Have prescription medications become a problem in our country?
In today 's society health, and well-being is important issues. The response to this concern about health and well-being has resulted in an epidemic surrounding prescription drug abuse. The role of prescription drugs are meant to help people and make them healthier in various ways, however, the lack of foresight has caused these prescriptions to become hazardous to society. Are prescription drugs being overprescribed and over commercialized?
The results of over-prescription and commercialization of drugs have caused death, addiction, dependence, health complications, and reduced medical care. With this information it I believe that prescription drugs are being overprescribed. Let …show more content…
If we go back to opioid over prescription and use, we can see a high number of fatalities due to opioid overdose. According to the CDC “In 2014 there were more than 14,000 deaths involving this more limited category of prescription opioids” (CDC) This statistic shows that over prescription of certain medications can cause an increase of deaths. Another detrimental effect of over prescription of medications can also be seen with antibiotics. Antibiotic resistance can occur when antibiotics are prescribed too often. For example, the common cold is sometimes treated with antibiotics to get better much quicker than just waiting it out. This overuse of antibiotics can cause bad bacteria to be resistant to medication leading them to be useless. According to the CDC “At least 30 percent of antibiotics prescribed in the United States are unnecessary.”(CDC) The number of unnecessary prescriptions is a risky proposition because the use of these drugs for the common cold can lead to super viruses. A deadly reason over prescription of antibiotics is bad 23,000 people in the US die from antibiotic-resistant infections. According to the (CDC) 250,000 people in the US are hospitalized from a strain of bacteria known to be resistant in overuse of antibiotics. Is the overprescription helping people or only making it …show more content…
This is a tough question to answer. If more regulations are placed on the prescription drugs who does it effect? Will it cause greater harm to the patients? Who should be in charge of making these policies? How will the policies be enforced? How will it affect the economy? These are all questions to consider when talking about regulation on prescription drugs. One of the solutions to this problem was implemented with the Affordable Care Act, requiring doctors and hospitals to show their financial relations with pharmaceutical industry to reduce conflicts of interest. More regulations like this could be imposed to break bonds between big pharma and doctors. On the levels of doctors and health care. Work can be done to get a greater non objective diagnosis based off blood tests which show exactly what is or is not happening biochemically as well as being paired with the common standards to get the greatest outcome for the patient. I recently discovered that lower levels of an endogenous compound are shown to be lower levels in ADHD patients. This compound can be used as a biomarker to accurately diagnose people with
In today 's society health, and well-being is important issues. The response to this concern about health and well-being has resulted in an epidemic surrounding prescription drug abuse. The role of prescription drugs are meant to help people and make them healthier in various ways, however, the lack of foresight has caused these prescriptions to become hazardous to society. Are prescription drugs being overprescribed and over commercialized?
The results of over-prescription and commercialization of drugs have caused death, addiction, dependence, health complications, and reduced medical care. With this information it I believe that prescription drugs are being overprescribed. Let …show more content…
If we go back to opioid over prescription and use, we can see a high number of fatalities due to opioid overdose. According to the CDC “In 2014 there were more than 14,000 deaths involving this more limited category of prescription opioids” (CDC) This statistic shows that over prescription of certain medications can cause an increase of deaths. Another detrimental effect of over prescription of medications can also be seen with antibiotics. Antibiotic resistance can occur when antibiotics are prescribed too often. For example, the common cold is sometimes treated with antibiotics to get better much quicker than just waiting it out. This overuse of antibiotics can cause bad bacteria to be resistant to medication leading them to be useless. According to the CDC “At least 30 percent of antibiotics prescribed in the United States are unnecessary.”(CDC) The number of unnecessary prescriptions is a risky proposition because the use of these drugs for the common cold can lead to super viruses. A deadly reason over prescription of antibiotics is bad 23,000 people in the US die from antibiotic-resistant infections. According to the (CDC) 250,000 people in the US are hospitalized from a strain of bacteria known to be resistant in overuse of antibiotics. Is the overprescription helping people or only making it …show more content…
This is a tough question to answer. If more regulations are placed on the prescription drugs who does it effect? Will it cause greater harm to the patients? Who should be in charge of making these policies? How will the policies be enforced? How will it affect the economy? These are all questions to consider when talking about regulation on prescription drugs. One of the solutions to this problem was implemented with the Affordable Care Act, requiring doctors and hospitals to show their financial relations with pharmaceutical industry to reduce conflicts of interest. More regulations like this could be imposed to break bonds between big pharma and doctors. On the levels of doctors and health care. Work can be done to get a greater non objective diagnosis based off blood tests which show exactly what is or is not happening biochemically as well as being paired with the common standards to get the greatest outcome for the patient. I recently discovered that lower levels of an endogenous compound are shown to be lower levels in ADHD patients. This compound can be used as a biomarker to accurately diagnose people with