It seems as though lollipops are being replaced by “feel good” prescription medication at the doctor’s office these days. One simply says “I think I have anxiety” and the doctor starts listing out a range of drugs to choose from. Do you want Xanax? Klonopin? Ativan? The patient chooses, the doctor waves his magical pen over his magical paper, and—poof—your drugs are waiting for you at the local CVS in 20 minutes or fewer.
These benzodiazepines are helpful to those who truly need them but are being misused at an alarming rate—not to mention that they are highly addictive. I won’t be surprised if, in a few years, you will be able to catch these drugs being sold in a PEZ version at your local candy store.
From 1991 to 2010, prescription painkillers dispensed by retail pharmacies in the United States jumped from 76 million to 210 million according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse. It is easier than ever to obtain medication from a doctor, but we can’t blame the physicians. The only tests out there to pinpoint anxiety are small quizzes. People cheat all the time, so who’s to say that they don’t intentionally mislead their doctors? If a doctor really did want to extensively test each and every candidate through brain scans and fancy equipment, the insurance companies would go broke paying for it all. So, for the sake of money, I guess we have to just sit back and let it happen.
Of course many people do actually take such medication to maintain a stable mindset. According to the National Institute of Mental Health, about 40 million Americans 18 and older deal with some type of anxiety disorder in which medication is a necessity.
I have absolutely no problem with that. What bothers me is that these potentially dangerous prescription drugs are being thrown at people who will misuse them—and yet marijuana is still illegal.
According to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, the number of people admitted into the hospital for benzodiazepines nearly tripled between 1998 and 2008. SAMHSA’s Drug Abuse Warning Network reported 312,931 benzodiazepine-related emergency department visits in 2009. Marijuana caused 376,486 ED visits in 2009. Marijuana, an illegal drug, only caused 63,555 more ED visits than the legal benzodiazepines.
While the drugs each cause about the same number of hospital visits, their side effects vary immensely. When scrolling through Web MD, I couldn’t help but notice that Xanax has more than 40 possible side effects, including Steven-Johnson syndrome, low blood pressure, seizures, muscle spasms and liver problems. When I searched “marijuana” on the same site, I found 12 possible side effects including “magical or ‘random’ thinking,” “red eyes” and “increased appetite.”
It might just be me, but I would rather have a bunch of hungry, red-eyed, “magical” thinkers walking around instead of the medical messes of people that prescription drugs are creating.
Both of those drugs treat anxiety, yet our government is shoving the man-made chemical tablets down our throats, which lead to even more problems than marijuana.
CVS and Rite Aid have replaced shady trap houses and opium dens. It is easier to get drugs legally than illegally, but oftentimes the legal drugs are more dangerous and less helpful than the illegal ones.