The Dangers Lurking In Your Medicine Cabinet

When we hear talk of illegal drugs, we tend to associate them with danger and addiction. Prescription drugs, on the other hand, we often think of as being inherently safe and beneficial. They are prescribed by a doctor, after all.

So many people will be surprised to learn that more people died last year from overdosing on prescription drugs than they did from illegal ones – I know I was. On an average day in America 44 people die from overdosing on prescription medication, the majority of them painkillers. They account for nearly 500,000 emergency room visits every year.

Who’s Getting High on the Medicinal Supply

Over the last ten years or so the number of painkillers prescribed has quadrupled, while the amount of pain Americans have experienced has remained fairly constant. As a result, there is a much greater supply of drugs like Vicodin, OxyContin, and Methadone. The overprescribing of antidepressants like Prozac is also contributing to the problem.

Not surprisingly, much of this medication is going to people who aren’t in any pain at all, or who were at one time but have since become addicted. Teenagers take the pills from their father’s medicine cabinet or their grandmother’s house thinking that it’s a safer high than what they could get on the street. Adults start taking painkillers when they get hurt, without realizing how incredibly addictive they are. Before they know it, they have a problem.

12 million Americans take prescription medication recreationally, yet many doctors have continued to be liberal with their prescription pads. Some high-profile doctors like Dr. Conrad Murray, the man found guilty of negligent manslaughter in connection with the death of Michael Jackson, are emblematic of a much bigger problem.

Who’s Getting Paid and Who’s Getting Played

Of course, this prescription drug epidemic didn’t just happen overnight. Big Pharma played a major role in putting the right doctors in the right places to help loosen prescription guidelines. As a result, doctors have increasingly gone straight to narcotics when less powerful painkillers would have previously been prescribed.

Employers now pay out tens of thousands of dollars more when a worker gets hurt, due to prescriptions for Percocets and OxyContin. And when those prescriptions eventually run out, it’s people who pay. Many often turn to cheaper and more readily available street drugs like heroin.

Meanwhile, the makers of drugs like Vicodin and OxyContin have made a killing, raking in billions of revenue with insanely high profit margins. They’ve become drug dealers that are far more powerful and dangerous than your everyday street thugs.

Who’s Getting Better and Who’s Getting Worse

The problem with prescription medications is complicated, however, because they do some good for some people. Painkillers have gotten many people through some very painful times.

But we must be more aware of their dangers. They already kill more people than street drugs, and the problem is getting worse. Their reputation for being safe and beneficial needs to change.

People need to realize that their medicine cabinet is not as safe as they think, and can easily lead to addiction and death.

Sources:

http://theantimedia.org/big-pharma-kills-more-people-than-all-illegal-drugs/

http://www.cdc.gov/drugoverdose/epidemic/index.html

https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/wicked-deeds/201404/prescription-drugs-are-more-deadly-street-drugs

http://www.alternet.org/drugs/who-behind-opioid-epidemic-big-pharma-course

https://exopermaculture.files.wordpress.com/2014/08/medicine-cabinet.jpg