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Blaming Big Pharma now for Drug Addiction?

Apparently we have forgotten our outrage at Big Pharma's behavior during the eighties and nineties, when aggressive and even sleazy marketing tactics were directed at the prescriber of their product. Sales reps were well known to dangle free pens and sticky notes, and the occasional tape dispenser, but some would offer such carrots as expensive meals, concert tickets, and even mini-vacations to those physicians who had the potential to prescribe a drug or device. One older physician, who declined to let me identify him for this article, admitted that a rep had taken him to a topless bar - all at the company's expense (probably to study implants). Reps were given huge "discretionary" funds, that they could use for such things.

Eventually the public decided that this was a conflict of interest. How could we be sure that a physician who had been offered such incentives was really acting in our best interests?

So, Big Pharma turned on the big lobbying machine, and legalized their next target...you.

A commercial is simply a marketing tool designed solely to convince the viewer to buy the featured product. If this invokes an emotional response, such as the desire to live a better lifestyle or have more sex, or even fear of a bad outcome, then all the better! Consumers buy with their emotions anyway. If we are addicted to anything, it's ourselves.

So, after viewing the video clips of the retirees in some vacation paradise, we follow the last line of the commercial, "Ask your doctor if Drug Z is right for you."

In this age of the Internet, patients increasingly present to the office having self-diagnosed, and are simply looking for confirmation and a rubber stamp of approval on the drug they have already decided is the best one. They are often armed with printouts from various websites, some not so reputable. It is then the job of the physician to convince them of his own more educated opinion.

Since he is already triple booked today, and there is a good chance that the more expensive Angiotensin Receptor Blocker will control your blood pressure every bit as well as the older, cheaper Calcium Channel Blocker that you have taken for years, he signs on the dotted line to keep you happy. Make another appointment to come back in a month and he will see how you are doing.

There is nothing wrong with information. Do your research - just try to keep an open mind. It is too easy to be led down the path of the symptoms of some obscure disease that you might not even have. You may even be causing yourself undue stress (Don't worry, there's a pill for that)

In the end, you and your doctor should make an informed decision based on your condition and the products available, not the advertising.

Warning: Readers of this article may experience dizziness or upset stomach.

Learn more about this author, Yancy Caruthers.
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