by Zach Bigalke

Created on: January 02, 2008

The growth of multinational pharmaceutical giants has occurred over the past several decades... DESPITE failing to find real cures for a majority of relevant illnesses. Cancer is still as prevalent as ever, and despite greater chances for remission there is no fail-safe cure for any form of cancer. Diabetes can be managed; it cannot be eliminated. HIV/AIDS can now be treated, giving people a new lease on life after testing positive... but, again, that person will ALWAYS be HIV-positive, regardless of the pharmaceutical cocktail in their systems...

So how have these drug companies become so expansive and powerful? Simple... they are pandering to the lowest common denominator. Flip through the channels on your television. You are bound to see some commercial - whether Viagra, Levitra, Enzyte, Cialis, or some other pill - which promises to eliminate erectile dysfunction. We as a society are more focused on maintaining erections in old age than we are about maintaining overall health in our old age...

Thus, should pharmaceutical companies develop a "stay-faithful" pill intended to reduce sexual desires? Of course not... but the reality is that enough people would buy a pill of this nature to make it financially feasible. Whether for ADHD or for depression or for any other myriad ailments real or imagined, Americans have in force turned toward the medicine cabinet to find the solutions to a litany of physical, mental and emotional problems. Paxil and Prozac and other antidepressants are pumped into our citizens old and young in an effort to stave off any feelings which might be less than palatable. Doctors prescribe painkillers like Vicodin and Percocet and Demerol at alarming rates. We as a nation are becoming overly dependent on gel-capped solutions for our problems.

Yes, infidelity is a problem. With the divorce rate ever rising and the incidences of single parents growing, it would seem wise to find a way to curb sexual urges when away from a partner. But what ever happened to old-fashioned reserve? When I am away from my wife, there are often moments where someone or something will spark an arousal... but I, like every other human being, is not required to act immediately on any and all sexual desires. There is such a thing as restraint and abstinence. If we can come to expect and demand it from our youth, perhaps the time has come for adults to lead by example...

Creating a ready-made disengorger would make things easier for people without strong convictions of sexual morality. But it would be a hollow victory. If a person knows that their spouse is only refraining from extramarital affairs because he or she is doped up, then what has really changed in the spouse's mindset other than the chemical composition?

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