51% of America takes drugs

i would not take my chances with american drugs, they dont test them before they make them available to the public, instead they use american citezens as their lab rats while their pockets get fatter.

One way to make money sadly

I totally agree with riverdeer. Why doesn't the FDA mandate testing?

Talk about the opiate of the masses...

i saw a commercial for a medicine that is supposed to treat restless leg syndrome....first off you need medication because you cant handle your leg falling asleep every once in a while? and second, and very scary, the side effects listed were confusion and strong sexual and gambling urges. what the hell is the actual intended purpose for most of these new medications for all these new deseases?!? the mental side effects listed are horrible, what are the unlisted ones? people need to be more informed about the chemicals they put into their bodies and need to realize there is no such thing as a magic pill.

Take a pill, but the side effects may be harmful.
No problem.
Take another for the side effects, but there may be additional side effects.
No problem. Take that 3rd pill, but...

Humanpasta, you are totally right, they seem to have a drug for everything now.

There needs to be some type of regulation on drugs that is different from the one we got now.

and 49% lie about not taking drugs.

I like how more than half of all insured Americans equals 51% of America, when there are so many uninsured.

Its a shame how people rely on drugs to solve their problems. Just look at the energy drink craze thats exploding. There are drug free alternatives to solving your problems. I mean if exercise is twice as effective as Prozac why wouldn't you chose the option without side-effects.

druggs make the world go round and make every1 happy when down

And 49% lie...

people are lazy and want to feel good without working out and taking care of themselves... Pills don't always fix things, they cover them up.

Our medical system is completely based on giving patients chemicals for anything and everything. the system is a one trick pony. It is too bad that we rarely look at diet, excercise, vitamins, herbs, and other "alternative" ways of dealing with our health. Anything other than pharmaceuticals is just labeled as "alternative" with a negative stigma from many in the medical community.

it is goin to be extremely hard to convince the mass amounts of people in this country that pharmaceuticals in all actuality do more harm then good. there are natural remedies to many, many diseases out there but people are too lazy to find out about what will work for them. and they mostly wont believe it cause years and years of propaganda telling them them that drugs will help them (which brings me to another point, why are they even advertising persciption drugs?!?! it really pisses me off cause it makes people who have NO medical knowledge think that they know all about a certain drug and then they convince their doctors that they need it.)

I'm happy to be in the minority.

The FDA is useless. I don't trust anyone who says potentially carcinogenic preservatives and food additives are safe in certain amounts. But you eat one here, and two there and how much poison are we ingesting ASIDE from the drugs?

Now, on the reverse side of things, there are both positives and negatives with prescription drugs. I take an antidpressant and am a functional, productive member of society (instead of an anxiety ridden, anti-social hermit.) And this is after natural remedies ceased to work. There are a number of cancer and disease fighting drugs that truly help people. What we failing to do is utilize natural remedies in conjunction with our greater understanding of how the body works. It's just a constant drive for the next new pill, and that's where corporate greed is harming the people who believe the drug manufacturers have all the answers.

my moms been on soma for years. i still cant belive that plan on such a long term use. she gets spun out from them and i feel she will one day overdose.

definitely, kudos to that crystal_moon

One reason for all the drugging of our masses goes as follows. If one compares the amount of time this public spends watching TV and one notes how many ads for drugs are present on TV (including ads as news)and we add to that the lack of exersize that all our conveniences provide, it is no surprize that Joe and Jane Public are misguided by the massive 'pill' making industries. It used to be a regulation that TV would not advertise medications. It used to be that news was just that and not what it has become - infomercials and entertainment. That deregulation by by the FCC occured many many moons ago - to our information detriment. Now the pill-industries happily create pills for frequent bodily changes that are not deseases at all. RLS - restless leg syndrome being one of them. Another is IBS - irritable bowel syndrome. For the latter, ponder this. Who does not periodically have a case of either constipation or diareah? Very few humans, in deed. All it takes is a slight change in ones diet to promulgate one or the other physical response. If one eats healthy foods regularly and consistantly - they are regular. Otherwise no. Sweets constipate and contaminated foods promote diareah. The latter occurs commonly after eating at fast food places. So, basically Mr. and Mrs. J. Public are not only ill informed they are misinformed by the news and advertising agencies paid mightily by the pill-pushing industries.

Pfff, I only take drugs when someone forces me. Otherwise I just keep drinking apple juice until I magically heal myself.

I do find it amazing that there are claims here that the FDA does not mandate testing on pharmaceuticals. While it does not require tests for dietary supplements (such as the myriad of pills that fill up your spam folder), the FDA does require that pharmaceutical manufacturers prove their drug's are safe and effective before making them available to the US public. This actually causes a number of drugs that are available for sale in other countries to be unavailable in the states.

The problem most often lies in the resourcefulness of a productive scientist's ability make results agree with the stance needed to continue to draw in funding. A drug company after all is not so likely to continue funding a lab that is unable to give them the desired results, so research design can be altered in order to find more favorable while slightly less reliable results.

The red pills look like Mike & Ikes...