Drugged-Up Nation

Comment

By Charles Barber

This article appeared in the June 30, 2008 edition of The Nation.

June 12, 2008

America is awash in antidepressants.

Literally so.

In March the Associated Press reported that the drinking water of at least 41 million Americans is contaminated with at times voluminous cocktails of prescription drugs. Many of these contaminants are psychiatric drugs. In Philadelphia, for example, a glass of tap water brings along with it trace elements of up to fifty-six pharmaceuticals and byproducts, including Prozac, Valium and Risperdal, a drug primarily used to treat schizophrenia.

Subscriber Login

4 ISSUES FREE

Subscribe Now!

The only way to read this article and the full contents of each week's issue of The Nation online is by subscribing to the magazine. Subscribe now and read this article -- and every article published since for the past five years -- right now.

There's no obligation -- try The Nation for four weeks free.

.

About Charles Barber

Charles Barber is a lecturer in psychiatry at Yale University and the author, most recently, of Comfortably Numb: How Psychiatry Is Medicating a Nation (Pantheon). more...
Most Read

Issues »

Most Emailed

Issues »

Popular Topics

Blogs

» And Another Thing

Can you help "Nickie"? | Bringing the abortion debate down to earth
Katha Pollitt
Posted at 4:54 PM ET

» State of Change

Georgia Runoff is About More Than Filibusters | A Democratic win in this tough race would signal an important shift in southern politics.
John Nichols
Posted at 2:17 PM ET

» The Notion

DC to Delhi: Only Our Missiles -- Not Yours | What is Rice going to say to India: only DC not Delhi is allowed to bomb Pakistan?
Laura Flanders

» Act Now!

World AIDS Day | How to help in the fight against the AIDS pandemic.
Peter Rothberg

» The Beat

Why Obama's Got "Complete Confidence" In Clinton | She won't bring the change his backers believed in. But Obama never really shared that belief.
John Nichols

» Editor's Cut

Robert Gates: Wrong Man for the Job | What we need after eight ruinous years is experience informed by good judgment.
Katrina vanden Heuvel

» The Dreyfuss Report

Obama's New Team at State, Defense, NSC | And some comments about why John Brennan didn't get the CIA job.
Robert Dreyfuss

» Passing Through

Forget GM's Plan -- Where's The Government's Plan? | Create a demand for green cars.
Jane Hamsher

» Capitolism

Is Personnel Policy? | How much do personnel choices reflect the Obama administration's policy direction
Christopher Hayes