by Jennifer Paige

Created on: October 20, 2007

If diet pills should be banned, so should pills that help people break other addictions (e.g. smoking). Diet pills, when used appropriately, can be the one factor that determines success. The reason for this is that without diet pills, many people would not be able to even start a diet. The diet pills help them get started by reducing the urge to eat. Often, after they get going with the diet they can continue on their own.

All pills have potential dangers and side effects. Many other drugs can be addicting. We are not banning those drugs, so why are so many people against diet pills? I believe it stems from the Phen-Fen scare, which was highly correlated with misuse of the drug. We heard over and over again on the news how dangerous the diet pills were, but we didn't hear that many, many people who were taking the drugs should not have been taking them because they were either a) not heavy enough to merit taking it or b) not healthy enough to be taking it. Prescriptions were being handed out like candy to many people that did not need them or shouldn't have been taking stimulants. It is not surprising that some people were damaged by the drugs. On the other hand, I have personally known people that took the drugs, were highly successful, and never had any ill effects.

Diet pills are not intended for long term use or as a cure-all. Anyone that believes that diet pills are a replacement for eating right or exercise should not be taking them. I say this because the person will gain the weight right back when they stop taking the pills if they don't learn how to eat healthy and exercise. For those persons who do make significant changes to their lifestyles, diet pills can help them through this learning and adaptation process. Anyone who has tried to give up a bad habit can tell you, it is extremely difficult both physically and emotionally. Diet pills can help a person through this until the bad habits and problematic behaviors are eliminated or transformed into behaviors that contribute to better health.

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