Anxiety Drugs

Unapproved Anxiety Drugs Harm Consumers

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Many Americans have reported experiencing increased levels of anxiety since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic in March 2020. Left untreated, anxiety can lead to a decline in one’s quality of life and result in various physical health problems. For this reason, it is imperative that anyone suffering from anxiety or other mental health disorders speak with their doctor or pharmacist and receive proper medical treatment. Unfortunately, many people opt to use unapproved anxiety medications and later suffer from physical, mental, and other injuries that leave them with permanent damage.

If you believe that your use of an anxiety drug may have exposed you to health risks, you should speak with a California dietary supplement lawyer and explore your legal options.

FDA Issues Warning About Use of Unapproved Drugs to Treat Anxiety

On February 19, 2021, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a press release warning that under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, “products intended to cure, treat, mitigate or prevent disease are drugs and are subject to the requirements that apply to drugs, even if they are labeled as dietary supplements.” When it comes to products that have not been approved by the FDA, there are no evaluations with regard to certain factors like:

  • Whether the drugs are effective for their intended use.
  • The proper dosage.
  • How the drugs might interact with FDA-approved drugs.
  • Whether there may be side effects or health concerns.

Anxiety Disorders Affect Millions of Americans

While some anxiety might be considered normal, the American Psychiatric Association (APA) maintains that there is a significant difference between anxiety disorders and more normal feelings of nervousness and anxiousness because an anxiety disorder is likely to involve an extreme or excessive degree of fear or anxiety. Moreover, the APA says that “anxiety disorders are the most common of mental disorders and affect nearly 30% of adults at some point in their lives.” Treatment of anxiety disorders may include medication, therapy, or some combination of both, which have all proven to be effective.

According to the APA, anxiety disorders are more commonly diagnosed in women than in men. Such a diagnosis has two main requirements:

  1. The anxiety must be out of proportion to the situation or age inappropriate.
  2. The anxiety must hinder one’s ability to function normally.

False Advertising by Dietary Supplement Manufacturers Exposes Consumers to Health Risks

Numerous dietary supplement manufacturers that market their products online make unfounded claims about their products’ ability to cure, treat, or mitigate anxiety and other mental health issues. This can have serious consequences for anyone who uses these drugs.

According to Steven Tave, Director of the Office of Dietary Supplement Programs in the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, “Dietary supplements that claim to cure, mitigate or prevent …mental health disorders are unapproved new drugs that could potentially harm consumers who use these products instead of seeking proven treatments from qualified health care providers.” Tave added that use of unapproved drugs is particularly troubling when it occurs during the COVID-19 pandemic because many consumers are already suffering from depression and other mental health issues.

Contact the California False Advertising Lawyers at Tauler Smith LLP

If you or someone you know is suffering from an anxiety disorder and has taken dietary supplements to treat, cure, or mitigate anxiety, you could be entitled to monetary compensation. The Los Angeles dietary supplement attorneys at Tauler Smith LLP can investigate your case, hold the drug manufacturer accountable, and get you compensated for your injuries. Call us anytime or fill out the online contact form to schedule a consultation.

Deterenol Supplement Side Effects

Dangers of Sports and Weight Loss Supplements

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deterenol side effects supplementsThe presence of harmful ingredients in certain sports & weight loss supplements can make them extremely dangerous for consumers to use. That’s why it is imperative that anyone who is thinking about purchasing an over-the-counter supplement make sure that they research the products first. Depending on the type of supplement or pill and the nature of the product marketing, advertising, and labeling, it may be possible for a consumer who suffered an adverse health effect to pursue financial compensation by speaking with a California nutritional supplement lawyer.

To learn more about the dangers of sports and weight loss supplements, keep reading this blog.

Studies Show Dangerous Health Effects of Sports & Weight Loss Supplements

Sports and weight loss supplements containing deterenol (also known as isopropyloctopamine or isopropylnorsynephrine) have been linked to adverse events such as cardiac arrest, hemorrhagic stroke, and even sudden death. In order to determine the presence and quantity of experimental stimulants in dietary supplements containing deterenol that are sold in the United States, NSF International (Ann Arbor, Michigan) conducted analyses along with the Netherlands’ National Institute for Public Health and the Environment, as well as Sciensano (Brussels, Belgium). To do so, they first purchased dietary supplements online that were available for sale in the U.S. and which listed deterenol or one of its synonyms among their ingredients.

