If the big pharmas had their way, would every man, woman and child be on some sort of medication for something?

Yeah, money is money.

For sure. I feel thats why they try to push the flu shot so much. Hay, this applies to everyone! Come get this shot that will give you the very illness you are trying to avoid!

And when a person experiences some trauma in their lives, like the loss of a spouse, instead of letting them get through the natural course of emotions we feel like we have to drug those perfectly normal feelings out of them.

Yes @Dutchess_III I feel the same as you on this subject.

If my son were in school (even public school), he would not be accepted without being medicated. To me, that is utterly ridiculous.

And what a coincidence that I just found this.

Merck got pissed off because Brazil broke a patent that would allow them to make the same drug, only a generic version and for cheaper.

@Blackberry Wow.

@SpatzieLover Yes….if I had been of a mind to I could have gotten ALL my kids diagnosed with something or another. I think you gets lots of benefits when you have “kids with disabilities.” So do the schools.

I read this question out loud and got three loud YES.

I’m sure they would, but I don’t think that means we should suspect that people who are taking medication are getting duped or are faking it.

@nikipedia I don’t think many people suspect they are faking it but more getting duped in the sense that many times there is a more natural way to cure an illness or help with an issue, and doctors wont even present it as an option.

My ex in general had a bad immune system and was always getting sick, allergies, and also had acid reflux issues bad enough that he had been on average taking 4–5 acid reducers a day, every day, for the past 5 years. Feeling hopeless about his health, he went to a naturopath (holy fuck are they expensive, I completely understand why people do not go to them more often) and she advised him of some diet changes he could make…basically eating foods that were more alkaline or less alkaline (I forget which) based on the problems he had and whatnot. Within a month he no longer had to take acid reducers and that may not sound like a huge deal since it’s not a hardcore prescription drug, but seeing the transformation was SHOCKING to me, and encouraging at the same time. The point is that I feel like a lot of issues (and I’m only speculating, so please correct me if I’m off!) stem from people treating their bodies like shit and could be helped in much simpler ways than taking manufactured fake chemicals that we then become dependent on. Ugh.

@nikipedia No, not every one, but some. It’s the same thing with the cleaning industry. Their blitz has people worried about the DUMBEST things..the germs, dirt and stuff. All BS, smoke and mirrors in the name of making money.

@Dutchess_III Yeah, if people weren’t so freaked out by germs we’d all be a lot healthier.

@deni Agreed. And I’m guilty of it too (“could be helped in much simpler ways than taking manufactured fake chemicals that we then become dependent on. ”).
Oh, and I agree with what you said up there ^^^^^ too!

If they (the big pharmaceutical companies) could figure out how to actually do it – I think they most certainly would. They are, after all, not in the business of finding actual cures for diseases & medical conditions – there is no money to be made when a disease is cured. They are in the business of manufacturing treatments for medical conditions which they can sell for large amounts of money. It does not matter how many toxic side effects that their medications have, they are more than willing to sell it anyway. And if people start balking at the expense of the drugs, then they simply slow down production until the drugs are really scarce, & people are desperate, & then when resistance to the high price of the drugs begins to wane – they are happy to go back to full production. Big pharmaceutical companies are not in business to help us, they are in business to make money off of us & the more of us they can sell to – the better they like it.

Nice to see some like-minded people on this issue. I think everyone I know is on meds of one kind or another. It’s freaking me out (but not the point that I need to be medicated, lol). Does anyone remember when they could say “I’m so depressed about…x” without having to explain that it’s not something that requires medical attention?

Part of the problem is the people too. They don’t want to pay $30 for a Drs visit and hear “Give it a couple of days. It’ll go away by itself.” Which is the case, 90% of the time. I think.

I know @dappled_leaves. Nobody gets into a funk for a while any more. Nobody gets the blues. They all get DEPRESSED.

absolutely…Their mission.

we are a pop a pill nation. Now you can get boners, eyelashes with the help of a pill.
ADHD.

These new drugs has some crazy side effects and we can not play into this.

Oh, not you too…

Y’all say that as if it’s a bad thing.

Budweiser wants you drinking their beer. Kraft wants you to eat their mac and cheese. McDonalds wants you to buy their hamburgers. Coca Cola wants you to drink their soft drinks. Someone please explain the difference to me.

