Over-Medication? View on Over-medicating "America"

Essay by DolceGatinaUniversity, Bachelor'sC+, May 2004

download word file, 2 pages 0.0

America is dependent upon medicine for the cure of an illness, to prevent an illness and to solve other issues, which the medicine might not be intended for. Many people start their day and end their night with some type of medication; whether it is a painkiller, a vitamin, or a cough drop. Do people know that instead of reaching for a cough drop they can boil some water with fresh ginger and honey, to alleviate their cough while soothing their throat naturally? People are more accustomed to quick fix's, which can come unnaturally and with side effects. In some cases, people reach for strong medicines such as Ibuprofen for something as little as a paper cut. As Norman Cousins points out:

The king of all painkillers, of course, is aspirin. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration permits aspirin to be sold without prescription, but the drug, contrary to popular belief, can be dangerous and, in sustained dose, potentially lethal.

Aspirin is self administered by more people than any other drug in the world. Some people are aspirin-poppers, taking ten or more a day. What they don't know is that the smallest does can cause internal bleeding.

People are abusing medication to get quick fixes, alter their mental state, and to solve issues which medicine might not be intended for. In a statement by John P. Walters, from the article Crackdown on Prescription Abuse, it states, "The non-medical use of prescription drugs has become an increasingly widespread and serious problem in the country."

People are not doing a very good job for the continuing generation. People in the public eye such as Ozzy Osborne, has admitted to having an addiction and a problem with medicine, specifically painkillers. He's grown so dependent upon the medicine, I'm sure he's forgotten why...