Why is the US so drug dependent?

[Dittohead not!]

[h=1]30 Million Americans On Antidepressants And 21 Other Facts About America’s Endless Pharmaceutical Nightmare[/h]

#1 According to the New York Times, more than 30 million Americans are currently taking antidepressants.
#2 The rate of antidepressant use among middle aged women is far higher than for the population as a whole. At this point, one out of every four women in their 40s and 50s is taking an antidepressant medication.
#3 Americans account for about five percent of the global population, but we buymore than 50 percent of the pharmaceutical drugs.
#4 Americans also consume a whopping 80 percent of all prescription painkillers.

and those are just the legal drugs, and don't include alcohol and tobacco.

Turn on the TV, and you don't watch long without seeing a commercial for one drug or another. Drugs are getting the hard sell.

 

[OrphanSlug]

The main reason is because we ended up crafting a business model, that suggests a continual influx of new medicines that we did not even know we do not need.

 

[Tetron]

[h=1]30 Million Americans On Antidepressants And 21 Other Facts About America’s Endless Pharmaceutical Nightmare[/h]


and those are just the legal drugs, and don't include alcohol and tobacco.

Turn on the TV, and you don't watch long without seeing a commercial for one drug or another. Drugs are getting the hard sell.

Americans take so many different drugs because we can. If you live in the third world you dont have a psychologist to prescribe you anti depressants or the money/insurance to purchase them. The reason drugs are getting the hard sell is because the way insurance works most people can get prescribed even if they might not otherwise need the medication. This isnt to say that a doctor is going to prescribe something dangerous just because, but someone who is feeling a little blue might convince a psychiatrist they are depressed and get prescribed antidepressants.

As for us purchasing 50% of the drugs I would have to investigate that further but my belief would be that number reflects the fact that America is one of the few nations in the world that actually pays full price for drugs. It is a very complicated issue but it comes down to the fact that America pays alot for its drugs so that drug companies can afford to keep making new ones while the rest of the world pays a discount, and in some cases the companies are even mandated to give away a certain amount for free.

As for women being on antidepressants in large percentages it relates back to what I described earlier, if she is feeling "unfulfilled" then she can probably get prescribed antidepressants.

As for pain killers there are likely a couple factors working there, first is that alot more people in America survive traumatic injury then in other countries because of our good medical care (though thats changing), so have more need of it, another is that there is an incentive for "narco" doctors who just prescribe pain meds to addicts, and third, its a drug, and americans have more disposable income so they are more capable of purchasing these drugs then those without.

 

[Tetron]

The main reason is because we ended up crafting a business model, that suggests a continual influx of new medicines that we did not even know we do not need.

Are you saying that drug companies are creating drugs that no one needs, but are convincing people they do?

 

[clownboy]

 

[OrphanSlug]

Are you saying that drug companies are creating drugs that no one needs, but are convincing people they do?

What I am saying is we ended up crafting a business model that takes us that direction, and based on that model there is little choice but for those businesses to continue to ensure a greater percentage of the population takes an increasing number of prescriptions. The average cost to get a new drug to market is in the Billions. And that explains a few things. One, the number of advertisements for all these drugs. Two, the alarming percentages of this nation on one or more drugs. Three, why the numbers are getting worse the further we go. Four, why drugs prices are out of control even though there are far more of them the further we go.

 

[Tetron]

What I am saying is we ended up crafting a business model that takes us that direction, and based on that model there is little choice but for those businesses to continue to ensure a greater percentage of the population takes an increasing number of prescriptions. The average cost to get a new drug to market is in the Billions. And that explains a few things. One, the number of advertisements for all these drugs. Two, the alarming percentages of this nation on one or more drugs. Three, why the numbers are getting worse the further we go. Four, why drugs prices are out of control even though there are far more of them the further we go.

Well the only way what you say is a bad thing is if you think that the majority, or even a significant majority are taking drugs that they dont actually need, or that dont actually help them. Do you believe that?

 

[d0gbreath]

If someone told you that you work your whole life away like a 9-5 slave, would you find that mere existence depressing?

 

[Dittohead not!]

Americans take so many different drugs because we can. If you live in the third world you dont have a psychologist to prescribe you anti depressants or the money/insurance to purchase them. The reason drugs are getting the hard sell is because the way insurance works most people can get prescribed even if they might not otherwise need the medication. This isnt to say that a doctor is going to prescribe something dangerous just because, but someone who is feeling a little blue might convince a psychiatrist they are depressed and get prescribed antidepressants.

