Even More Presription Drugs

I just read that according to a government study, over the last 10 years, the percentage of Americans who took at least one prescription drug in the past month increased from 44% to 48. Further, the use of two or more drugs increased from 25% to 31%, and the use of five or more drugs increased from 6% to 11%. People are spending more and more money on drugs they don't need, but think they do. The real "drug problem" today is not illegal drugs, but rather the abuse of prescribed medications.

To be truly healthy means to not be medicated most or all of the time with drugs. It does not mean a table full of medicines consumed every day. With so many media drugs commercials urging us to ask our doctors to prescribe un necessary medications, it shouldn't surprise anyone if prescribed drug usage is on the rise. Too many people are convinced that the secret of well being depends on the all-mighty pills they see and hear about. Many physicians feel pressured to prescribe what their patients think they need and ask for, but do it anyway. So many cholesterol-lowering drugs, statins, asthma medicines for children; antidepressants for middle-aged adults, and central nervous stimulants for adolescents. Why?


It's partly because of the recent changes in laws concerning drug advertising on TV. Commercials by drug companies glamorize the medications and urge viewers to pressure their doctors to prescribe them. It's probably because in this age of excess access to information we all see ourselves as instant experts on things after we research them on line.


In effect, just as we have become addicted to useless technology, we are becoming addicted to useless prescription drugs. In some cases the over prescribing of drugs has created health problems not previously seen. For the drug manufacturers and doctors, when patients are hooked on pills it means more revenue. They have little incentive to stop the abusive over prescribing of medications. Too, prices for their new drugs seem to be higher and higher than in the past.


The proliferation of "legal" drug addiction is aided and abetted by the addictive technology and careless culture to which we belong. It is a microcosm of what is wrong with society today. Too bad most people never think about it, much less realize their plight. Maybe the drugs they are using are clouding their thinking..