Singer, Natasha, and Peter Lattman. "Workout Booster, and a Lawsuit." The New York Times. Nytimes, 13 Feb. 2013. Web. 18 Feb. 2013. http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/14/business/death-after-use-of-jack3d-shows-gap-in-regulation.html?pagewanted=1&_r=0&src=recg  Recently, GNC, a dietary supplements retailer, has been running a special on it's website for a supplement called Jack3d. However, due to a federal health issue last April, the FDA isued a warning on the stimulant called dimethylamylamine, or DMAA. This drug raises blood pressure and the heart rate, and has been linked to the deaths of two soldiers. In December 2011, after the deaths of two soldiers who used Jack3d, the Defense Department removed products containing DMAA from stores on military bases including more than 100 GNC stores. The parents of these soldiers have filed lawsuits against the producer, marketer, and seller of Jack3d. Although the lab that creates Jack3d has filtered out the DMAA, there are still sites everywhere that sell this supplement, now labeled a drug. It was originally made as an inhalant for nasal congestion. Now it's in what some people are eating. Just last month a woman running the London Marathon collapsed late in the race. The cause? DMAA "on the balance of probabilities, and in combination with extreme physical exertion, caused cardiac failure which resulted in her death." This drug needs to be taken off of the market completely, or other people could suffer the same fate.

My dad often use GNC products after he works out, and hearing that they sell a dietary supplement to make you stronger doesn't sound like anything out of the ordinary. However, this doesn't seem like your average protein powder. Normally here at ASIJ after strength class, some people take protein powders. Knowing that companies are knowledgeably selling protein powders that contain a drug that can kill you is not something you want to hear about. This is an article that talks about drug use...but the people that buy it aren't the abusers. The sellers are. If people have the power to do what is right and not sell something harmful then that's the way it should be. Unfortunately, life is not like that.

Schwarz, Alan. "Drowned in a Stream of Prescriptions." The New York Times. The New York Times, 03 Feb. 2013. Web. 13 Feb. 2013. http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/03/us/concerns-about-adhd-practices-and-amphetamine-addiction.html?pagewanted=all Richard Fee, aged 24, committed suicide after failing to renew a prescription for a drug called Adderall. Aderall is a medication for those affected by A.D.H.D, but it helps people acquire tunnel-like focus, thus leading to growing numbers of students or people who think they need help to fake systems to get this drug. He was an athletic, college class president, and aspiring medical student who faked having symptoms to his doctor. His doctor continued to supply him with the drug until his parents told the doctor to stop. Richard continued to receive a prescriptions. After becoming delusional and violent, and spending a week in a psychiatric hospital, Richard received 90 more days of his prescription. He hanged himself two weeks after it expired.

The fact that people have to pretend to have a disorder just to get a drug is both wrong and inhumane. I feel like they aren't educated enough to know what they're putting into their bodies. Although Richard was a medical student, maybe he didn't know what addiction felt like, and once he was under the influence of drugs, he couldn't control himself. One thing that I think should come under question is the manner in which people decide if someone has a disorder or not. It's not a good thing that someone was able to fool an educated doctor. Now I know there probably isn't any concrete way to prove to someone that you have a disorder unless the symptoms are physical, however, there should probably be some more screening or testing for these people to make sure that they have what they say they have. Other than that, this is just another sad story, and it's unfortunate that such a successful young man with a long road ahead of him would kill himself like this.