You’re going to get old (if you’re lucky) and things are going to start to fall apart. Some drugs can forestall or prevent some of that. Drug companies want to make the wonder drug that’s going to keep you alive longer (or better) and they want you or your insurance company to buy it and for you to use it.

And you probably will, when the time comes.

And you think they’re evil for that. Some of you people are nuts. Absolutely, certifiably nuts.

Big business does not care about you and I. They do not look at the people when they look forward to the future, they look at numbers and they hire marketing teams to look at numbers and then to apply those projections to subcultures of folks in the population. They actually refer to some of you as targets.

I’m not saying all drugs are bad @CWOTUS. I’m on blood pressure meds. I’m saying that it’s
bad when millions of dollars poured into ads to convince people that there is something wrong with them. One of the common ones now is the instant a person whose a little older gets a little forgetful they “diagnose” them with Alzheimer’s. Experimental Alzheimer’s drugs killed my mom. Expensive experimental Alzheimer’s drugs.

Think of this…WHY do we need commercials aimed at the population for prescription meds?? They tell us what the symptoms are then hope you’ll go tell you doctor that this is wrong with you because you have those symptoms and you want this medication you’ve seen on TV. It makes absolutely no sense.

@CWOTUS For OTC drugs, yeah. Advertise away. That is comparable to Big Macs and Bud Lite. Prescription drugs…no.

Part of the reason to advertise prescription meds (and who cares whether they’re prescription meds, burgers or cars, if they’re legal products?) is to get people with the vital interest in the meds (“the targets”, if you will) to educate their doctors. Many doctors are not as aware of advances in medicine as they ought to be. Don’t forget that 50% of all doctors finished in the bottom half of their class.

There is nothing wrong with this.

Tell it to @Rarebear @CWOTUS .

I’m not against medicine. I take high BP meds. Without, my pressure hits 200+. My husband was hit with deep vein thrombosis a few years ago. He’s on meds to control the clots.

I’m against convincing people that there is something wrong with them when there isn’t. I’m against mass hysteria and hypnosis which is what the Big Pharmas, and the “Sanitizing Industry” make their profit on.

@Dutchess_III, I think that is a totally valid concern. But it is also concerning that often (especially with mental illness), people don’t seek help because of the kind of mindset you’re describing.

Unethical big pharma, yes. But there are also some good people in big companies.

yes.

Unfortunately @mattbrowne , big pharmaceutical corporations are only in business to make money. They are not in the business of actually finding cures for medical conditions & diseases – curing diseases does not produce the income that “treatments” generate. And a lot of the drugs that are produced have so many side effects that it is a toss-up as to if the drug or the disease that may do you more harm. Between the big pharmaceutical corporations & the big insurance corporations they generated enough Lobby Money several years ago to get Congress to drop the ban against drug ads running on tv. Have you ever actually listened to these ads? They say things like “fatalities have been reported but it has not been proven that ‘the drug’ was the cause”, & they warn against liver damage, & kidney damage, & they even warn against TB & suicide. One has to wonder how much money it took to get Congress to end the ban against drug ads on tv & who stood to gain the most money from these ads being able to be on tv.

@Linda_Owl – I disagree with the word “only”.

I don’t @mattbrowne. Obviously they have to have a product that works to make their money. If they thought they could get away with $50/sugar pills they would.

I’m careful when it comes to conspiracy theories.

Well, but I’ve lived that particular nightmare, @mattbrowne, via my mother.

I’m sorry to hear that, but I still don’t believe all companies are unethical and all employees of a company are unethical. One problem is shareholder greed pressuring CEOs for short term gains.

But chances are, the people in CHARGE are unethical, which trickles down to employees who aren’t…or don’t want to be. They can be forced into doing things they don’t want to do or lose their jobs. If they choose to walk, they hire people who WILL do what they’re told. There are very few high level CEO’s who aren’t in it strictly for the money, by whatever means necessary. The ruthless tend to make the money.

I think Bill Gates might be one of the good ones because I don’t know that his original intention was to make money, period. He was a kid. A dreamer. His dream happened to make him fabulously rich.