[blackdog]

I have been largely ignorant of the pharmaceutical drug wars. Being relatively blessed with a healthy family, I've just not made it a priority. We get most of our "prescription drugs" from the local livestock supplier. Same stuff, same production lines, same dosage levels((usually a certain number of ml's per 110lb of mass), and no co-pay.

In my opinion we are a pill solution society and our hold on comfort is only as strong as the next pill. The best thing that could happen in this country is for the pills to stop flowing like ecstacy at a Pee Ditty party.

Need to sleep? Wake up? Get an erection? Drop an erection? Take a pee? Stop the pee? Take a crap? Stop crapping? More hair? Prettier toenails? Rectal itching? Yeast infection? Bad mood? Poor attention span? Feeling Blue? and a thousand other non-serious natural conditions of life can only be countered with a prescription. It's really funny when you think about it.

Now medications which are clinically required for a disease or degenerative condition are a different story to be told. But I'd venture to say that is a much smaller segment of the bidness.

I've had eighteen surgeries and real nasty stuff too. I know the different anesthesia drugs now just by the taste in my mouth before I go under. I'm a real fan of intravenous demerol pushes(not infusions) and morphine. Intravenous dilantin injections OTOH make me want to curl up in a fear filled fetal ball. Dilantin injections have to be worse than battery acid with a bleach chaser. Dilantin is a great torture drug! My rule of thumb is that if you are diseased, dgenerating, or injured enough to be taking serious medications they should be monitored and administered in skilled home nursing or hospital environments. The growth of the pharmeceutical bidness has been exponential to the scale back and denial of hospital admissions. That said, a discharge of a patient should not be accompanied by a half dozen prescriptions and a nurses phone number programmed into a speed dial.

[Lou L]

I don't doubt that too many have come to rely on "pills" as a cure-all for what ails them. But to generalize and only point to the indications you mention is short-sighted. Just a quick glance at what sits on the FDA's "pending drug" approval list quickly disputes the claim: diabetes, pulmonary conditions, Parkinson's disease, asthma, kidney disease, and heart disease are among the indications of current or pending FDA approvals.

As to your claim that pharmaceuticals are reducing necessary in-patient hospital care, I would suggest the opposite is true. Advanced medicines are reducing hospital stays because drug therapy can adequately replace the need to be in a hospital, plus, drug therapy has the added benefit of reducing healthcare costs associated with lengthy hospital stays.