Give me Drugs!

I had an interesting class discussion in my JMC 661 class. I had to do a presentation on health in the media and the way messages are presented.

There are many ethical issues (at least I think so) because most pharmaceutical companies care about is the profit that they make. They design their ads to make people think they are depressed or that there body is under attack. We take the blame away from our lifestyles and blame a "disease." Whether there does a legit disease exist or not, the bottom line is that the ads are very deceiving. I know that advertising is a tool used to promote a product, but shouldn't there be standards and more regulations? I get that pharmaceutical companies and the ad industry aren't the only ones to blame, but they need to take caution and the first steps in framing disease differently. Majority of our society are using one or more prescription drugs. I just think that is healthy. But what can be done? Who is to blame? These are the questions that make this debate difficult because the lines of responsibility are blurry!

One point that I think is valid that alludes to how politics, wealth and power control most decisions is that the three main "sponsors" for a drug-free America were pharmaceutical, tabacco and oil industries. Now, the campaign for a drug-free America has lost pharmaceutical companies because prescription drugs are abused and have been abused more than drugs off the street. YET, the drug-free America campaign failed to campaign against that because they were threatened by pharmaceutcial financial help!!!! These three indsutries are very powerful and control a lot, a lot more than we think they do!! Something to think about?