Sunday, November 1, 2009

Prescription Drugs - Drug Control of Another Sort

A pill for all reasons is a statement that describes how people these days take to drugs and prescribed medication so readily. Appropriate Drugs are required at times. They in fact, play quite a fundamental role, in saving lives. However, this does not indicate, that every day for many people, must start with a pill and end with one. The increasing dependency on medicines, has in a sense, created an addiction, where in order to stay psychologically fitter, even a healthy person, looks for solace in prescribed drugs.


A Pill For No Reason

The impact of medicines on society is such that, it seems, we are looking for the merest excuse to consume prescribed drugs for some or the other imagined ailment or otherwise. Even minor health problems, like heartburn, are being cured by medicine. The insurance companies, have also made their contributions, in increased prescribed drug consumption. By paying for the high-priced drugs, insurance companies, have further given a fillip to a prescription-induced drug addiction, for literally no reason.


The Mind Game

Drug companies have a strong lobby and apparently, exert an influence, on the studies published under the health and fitness columns. Overtime, by virtue of the money invested in marketing, pharmaceutical companies have created a mind block, wherein, only after taking in some kind of drugs, do people feel as if they are cured. In a further nod to the placebo effect, the more expensive the drug the better is the impact. The cheaper available substitutes, which are equally effective, do not seem to help, as they do not carry with them, the tag of being as effective. An addiction has been created, for these drugs. The unfortunate part of it is, unlike other substances like alcohol, these drugs are categorized as safe.


The Beneficiary

In the entire bargain, only the pharmaceutical companies seem to earn. Their profits are soaring and their businesses expanding tremendously. Of whatever they earn, only negligible proportions, are invested into research and a larger chunk, into marketing and administration. The rest is simply profit. The consumers are of course, at the losing end. They are simply trapped into a vicious circle, where the side effects of one medicine, push them to consume two other pills and so on.


The Requirement

The system is defective and to a very large extent, it is we the consumers, who have been at the receiving end. By consuming unnecessary medicines, without even considering whether at all they are required by our body or not, we have spent more than what is necessary, of our hard earned income, in helping the drug companies grow. The prescription drugs as an illustration too have immense side effects, which are mostly ignored. Only a self-realization, that prevention is better than cure, even in the case of prescribed drugs, can help deal with the issue of medicated drugs.



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