Tom the Dancing Bug by Ruben Bolling for December 04, 2014
November 28, 2014
December 05, 2014
Transcript:
Enjoy this Classic Tom the Dancing Bug Every Thursday Vintage 1999 Panels from the annals of the Tom the Dancing Bug archive Check back every Friday for a fresh, brand new Tom the Dancing Bug! Tom the Dancing Bug by Ruben Bolling Presents: News of the Times Placebo Drug Craze Hits Teens Bette Haugen is at the end of her rope. Bette: At first, I didn't think it was such a big deal...I found a few sugar pills in his backpack... "But when I found a syringe and a vial of saline solution in his underwear drawer, I knew our Billy had a big problem." Her son is hooked on the latest teen drug kick -- PLACEBOS. Doctor: Medical science has known about placebos for years, but they've only now become a dangerous teen rage. Worse, this drug preys on our most impressionable and stupid youngsters. Boy #1: You got 'cebos? Boy #2: Yup. Flour tablets. Boy #1: Wow! I'm getting high just LOOKING at 'em! The frustration in fighting the drug is that ANY substance can be used for a placebo effect. Boy: I've gotten high off eating lint, sniffing pine cones, rubbing a fusebox, licking a Schnauzer... You can use anything if you're desperate... Placed alone in a bare, windowless room, this teen can still get her "fix" by hopping on one foot and squinting her eyes. Girl: Ohh... Wow. Another issue is that many parents have a credibility problem. Bette: Okay, I experimented with smoking oregano when I was a kid, but this is hardcore stuff! The only treatment for placebo addiction is the distribution of red-colored water at placebo clinics. Pharmacist: You just had a dose this morning! Boy: C'mon, man! I'm jonesin'! Gimme the reds!
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Randy B Premium Member almost 10 years ago
You can spend a lot of money on that stuff.Just look for the homeopathic “remedies” at your local stores.
QuiteDragon almost 10 years ago
The meaning of placebo, and what people take the meaning of placebo to be are worlds apart. The placebo effect is the amount of variance that occurs in a control group of a blinded study, which is then “subtracted” from the effect (if any) that is observed in the test group. Whatever remains, assuming a well-constructed study, can be thought to be the “effect” looked for. In other words, it is a statistical tool to eliminate what doesn’t work.Most placebo falls into the area of subjective, rather than objective, observation; that is, if a doctor pays a lot of personal and compassionate attention to a patient, the patient will report feeling better. Objective test will not, however, demonstrate abatement of a disease. In most common parlance (and alternative “medicine”, ie homeopathy, as Randy_B stated), however, placebo effect has come to mean getting better purely through the device of “mind over matter”. In other words, hokum. (In the interests of fairness, it must be said that there are some times when feeling better constitutes “being” better, though the criteria is narrow. For example, feeling better won’t cure a cold, but it will make it easier to live with.)
jpozenel almost 10 years ago
We used to spin around until we got dizzy and couldn’t stand up.
That’s how it all started…
kapock almost 10 years ago
Basically, if people are enjoying something, and they aren’t buying it from a huge corporation, then that’s a crisis.