Big Pharmaceutical Companies Want You to Take Drugs for the Rest of Your Life

When was the last time that they announced a new drug that actually CURED an illness? It doesn't seem like there has been such an announcement in a long time. In the past, researchers tried to make drugs that cured or prevented disease. Take antibiotics and polio vaccine, for example.

Now it's no longer a dedicated doctor working diligently in his laboratory for the good of mankind. Instead big pharmaceutical now spends billions a year to invent drugs that you will have to take for the rest of your life.

They even invent diseases so they can sell you drugs to treat them. In the past, if you got heartburn, you took some bicarbonate of soda or a Tums and went on about your business. Now there are about a dozen products on the market like Pepcid that you have to take every day.

Don't get me wrong, there is a lot of drugs out there that save lives, but there is also a lot wrong with the system. Big pharma builds additions to medical schools and pays doctors perks if they will use their products, everything from free trips for "educational" seminars to free lunches.

Sit in your doctor's office any day of the week and you'll see smartly dressed men and women come in with briefcase in hand. They are ushered back to the doctor's office immediately no matter how busy it is. These are the pharmaceutical reps. with their bags full of goodies. Today it's not about curing disease, it's all about making money instead.

According to Medical News Today, people are taking more drugs today than ever before. "The number of people in the USA who took one prescription medication in a one month period rose 10% during the decade up to the end of 2008. Americans spent US234.1 billion on prescription medications in 2008, more than double the figure in 1999, according to a report published by the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)."

The use of at least five medications by a single person has increased 70% over the same period. It's even worse for seniors who often get their prescriptions confused which often leads to trouble. 20% of all children use at least one prescription drug while for seniors the number rises to 90%.

There are several types of drugs that are most commonly prescribed for different age groups. For children it's stimulant drugs for Attention Deficit Syndrome (another disease that probably doesn't exist. Children are hyperactive. That's what they do.) For middle- aged adults it's antidepressants and most doctors think that the cholesterol and blood pressure medications should be put in the drinking water.

Source: http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/200005.php