Contents of bin Laden’s Medicine Cabinet Revealed

One’s medicine cabinet can be extremely telling. As Seinfeld covered in “The Conversion” episode, its contents are like a private look into the owner’s life.

This is just what we got when NBC released a list of all the medications found in Osama bin Laden’s medicine cabinet last week. Of note is that the drugs used by bin Laden and others in the compound reveal that, contrary to what was believed prior to the discovery, bin Laden was not taking anything for kidney failure. Although an attempt to poison him in 1999 left him with damaged kidneys, he managed to recover by eating lots of watermelons, according to his youngest widow, Amal.

This new information might refute speculations that bin Laden was a regular marijuana smoker because it helped him with the pain caused by his kidneys. Maybe he just liked marijuana because it made him feel good?

Also of more scandalous note, an herbal form of Viagra called Avena syrup was found in the cabinet. The syrup is an extract of wild oats and is commonly marketed as an aphrodiasic and a cure for impotence, although it also can be used for sour stomach.

Gabapentin, a drug used for nerve pain, seizures, and shingles (an ailment of the skin) was also found in the cabinet. These afflictions are not life threatening, but they’re not the kind of thing you necessarily want someone snooping around in your bathroom to discover.

The trouble with the discoveries is that we can’t have too much fun speculating about their significance; the medicine cabinet stored drugs for multiple individuals. Further, many of the drugs can be used to treat conditions for which they’re not approved. As Jerry realizes in Seinfeld, the anti-fungal cream he discovers in his date’s bathroom is actually for a dog, and his worries that his date had a fungus problem were unfounded.

The general consensus of the look at the different medicines is that bin Laden was in pretty good health for a 54-year-old, and there was no evidence of any serious, chronic conditions. This information, coupled with the reports that an abundance of food, including Coke and Pepsi, was delivered to bin Laden’s compound regularly (not the mention the ganja), is suggestive of what the terrorist’s quality of life was like.