I built....

Just in case this doesn't upload proper-like....