Seventeen brands of dietary supplements were analyzed. Results of these tests showed that sports and weight loss supplements listing deterenol as an ingredient contained nine (9) prohibited stimulants and eight (8) different mixtures of stimulants, with up to four (4) experimental stimulants in each product. The nine (9) prohibited stimulants were:

  1. Deterenol
  2. Phenpromethamine (Vonedrine)
  3. Oxilofrine
  4. Octodrine
  5. Betamethylphenylethylamine (BMPEA)
  6. 1,3-dimethylamylamine (1,3-DMAA)
  7. 1,4-dimethylamylamine (1,4-DMAA)
  8. 1,3-dimethylbutylamine (1,3-DMBA)
  9. Higenami

These stimulants and combinations thereof are not approved for human consumption, and their safety is not known.

Additional Resources

For additional information about the medical studies showing the potentially dangerous ingredients in these nutritional supplements, click on the following links:

Did You Consume Dietary Supplements Containing Deterenol? Contact the California False Advertising Lawyers at Tauler Smith LLP

If you consumed a dietary supplement containing detenerol, you may be entitled to financial compensation. The Los Angeles false advertising attorneys at Tauler Smith LLP help clients bring individual civil suits and class action lawsuits. Call or email us today.

Diet Supplement Criminal Penalties

DNP Distributor Gets Prison for Selling Deadly Diet Pills

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Diet Supplement Criminal Penalties

In recent legal news, a DNP distributor was sentenced to prison for selling the deadly diet pill to consumers. Barry Clint Wright used to run a website called CrystalDNP.com, which he used to reach consumers who would purchase the diet pill DNP. Wright was accused of using deceptive marketing strategies for DNP, which included mislabeling the drug and selling it on websites for candles and bee pollen. Like a lot of unapproved weight loss supplements, the DNP pills posed significant health risks for users: multiple people died after consuming the pills sold by Wright. As a result, Wright eventually pleaded guilty to the criminal charges and was sentenced to a term of incarceration of seven (7) years.

California consumer fraud lawyer Robert Tauler provided commentary on the Barry Clint Wright criminal case, which can be viewed here.

DNP Is a Deadly Weight Loss Drug

DNP is a chemical substance also known as 2,4-Dinitrophenol. When ingested, DNP can have severe health consequences for users, including cataracts, cardiac arrhythmia, and even death. In fact, DNP is considered so dangerous that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has declared it to be “extremely dangerous” and “not fit for human consumption.” In this way, DNP is similar to other nutritional and weight loss supplements that can cause adverse health effects. Additionally, when companies sell unapproved supplements for use by consumers, the companies may be both criminally and civilly liable.

Although there are some people like Barry Clint Wright who have claimed that DNP is not dangerous for consumption, those people are wrong. The evidence on DNP is clear: the drug is extremely unsafe and poses significant health risks to consumers, which is why the FDA has made it illegal to market, sell, or otherwise distribute the weight loss drug.

Companies that violate the law by deceptively marketing DNP and then selling it as a dietary supplement may be exposed to civil liability. The experienced consumer fraud lawyers at Tauler Smith LLP help plaintiffs file nutritional supplement lawsuits in courtrooms throughout the country.

Barry Clint Wright Sentenced to Prison for Selling DNP to Consumers

Barry Clint Wright was recently sentenced to seven (7) years in prison for selling DNP as a weight loss drug. Wright was criminally indicted in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida, a federal court with jurisdiction in the case. The crimes that Wright was indicted for related to the sale of DNP and how he marketed the weight loss drug to consumers. He later reached a plea agreement with federal prosecutors, in which he admitted his guilt.

What makes this case so interesting is that the federal government sought an enhancement of the federal sentencing guidelines. In this case, prosecutors wanted the judge to issue a sentence longer than what the guidelines called for. They did this because the way that Wright marketed DNP was particularly egregious and exposed consumers to significant health risks. The government said that Wright failed to label the product accurately, and he also sold it on multiple websites. Moreover, the government said that three (3) customers died after using the DNP – with the possibility that more customers may have died. Beyond that, Wright was accused of using “sophisticated tactics” to ensure that the dangerous diet pill would go unregulated. (E.g., he sold the DNP on a candle website and asked customers to claim that they were buying candles.)

The federal judge ultimately agreed with prosecutors and sentenced Barry Clint Wright to the maximum statutory sentence of seven (7) years in prison.

Contact the California Dietary Supplement Lawyers at Tauler Smith LLP

DNP has dangerous side effects, and the people who mislabel DNP and sell it as a weight loss pill are engaging in criminal activity. If you purchased DNP for use as a diet pill, you may be eligible to file a civil suit against the manufacturer or distributor. Call or send an email to the California dietary supplement lawyers at Tauler Smith LLP today.