The Birmingham News Sunday Edition had an encompassing story with graphs and interviews documenting the surge of prescription drug abuse deaths in our metro area. However, I found a much smaller follow up story buried a little deeper in section A that summarized the problem in a neat little package. It was titled Too Little Treatment, Too Many Addicts and with three little facts it summarized the prescription drug problem for the entire nation. It basically boils down to the old adage of “follow the money”.
(1) Advertising aimed at consumers jumped 81 percent from 2002 to 2006, hitting $4.8 billion annually.
(2) Pharmaceutical sales from the top 10 drug companies in the United States totaled almost $275 billion in 2006, an increase of 25 percent over the past four years, according to IMS, a pharmaceutical information company.
(3) The second highest selling drug in the United States last year was a generic painkiller that contained hydrocodone, a highly addictive substance. Overall, 97 million prescriptions were written in the United States in 2006 for hydrocodone drugs like Vicodin and Lortab. That’s a 45 percent increase since 2002. In the same period, prescriptions for antidepressants and benzodiazepines such as Valium and Xanax have jumped 15 percent, IMS reports.
Now don’t get me wrong, I am not solely attacking the pharmaceutical companies (except for some like Purdue Pharma who deserve it), there in business to make money and overall they have improved the lives of millions. This is more of a jab at our entire society including the drug makers, medical community, and general public.
Jack Kalin, a head toxicologist at the Alabama Department of Forensic Sciences, an agency that has the morbid task of explaining drug deaths for the official record states the problem rather succinctly:
Medication has become sustenance, he said. “We’re sending bad messages, that medicine is the cure for everything.”
Right now, following the money trail leads me to the conclusion that there will be more advertising, more drugs entering the market, and more problems from those that are improperly sold, prescribed and abused. The sad truth is that I don’t see a “War on Drugs” being any more effective on legal drugs as it is on illegal drugs.
{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
And I would like to think that veteran teachers would be immune to shoving children into a square peg when they are round. It was a veteran teacher that pushed that medicine on us. We assumed that she got into a comfortable routine, My child was not disruptive, just a dreamer, a doodler. So many children are like this. They are probably great canidates for montissory schools, just so expensive and on one income….
It all goes back to our society becoming pill dependent. Thanks for the topic. I would love for more parents to stand up and fight like we did. They need to shut off the tv and email the teacher at the very least. It will save years of troubles and make your children not pill dependent. Those are the same kids that grow up and take anti anixiety pills when the pay there bills and balance the check book.
This is, as you can imagine, my hot spot. Vicodin and Xanax are very near and not dear since my Hunny (Vic) and friend (Xan) are addicts to prescription pills. You don’t have to do anything more than make an appoinment with any Dr., go, tell them you are anxious and bam, Xanax or bam Vicodin for your aches. It is so easy to get. In my county, a rather large metropitan area, Xanax and presrciption pills are the third most abused drug behind alcohol and weed in teens, and that report is 3 years old. There is no telling how bad it is now. I can think of three people in my department that are addicted to Xanax and crush it in with their morning oatmeal to get it in quicker. We are way too dependent on pills. Feel sad? Overweight? Need to sleep? Take a presription pill and we won’t fix the problem, just up your dose and sweep it under the rug. The rehab where C is doesn’t allow double diagnosing, meaning if you are schizophrenic they cannot treat you. They don’t treat with anti depressants, anti anxiety, nothing. I think you can get an allergy pill if you are like the rest of us that suffer from the grass in the air. C loves that about his rehab, no more pills. Thanks for the topic. You sure know how to get someone going!
I thought this was a very telling statement. I don’t think I have heard anyone explain it better when it comes to how our society has become dependent on medication for all woes.
It is even abnormal to hear a parent say their kids are normal, they all seem to have at least one disorder that needs drug treatment.
was the subject of a conference between her teacher and my husband and I. The teached recommended we put her on ritalin. Oh I was mad. My child was not add or adhd. She was bored with text teaching and preferred a more hands on approach. The teacher went on and on about all the experience that she had and she knew that my child had this problem. I took her to our ped. and he said that he would trust the advice of the teacher since she sees it so often. He prescribed her a medicine without one test or even one word to her. She did not need it. She needed to be taught. She didn’t need to be doped up, not eating, zombied out for her school day. It was the worst thing I ever did for her and when we didn’t notice anything changing except how dull she became she came off of the meds. I am now in constant contact with her teachers and she receives awards and even was awarded as the best artist in the grade! Not everyone fits into a cookie cutter pattern. People are individuals and our society doesn’t accept that. It never ceases to amaze me that I hear so much about “I am my own person, but look our neighbor just got a new car, lets get one just like it but with leather” crap. Pill commercials can nearly generalize enough that everyone needs that med at the end of the commercial. BS. Maybe some people do but the majority taking that pill don’t. They just need an adjustment, just like my daughter.
I have a few friends who teach that feel that some of the teachers out there are using ritalin just to subdue the children so their job is easier.
These kids need to learn, not be subdued!