Toxic cocktails

Enough is enough. Drug culture has gone mad in this country. Pills for this. Pills for that. Every segment of the population is being inundated with advertisements for medications

that will fix anything that you can imagine. Joint pain. Back pain. Colds. Restless leg syndrome. We are constantly being told that we need fixing, and the only way to do this is with pills. Is it any wonder that people are dying left and right from overdoses of prescription pills?

We need to think about what ails us and seek out alternative options. Instead of taking diet pills, try modifying your diet and working out. If you cannot sleep, try modifying your diet and behavior before going directly to the doctor for sleeping pills. Some pain is chronic and needs medicating; some folks are morbidly obese and need additional help. I am not talking about them. I am talking about our society’s reliance on prescription drugs to fix everything, before we have tried to fix them ourselves without medication. Our willingness to take pills without pause coupled with the constant rotation of prescription drug advertisements and doctors who push these drugs is a toxic cocktail that can only have negative consequences and results.

This article appears in Feb 6-12, 2008.