Obviously, people in third world countries can't afford the drugs we do.
Yes, people can get drugs paid for by insurance whether they actually need them or not.

As for us purchasing 50% of the drugs I would have to investigate that further but my belief would be that number reflects the fact that America is one of the few nations in the world that actually pays full price for drugs. It is a very complicated issue but it comes down to the fact that America pays alot for its drugs so that drug companies can afford to keep making new ones while the rest of the world pays a discount, and in some cases the companies are even mandated to give away a certain amount for free.

Now that makes a lot of sense. Were paying more than the rest of the world for the same drugs, so the companies are trying hard to sell their wares here in the US rather than in other nations that negotiate the prices.

As for women being on antidepressants in large percentages it relates back to what I described earlier, if she is feeling "unfulfilled" then she can probably get prescribed antidepressants.

As for pain killers there are likely a couple factors working there, first is that alot more people in America survive traumatic injury then in other countries because of our good medical care (though thats changing),

I find that one highly questionable.

so have more need of it, another is that there is an incentive for "narco" doctors who just prescribe pain meds to addicts,

No doubt that is a profitable enterprise for the doctors and the pharmaceutical industry, so it's not likely to change.

and third, its a drug, and americans have more disposable income so they are more capable of purchasing these drugs then those without.

We have more disposable income than people do in third world countries, to be sure. I'm not so sure the same is true in Europe, or in Canada, particularly since the governments there pick up most or all of the tab.

 

[OrphanSlug]

Well the only way what you say is a bad thing is if you think that the majority, or even a significant majority are taking drugs that they dont actually need, or that dont actually help them. Do you believe that?

It is something I think is deserving of consideration. It is not an all or nothing debate, just a realization that when we have 130 million Americans on one or more prescription drugs (roughly 1/3rd our population) *and* Americans buy more prescription drugs than any other country in the world (something like 12.7 drugs per capita as of 2014) we should be looking at reasons for it.

I would agree there are plenty of medications that have real positive implications for someone's life, but I find it difficult to accept that all 4.2 billion prescriptions handed out over 2014 were entirely necessary. How much of that is up for debate, but it is one we should be having.

So yes, I believe we have an issue which means we have no choice but to evaluate everything that speaks to the pharmaceutical industry and our nation's prescription drug use. It would be asinine to ignore these numbers.

 

[Dayton3]

Are you saying that drug companies are creating drugs that no one needs, but are convincing people they do?

Ever heard the saying "wants become needs"?

 

[Gaius46]

If someone told you that you work your whole life away like a 9-5 slave, would you find that mere existence depressing?

First world problems.

An 8 hour workday leaves plenty of time to do things that bring enjoyment and fulfillment to life. That is assuming you don't find any of that in your work.

 

[DaveFagan]

[h=1]30 Million Americans On Antidepressants And 21 Other Facts About America’s Endless Pharmaceutical Nightmare[/h]


and those are just the legal drugs, and don't include alcohol and tobacco.

Turn on the TV, and you don't watch long without seeing a commercial for one drug or another. Drugs are getting the hard sell.

Could there be the remotest possibility that this would be caused by the increase of opium production in Afghanistan, since the USA has been in charge, by forty times or more. From 200 tons per annum in 2001 to 11,000 tons this past year. It sounds like Big Pharma should invest in war, or perhaps they already do, to boost their products. If that sounds depressing then perhaps you begin to understand the demand for more anti-depressants, or not. I suspect that Obamacare pays for the majority of prescriptions. eh?

 

[Hard Truth]

Because we can get them. Secondly, because our lives tend to so different than we are built to handle. We are separated from nature, we are often isolated and separated from each other even though we are simultaneously frequently subjected to crowded situations, there are also the highly structured and stressful work places, lack of exercise, noise, pollution, long commutes and consumerism created a lot of stress.

 

[d0gbreath]

First world problems.

An 8 hour workday leaves plenty of time to do things that bring enjoyment and fulfillment to life. That is assuming you don't find any of that in your work.

You say that like "first world problems" are not real problems because they are happening in the first world. Surely you can see the folly within that approach.

 

[Gaius46]

You say that like "first world problems" are not real problems because they are happening in the first world. Surely you can see the folly within that approach.

They aren't real problems because they aren't real problems. Assuming you have enough to live on working 8 hours a day is a luxury compared to much of the rest of the world and compared to our own ancestors. Lots of people in the world would kill to have that problem.

