Legal drug craze is new killer
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/feb/10/usa?gusrc=rss&feed=worldnewsOnce it was cocaine, speed or heroin, but now the fashion is for legal pills, washed down by spirits. Last week's news that actor Heath Ledger, right, died from an overdose of prescription tablets shed light on a startling new trend - misuse of over-the-counter pills now kills more Americans than illegal drugs. Elizabeth Day in New York
"Whereas illegal street narcotics - heroin or crack cocaine - are more likely to be used by the poorer socio-economic classes, prescription drugs have become the preserve of the rich. In the privatised American healthcare industry, these pills do not come cheaply: an antidepressant like Wellbutrin can cost from $1,000 to $2,400 a year.
Wealthy individuals also enjoy the luxury of paying private physicians - known as 'script doctors' - to provide them with prescriptions. And often, because the drugs are viewed as performance-enhancers, they will be taken by those at the higher end of the social strata: by the college students and Wall Street traders. In the 1980s cocaine was the glamour yuppie drug. Now, the line of white powder is being overtaken by the little white capsule."
Big Pharma provide powerful incentives to doctors and at the same time blitz the airwaves with slick ads for their drugs. Thus, they stumulate demand with both professionals and the public. In many developed countries TV ads for drugs are forbidden, much more stringent than the US. Given the amount of money that big Pharma "contributes" to the political process, it is not really surprising.
As far as the prescription drug problems in this country; Consider big pharma the supplier, and your family doctor, the dealer!
"Doctor Please,
some more of these,
Outside the door,
she took four more,
What a drag it is getting old." Jagger/Richards