Which is the Dangerous Drug?

Jeff Schaler has posted a link on the Szasz Blog to an outstanding article on anti-depressant (SSRI’s) medications, such as Prozac and Zoloft, from Australia. In addition to an in depth discussion of the pros and mostly cons of these drugs, author Daniels Williams relates the case of Rebekah Beddoe who was diagnosed as having postnatal depression and put on Zoloft. He describes the results as follows: “Immediately before her encounter with psychiatry, Rebekah Beddoe was a normal girl having a rough trot. By the time of her inspired decision three years later to take herself off her medications, she'd been diagnosed with five separate mental disorders and drugged to within an inch of her life. Heavy doses of an antipsychotic have left her a diabetic and her left arm is a canvas of self-inflicted scars.”

Now, I believe that if back when Beddoe was having her “rough trot” someone had handed her a marijuana joint she would have been much better off than with the Zoloft. The basis for this assessment comes from among other places here and here. I also think that the above conviction is one of the primary reasons why marijuana is still illegal. A simple case of government regulating more effective competition out of the marketplace.