Capitalist Pills

*sigh*… where to start.  Our country already has quite a few problems, but then again, when hasn’t a generation been capable of finding flaws in our status quo?  One of our generation’s issues is our current health care/pharmaceutical industry feeling obligated to harass our wallets and bank accounts.  Doctors over-prescribe to avoid malpractice, health insurance rates are steadily increasing, and pharmaceutical companies are charging even more for medications.  I understand that we are a capitalist society, and I’m fine with that, but when it comes to overcharging on drugs because a customer has no choice but to buy them… that’s economy encroaching on human decency and human life.

Also, the whole deal with pharmaceutical companies receiving temporary patents on drugs: I loathe the idea.  I’m glad that it is temporary, I’ll grant it that, but its a clear sign that if their rights to the drug’s monopoly were anything but time-restricted, the company would spend the rest of its years scalping the medicine at top dollar.  Here’s a better idea, possibly an even more economical and profitable idea: instead of a company receiving a patent on the drug, they receive a “finder’s royalty”.  For the remainder of the drugs use and manufacture, the company who discovered the drug gets to be the acknowledged finders of the substance, but any company can manufacture the drug while paying a royalty percent to the drug’s finders.  This way, drugs will be able to immediately drop to “generic” prices and discovering company still comes out on top.  Imagine if Tylenol and Ibuprofen were still making royalties for a company…

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One of my hobbies is watching prescription drug commercials.  Whenever I have friends with me, we each try to guess some of the outlandish side effects that a drug may cause.  Who would have thought that anti-depressants can cause dementia and that even handling prostate medicine can cause birth defects?  There’s a greater number of adverse reactions to substances than I had initially thought there would be, which begs the question, do the users of these drugs know about the risks?  When you watch the commercials, most of the time you have to listen to the rushed and quited voice list off the maladies the drug can bring while not being distracted by the visuals it accompanies.  When you pick up your drug prescription, the most you ever see on the bottle is “May cause drowsiness” or “Don’t take with alcohol” and “Take with food or milk”.  Some stores give you a print-out on the drug which includes the possible adverse effects, but I’d venture to guess that most would just shrug it off as filler paper.

So I guess what I’m looking to say is… in general, the average prescription drug user is uninformed of the dangers of their medicine.  To prescribe someone a medicine without them fully understanding its dangers is like handing someone a loaded gun without a user’s manual and telling them it’ll cure their ailments.  Doctors should elaborate on the dangers of drug misuse or side effects.  Patients should actually care.  Problem with that is motivation and education.  Not everybody understands basic anatomy and biology, but they do understand blunt warnings.  “Misuse may cause death” and “If drug accompanies a fever, seek emergency medical treatment” are more likely to catch attention than “Don’t take with alcohol” and other sugar-coated warnings.  Patients should receive a firm warning from the prescribing doctor on the drug’s danger, then sign a consent form acknowledging that they understand the drug’s risks.  When the prescription is filled, the patient should be given a handout with specific medical dangers, in simple layman’s terms.

We can’t defeat ignorance, but we can hopefully curb it some.

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Then we have the ignorance of the companies making the drugs, and of the organizations who are tasked with approving them…  Drug recalls are a scary thing, especially if you or someone you know have been prescribed it.  In all fairness, I don’t think there’s much more we can do about the drug recall issues.  Some drugs have effects which only emerge from human usage of the substance and only after enough time.  Lab rats can only show us so much.  Lets not forget that lab rats don’t eat McDonald’s and drink beer as part of their lifestyle.  Humans have a lot more to factor in, biologically at least.  Drug recalls are unfortunate, but they’re few and far enough between that demanding any better a result would be grossly inefficient.

