Pharmacuticals/free market/rant

[fabsroman]

I completely agree that the pharmaceutical companies have a very strong lobby. However, I have debated this matter with my wife, a pharmacist, and one of her points is that there is a lack of control over prescriptions filled in Canada. Just to practice in Maryland, my wife had to pass a Maryland pharmacy law exam. She had to do the same thing for Virginia.

This post is kind of ironic. We want our drugs to be as cheap as possible, so we are willing to out source them to have the prescriptions filled. I bet you are even willing to have their manufacture out sourced too. Then, we have people like me complaining on this board how many American jobs are lost to over seas. THIS IS THE REASON.

We wanted cheaper cars, jeans, radios, clothes, so they are made over seas. Then, we wonder where the jobs are going.

By the way, I think this is a catch 22. I honestly think the drug companies are pushing the envelope with profits, just like the gas companies. However, if the drug companies invent something that prolongs your life by 20 years, how much do you think they should be able to make on it? What is your life worth. What do the additional profits allow the drug companies to do as far as research and development are concerned?

Yep, the drug companies paid $19 Billion in advertising in 2005, and I have a serious issue with that. People will argue that it makes the public aware of the drugs out there so they can ask their doctors about it when they visit. However, I look at it the other way. People should visit their doctor because they have a problem, and the doctor should recommend the drug. Of course, my wife says that doctors barely even know what drugs are out there, which is probably true with all the stuff I see on TV and hear about from my wife, her parents, and her friends.

What I find really amazing is how many people are on prescription drugs. My in-laws are visiting and they have a drug cocktail every night. They are only 60 and 55. I have seen their drug bag and it looks like a pharmacy. On the other hand, my parents are 65 and 64, and they despise taking drugs. My mom had high blood pressure and high cholesterol a couple of years ago, and the doctor prescribed drugs for her. However, she decided to try exercising on a regular basis and eating right, and everything is fine now and she didn't need to take the drugs. We (i.e., Americans) like a quick fix. We don't like to cook so we eat McDonald's. We don't like to exercise and eat health, so we take drugs.

If you have read about or heard about the pharmaceutical bill that was recently passed in Congress, and the manner in which it was passed, you would be sick to your stomach. Of course, the liberal media was doing the reporting, so who knows what is true.