Maher goes scattershot on this subject, and I don’t think his arguments are fully crystallized.
I tend to agree that Big Pharma comes up with drug/disease marketing campaigns and I think he should stay in this area. And, that goes way beyond “restless leg” commercials. I’m talking about FDA influence, buried studies about harmful side-effects, buried studies about lack of effectiveness. I’m talking about new information like the efficacy of cholestoral lowering, and the effects that would have on lipitor sales.
He also has validity when he argues that misuse of legal drugs is just as bad as misuse of illegal drugs – even though it is the misuse of illegal drugs which is the typical stated reason that they’re illegal (makes you drive your car funny, gives you a heart attack, etc.). I know that sounds like a big “duh”, but a lot of people just agree that one is bad and one is good because we’ve deemed them “legal” and “illegal”.
But, like I said, his arguments haven’t crystallized, and he just starts throwing everything into his arguments. . .poisons and toxins and swamps and superbacteria and meat-eating.
His problem is that he doesn’t distinguish between the crazy stuff and the good stuff. So, people “pit” him, and it’s fun to pile on, but his good points get tossed out with his bad points, and that’s his own doing.
His guests had no idea what he was talking about last week. One of them even said at some point, “this is getting weird” or something like that.
I am a Bill Maher fan. Oh well, he is a fanatic on some issues. His PETA affiliation turned me off, but I believe he is more of an environmentalist than an animal rights champion, so I forgive him. There has been increased public awareness about over prescribing antibiotics. He is critical of agricultural methods that use chemicals, hormones, and other drugs that he considers toxins. Bill Maher does wander into the eccentric with his extremes, but we all have idiosyncrasies. The unofficial endorsement of John Edwards places Maher far more lefty than righty.
One thing Maher doesn’t mention is that a fair amount of blame for the overuse of antibiotics lies at the feet of many countries in which it is possible to buy antibiotics over the counter. As a result, people take them for everything.
Yeah, profits sure are my first concern, considering that cancer drugs saved my father’s life. And goodness knows if my grandmother would have lived to be 88 years old without her diabetes pills. And then there’s the time my daughter had a bad infection and it went away in 3 days with some antibiotics. And the painkillers I was prescribed sure helped me out when I was immobilized with back pain. And it certainly was nice not to have to worry about contracting polio, small pox, measles, mumps, or rubella thanks to the vaccinces I was lucky enough to get as a kid. And was I ever glad to have baby formula to feed my kids when I couldn’t produce enough milk to fill them up.
Oh, yeah…those pharma companies & their investors are evil all right.
Oh, I got nothing against the life saving meds that some pharmaceutical manufacturers make and I’m not even against them turning a profit. I’m just against obscene profits, price fixing, and the general unethical nature of Big Pharma in the name of capitalism. They are marketing (aka pushing) their drugs for profit. It doesn’t sit well with me and I think people are being overmedicated because of it.
I just saw last week some pharmaceutical company was fined by the FDA or something because they were trying to fix the market and taking doctors on lavish “drug conference” junkets to ensure that they marketed and prescribed their drugs.
Not necessarily. If he had multiple prescribers and didn’t disclose to each what the others had authorized for him, or if he took more than the prescribed amounts, then how does that make him a victim of institutionalized over-prescribing?
Doctors and pharmacists do have a responsibility to consider the effects of combined medications, but they can’t do that unless the patient tells them what they’re taking. There’s no national computer database of patients’ prescriptions that anyone can check before giving you some pills.
I heard his symptoms were sleeplessness, anxiety, and depression. I think he was having a manic break and should have been treated appropriately. Instead he got “the Hollywood Treatment” and was prescribed something habit forming. That’s overmedication in both a qualitative and quantitive sense.