Lost in a Lost World ghostgeek: This is what we've come to: A school ban on sausage rolls and other "unhealthy" foods in pupils' lunchboxes has divided opinion. The new policy at Shirley Manor Primary Academy in Bradford states parents will be called if banned foods are found in packed lunches. Steve Fryer, whose son's sausage roll was confiscated, said the school should "stick to teaching kids". Others have praised the school for healthy eating, according to comments on the Bradford Telegraph and Argus. The policy says pupils are encouraged to show their packed lunches to staff before and after they have eaten. [ http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-leeds-41412911 ] ghostgeek: There was a time when nobody bothered what kids stuffed in their gobs. Did all those children die? No, they're still around, and being moaned about because they refuse to shuffle off to their graves. ghostgeek: There was a time when any kid could go to the local newsagent and buy a knife. You just went in and said, "I'll have that one please." The one I bought I've still got. There was a whole display of the things, from little tiddlers to full on hunting knives, in the shop window. ghostgeek: You could go and buy caps for your toy gun. You would get maybe a hundred in a little round box. Try buying such things today. ghostgeek: And, oh my, the freedom. When you'd figured out how to wipe your own backside, you was old enough to walk to school on your own. And the thing is, it was safe to do so.
ghostgeek: Now, in this shiny new world of ours, you can open a newspaper and read that a quarter of all 14-year-old girls are depressed. ghostgeek: When did they invent depression? I can still recall, on the way to school, seeing a notice warning people to beware of dripping acid. And the yellow smoke rising up from the metal chimney stack. Can't say the shitty world I was living in made me depressed, though.  briansmythe: Its the pharmaceutical company's lobbying doctors, young people on Ritilain , they reckon more people in the states are addicted to legal opiates , than any thing else , Its the Corperation Parmacucital , Industry , Medical Marajana they reckon cures cancer , but don't hold your breath ghostgeek: There does seem to be a lot more pills floating around nowadays. I suppose making them keeps people in work.  chronology: Don't know ghost, the world today does seem a lot more civilised with healthy prescription medicine etc. A Guy was telling me how he used to sit with his pals sniffing petrol, varnish, glue, and goodness knows what els, some people insist sniffing airosols is the road to heaven. A trip to a clean clinic for these people to pick up tested and develloped prescritions seems way better than squatting with the unwashed breathing in fumes. ghostgeek: When I was young, knives weren't the only things kids could go and buy without the world emitting a collective shriek of horror. Hand your money over and you could walk out a shop with a nice big tube of glue. I was into building plastic models, so I worked my way through quite a few tubes of the stuff. As far as I can tell, I suffered no deleterious effects. ghostgeek: Now consider the present day situation with all these prescription drugs: Addiction to prescribed medicines could be as big a problem in the UK as addiction to illegal drugs like heroin. So say a group of UK doctors and politicians, who have called for urgent action to help people who get hooked on painkillers, antidepressants and anti-anxiety medicines like Valium. “We are in the midst of a great public health disaster, which is killing hundreds of people a year and ruining the lives of millions,” Harry Shapiro, head of addiction charity DrugWise, said at a meeting of the All Party Parliamentary Group for Prescribed Drug Dependence last week. [ https://www.newscientist.com/article/2110089-addiction-to-prescription-drugs-is-uk-public-health-disaster/ ] ghostgeek: And before anyone gets it into their head that the UK is the prescription pill capital of the world, take a read of this: The abuse of and addiction to opioids such as heroin, morphine, and prescription pain relievers is a serious global problem that affects the health, social, and economic welfare of all societies. It is estimated that between 26.4 million and 36 million people abuse opioids worldwide, with an estimated 2.1 million people in the United States suffering from substance use disorders related to prescription opioid pain relievers in 2012 and an estimated 467,000 addicted to heroin. The consequences of this abuse have been devastating and are on the rise. For example, the number of unintentional overdose deaths from prescription pain relievers has soared in the United States, more than quadrupling since 1999. There is also growing evidence to suggest a relationship between increased non-medical use of opioid analgesics and heroin abuse in the United States. [ https://www.drugabuse.gov/about-nida/legislative-activities/testimony-to-congress/2016/americas-addiction-to-opioids-heroin-prescription-drug-abuse ] chronology: ghost, I think you are 'going off on one' here. First America, the U.S.A. became the worlds biggest consumer of Opium back in the 19th Century, largely because Americans enjoyed pure unadultarated Opium. It is unclear just how many Americans enjoyed their Opium, but it was way bigger than anything in Europe. Next England. Kids in England in the late 19th century went to chemist shops to by Opium plills for themselves like they buy candy now. But unlike in America, the Opium was badly adultarated with everything from sea shells to brick dust and ground gravel. As a result, being ripped off every time they bought their Opium, people resented the product in England unlike in the U.S.A. what am saying is, Opium was a bigger habit in the past than now, it was just completely unrecognised. Street urchins would be sucking on Opium Pills in the past in slums in England, today they sniff glue, petrol, varnish and anything else they can grab hold of. If you ask me Opium sounded a lot preferable to the othe substances these people shove up their noses and elsewhere. ghostgeek: Towards the end of her life my mother was in a lot of pain. So along comes Doctor Bottle and prescribes Tramadol, a synthetic opioid pain medication. Guess what, no pain relief. So what is Doctor Bottle's response when told of this? Take more of the damned things, and start gobbling down paracetamol as well. Every couple of weeks I had to go and get a prescription for another batch of tablets. The things never worked, but I'm sure they'd have been more than able to kill her if I'd been careless and given her an overdose. ghostgeek: I was once prescribed two types of medication for hypertension, until a doctor asked if I felt dizzy. Seems my blood pressure was way down. Now I only have one type. ghostgeek: It's easy to see why people are becoming addicted to prescription drugs. Doctors dish them out like sweeties. chronology: Ghost Old Chap I really do think you are overreacting to all this. In the early 20th century you could buy whiskey twice as strong as it is today, and enjoy the stunning drink with opium laced ciggerretts. All of these festive products were sold openly for people to enjoy. People with anxiety and depression problems often say other people have no idea how they are suffering. Well hey, today they have a pill to cure them. chronology: Ghost, I have no idea. But some people thanks to Prosac and Viagra are living fulfilled happy lives. I remember one time meeting a guy who was searching a library for books on sex. He and his wife were really depressed because he could not have an erection at all. This was before Viagra. He was saying he had not had sex for months. He and his wife would roll around on the bed trying everything to get him aroused but nothing worked. Today he could just go to the doctor, get his Viagra and he and his missus would be in paradise for hours, him thrusting away and her meowing with pleasure. ghostgeek: We live in a shrinking world: As many as 2,529 products have shrunk in size over the past five years, but are being sold for the same price, official figures show. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said it was not just chocolate bars that have been subject to so-called "shrinkflation". It said toilet rolls, coffee and fruit juice were also being sold in smaller packet sizes. Andrex admitted its rolls were smaller, but said they were now better quality. At the same time the ONS said 614 products had got larger between 2012 and 2017. [ http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-40703866 ] | Politics Chat Room 76 People Chatting Similar Conversations |