There's no question in my mind that any industry that spends as much on advertising as drug companies wants everyone using their products. We have drugs for everything - and everyone. And as American medicine cabinets fill with drugs to solve life's ills, the number of people suffering from prescription drug-related ills who are in drug detox centers, rehab programs, hospital ERs and morgues continues to climb.
If you're in pain you go to your doctor and get painkillers - many of them not much different or less addictive than the heroin being shot up in the street. If you're sad, there's a pill. If you can't sleep, there's a pill. If you're overweight, there's a pill. If you feel inferior, there's a pill. If you're congested, there's a pill. If you're nervous, there's a pill. If your kid doesn't like school, there's a pill.
So, you take them. No one ever suspects they'll become one of the drug detox, drug rehab, hospital ER or morgue statistics. But how do you know it won't happen? And how do you know that once you start depending on drugs, or force them onto your kid, you're not going to set a precedent that keeps you, or them, forever dependent on one drug or another?
It's true, some of the pills are necessary. And it's true, not everyone who takes them is going to end up in drug detox, drug rehab, the hospital or the morgue. But shouldn't whether a person needs drugs be decided by a doctor instead of a drug company?
Many doctors are pressured into giving their patients drugs because the patients have seen the ads on TV: Households of grumbling, abusive parents and rebellious kids suddenly turning into something out of a Norman Rockwell painting or Father Knows Best episode where the worst thing that ever happens is a kid gets a talking to by his dad for not snitching on his friend when he tried smoking a cigarette.
Okay, it's never going to be like that again. I understand that. But are drugs really the answer for everything? Do we have really have to risk lives to make life better?
Have we forgotten the few simple basics that may keep us out of drug detox, rehab, ERs and morgues? Have we forgotten that exercise and a good diet can prevent and reverse weight gain? That kids some times don't do well in school because their teacher sucks or because there's some aspect of math that they just haven't grasped, or because they're getting bullied, or because their parents are fighting all the time, or because school just isn't teaching them something they're really interested in?
Have we forgotten that being sad can sometimes be resolved by making changes in our lives so we're not plagued with things and people that make us miserable? Or that problems with our kids or spouse can sometimes be resolved by sitting down and talking things out like rational human beings who actually care for each other?
Yeah, okay, it's more complicated than that, you say. But you know what? I would bet that a pretty high percentage of people taking drugs for one thing or another haven't actually tried those other solutions. Is it going to take drug detox, drug rehab or a visit to the ER to convince people that it might be a good idea to try an alternative to drugs?
With a little effort, a little research, a little soul-searching, a little integrity, a little gumption and a little love we can actually resolve many of life's problems.
If you're depending on drugs to solve your problems, and the drugs you take aren't keeping you alive, get into a medically-supervised drug detox center to see if you can get off them. Then turn off the TV so you're not watching those ads and get busy fixing your life.