However, when it comes to drug abuse, I think companies should hold themselves more accountable.  While its inevitable that a drug with misuse potential will be misused, there’s still things companies can do to make sure they don’t perpetuate it.  1) Tighter control on prescription drugs at the pharmacy level.  I couldn’t tell you how many times I look at a doctor’s prescription and imagine “Gee, if someone wanted to, they could photocopy this and pick up this prescription multiple times at different places”.  Seeing as the street value of drugs is always greater than its in-store value, it wouldn’t be surprising if this happens quite a bit already.  2)  Take active measures within the drug to prevent misuse.  I’ve heard of companies putting capsaicin (the chemical responsible for spiciness) inside of time-release painkillers.  When swallowed whole, there is no noticeable effect.  When a drug abuser attempts to grind the pill (to get around the time-release aspect to achieve a “rush”) or snort the pill, they’re in for a nasty surprise.  Sure, they could get a “cleaner” version of the drug elsewhere, but at least the manufacturing company wont be seen as “the company who makes the drug that everybody is misusing”.

Sadly, I don’t think there’s much more we can do about drug misuse.  Its cheap and easy to mooch a few of a person’s prescription drugs, so much so that it would take draconian measures to actually prevent it from happening.  Instead, as with the solution to most problems, only education and motivation will alleviate the situation.

Breathe Deeply

Its strange, I’ve always had this predisposition to consider “sniffers” as a tad more pathetic or dumb than normal drug users.  Maybe its because they get high using household chemicals (which seems a bit of a desperate act to get high, if anything, a childish act) and maybe its because to my understanding, inhalants are more likely to cause long term brain damage.  My stereotype of inhalant users are people sniffing things out of tubes, balloons, bags, and spray cans.  I know its wrong to stereotype, I’m sure there’s exception cases, but for some reason, that’s how I’ve always pictured them.

Inhalants, as defined by National Institute of Health are “Any drug administered by breathing in its vapors.”  This can be anything from nitrous oxide used to calm dentistry patients to breathing pressurized air freshener’s to get high.  The inhalant itself doesn’t always have to be pure.  Sometimes its the result of exposure of a product to air, such as super glue, gasoline, or spray paint.  As long as it comes in a vapor form and has psychoactive effects, it can be classified as an inhalant.

With all drugs though, the type, concentration, and purity of a substance matters.  Same goes with inhalants.  It goes without saying, some are more dangerous – physically and mentally – than others.  The most common and dangerous effect of using inhalants is oxygen deprivation.  Because most of the propellant products don’t come packaged with oxygen, inhaling too many vapors for too long can cause one to black out and possibly suffer brain damage.  I’ve personally read accounts of people huffing from bags and balloons, and once they black out, they end up choking on said bags.  Furthermore, head trauma from falling isn’t very enjoyable either.  Some of the more dangerous inhalants include butane, acetone, benzene, hexane, and toluene.  Amongst these substances, negative effects can include: irregular heartbeat, damage of mucous membranes, cancer, leukemia, nerve damage, muscle atrophy, short term memory loss, hearing loss, and central nervous system deterioration.

Despite all of this, inhalant use is still popular.  Why?  Probably becuase its 1) cheap, 2) safe (not in terms of health, but difficult to be arrested for), and 3) easy to attain.

I have personally been under the effects of nitrous oxide for medicinal and for recreational purposes.  Like most cases of people using NO2, my friends and I picked up a few “whippits” from a local store along with a “cracker” to open the whippits with.  I have to say, although the experience included enjoyable effects from the nitrous, I’m not going to do it again.  After initial inhalation, I was hit with a rush.  This rush was also accompanied by very severe tunnel vision, nearly blacking out, and disorientation.  On a side note, I’m not sure if the full body tingling I experienced was from oxygen deprivation or from the nitrous, but either way, it still felt strange (imagine the sensation of a “sleepy” limb regaining sensation).  After this barrage of effects, I chuckled uncontrollably for about a minute, than began to calm down.  I didn’t have any long lasting effects (save a mild buzzing headache), and overall, the experience lasted maybe 3-5 minutes.  Next up was my friend, who despite our urging to do otherwise, decided to inhale a whippit while standing up.  Not too sure what he felt, but it involved him blacking out for a few seconds.  When he came to, he was pretty disoriented (standard for regaining consciousness) but reported having a short and abrupt dream involving a video game.  After him blacking out, we decided to give up.  All in all, the hassle considerably outweighs the effects and I’ve since thrown away the remaining whippits.

I’m not too keen to try things a second time that nearly cause me to black out, especially if it was unpleasant.

-M.