Why Prescription Drugs Are like Nuclear Weapons: Secrecy, Protection, and Potential Catastrophe

As the healthcare debate rages on in the U.S., let's pause to discuss prescription drugs, the nuclear weapons of the medical industry. Our lives are better because of prescription drugs -- I don't deny that. But the improvements we experience from these products comes at a cost, and that cost can be best illustrated by making the more-natural-than-you-think comparison between prescription drugs and nuclear weapons:

Prescription Drugs and Nuclear Weapons Similarity #1: Secret technology. Like nuclear weapons, prescription drugs are developed under a cloud of secrecy. The U.S. developed its nuclear weapons technology beneath layers of confidentially and security. Today, Iran, North Korea, and others are similarly covert in their pursuit of this technology. Prescription drugs are developed in a similar atmosphere. Drug companies know that their profits depend on creating a revolutionary technology, patenting it, and bringing it to market before their competitors can imitate it. As a result, the whole process has become quite covert. It is no wonder that people are suspicious of drug companies when such companies necessarily act in secret.

Prescription Drugs and Nuclear Weapons Similarity #2: Designed to protect. Despite their awesome destructive power, nuclear weapons are designed to protect us through nuclear deterrence (i.e., if my country has nuclear weapons, your country won't dare attack us; therefore, we will be safer). Similarly, the primary purpose of prescription drugs is to protect people from illness and disease. When the process works, these drugs do, in fact, make people live longer and be healthier. As with nuclear weapons, though, there are risks to this process.

Prescription Drugs and Nuclear Weapons Similarity #3: Potential to cause catastrophic and wide-spread suffering. When prescription drugs go wrong, they go very wrong, and the same can be said for nuclear weapons. Although we have never had a full nuclear war (the bombings on Japan in World War II are the only war-time uses of nuclear weapons so far), we have had many deaths and a lot of suffering resulting from exposure to the nuclear manufacturing process; if we ever had a nuclear war, millions of people could die instantly. Prescription drugs hold a similar potential for destruction. Once a drug is released, millions of people start using it. If it turns out to have an unknown negative side effect, that side effect can be serious and can simultaneously affect millions.

Prescription drugs are a risky but necessary part of modern life, just like nuclear weapons. In both cases, I think the benefits outweigh the negatives, but I really wish we didn't have to put up with those negatives.