Seriously you make your own happiness. You can find some level of satisfaction in even the suckiest job - even if it's just satisfaction in doing it well. And 8 hours of work leaves plenty of time to do stuff that you actually like.

 

[d0gbreath]

They aren't real problems because they aren't real problems. Assuming you have enough to live on working 8 hours a day is a luxury compared to much of the rest of the world and compared to our own ancestors.

Since we are not related, There is no such thing as "our ancestors".

My ancestors had plenty to live on and they still had problems. Stop grading on the world curve. Or, at least add in Dubai.

 

[Gaius46]

Since we are not related, There is no such thing as "our ancestors".

My ancestors had plenty to live on and they still had problems. Stop grading on the world curve. Or, at least add in Dubai.

We probably are related - 6 degrees of separation and all that.

Mine didn't have plenty to live on. My grandparents were dirt farmers in Sicily. My dad work 60 hour weeks to support a family of 6. The fact that I have a good middle class existence and only work about 45 hours a week, none of it physically demanding and half of it from the comfort of my home office, gives me exactly nothing to complain about.
Does it fulfill my life? Nope. It's interesting work but I only do it for the money. But like I said I have plenty of time for stuff that does.

For every Dubai there are 3 Somalias. The world is largely a poor place compared to us.

 

[Dittohead not!]

Could there be the remotest possibility that this would be caused by the increase of opium production in Afghanistan, since the USA has been in charge, by forty times or more. From 200 tons per annum in 2001 to 11,000 tons this past year. It sounds like Big Pharma should invest in war, or perhaps they already do, to boost their products. If that sounds depressing then perhaps you begin to understand the demand for more anti-depressants, or not. I suspect that Obamacare pays for the majority of prescriptions. eh?

I don't think Big Pharma is selling opium, or that "Obamacare" is paying for it, but it does make sense that soldiers who have been in Afganistan where opium is easy to obtain and where there is plenty of stress to be relieved may come back addicted.

There wasn't a lot of drug abuse, at least not illegal drug abuse, before the "military action" (not war) in Vietnam.

 

[JC Callender]

[h=1]30 Million Americans On Antidepressants And 21 Other Facts About America’s Endless Pharmaceutical Nightmare[/h]


and those are just the legal drugs, and don't include alcohol and tobacco.

Turn on the TV, and you don't watch long without seeing a commercial for one drug or another. Drugs are getting the hard sell.

We live in an instant gratification society. We often expect things to be better and easier than they really are. Our popular psychology tells us that just about anything painful or difficult is a disorder so we self medicate. And well, there's people ready to make big bucks off of these issues.

 

[DaveFagan]

I don't think Big Pharma is selling opium, or that "Obamacare" is paying for it, but it does make sense that soldiers who have been in Afganistan where opium is easy to obtain and where there is plenty of stress to be relieved may come back addicted.

There wasn't a lot of drug abuse, at least not illegal drug abuse, before the "military action" (not war) in Vietnam.

Oxycontin and Hydrocodone are both Opiates and are those overprescribed painkillers that are described as prescription painkillers. Where do you think the opium comes from?

 

[spud_meister]

Because it's easier to treat the symptoms than it is to treat the disease.

 

[Dittohead not!]

Oxycontin and Hydrocodone are both Opiates and are those overprescribed painkillers that are described as prescription painkillers. Where do you think the opium comes from?

Opium comes from poppies. Opium addiction often does come from addiction to hydrocodone and/or oxycontin.

 

[Gaius46]

Oxycontin and Hydrocodone are both Opiates and are those overprescribed painkillers that are described as prescription painkillers. Where do you think the opium comes from?

A friend who has cause to know calls Oxycontin "legal heroin." Lots of horror stories of people getting addicted to that stuff.

 

[DaveFagan]

A friend who has cause to know calls Oxycontin "legal heroin." Lots of horror stories of people getting addicted to that stuff.

Is it a coincidence that Opium production in Afghanistan, a USA protectorate at the very least, is at record levels and Opiates become the Big Pharma prescription painkiller saturating the USA. After all, "War is good business, and business is good." The USA is in Colombia and the cocaine business is good. The USA was in Nicaragua and the cocaine business was good. USA and the Phoenix Project were in the Golden Triangle (Vietnam, et al) and the opium business was good. USA was in Paname and the USA/Noreiga/CIA cocaine business was good. Lots of coincidences, eh?