Drug Mania

Did you know that America spent $270 BILLION on prescription drugs in 2006? Sales of antidepressants alone were $13.5 BILLION. The frontpage of the WALL STREET JOURNAL (Friday, July 13th) features "Pill Push - Industry Fights Switch To Generics for Epilepsy" explaining how the drug companies want even more, or at least not to lose what they've got. It seems four major brands of antidepressants will probably lose their patent protection by the end of 2010 so the drug industry is spending to lobby every state legislature to get laws passed restricting the move to generics. They're delighted they can get bills passed in as little as 90 days at the state level when it can take years to accomplish anything at the federal level.

Fortunately in the same issue there is a great story about the trend away from prescription drugs called "The Unmedicated Mind." It seems people are choosing to go to naturopaths and use more traditional, holistic therapies instead of popping pills with very positive results.

THANK YOU WALL STREET JOURNAL for the best reporting in America, especially on the world of complementary and alternative therapies. It's great to see that drug industry money hasn't tainted all of the media today.