Science does make drugs very expensive, due to the need of the technology, and the need of an answer quickly. Scientists make drugs “expensive because the science of drug discovery is hard. And it’s just getting harder. In fact purely on a scientific level, taking a drug all the way from initial discovery to market is considered harder than putting a man on the moon“(Jogalekar). When new drugs come out they have to go through a lot of trial testing which costs money. It can take 7 to 10 years and over 500 million dollars to develop each new drug (Ogbru). They have to do trials on animals and on humans to make sure he drug is safe for the public to use and all this cost money (Simpson). But that is not always the case “Prices are set and raised according to what the market will bear, and the parties who actually pay the drug companies will meet whatever price is charged for an effective drug to which there is no alternative”(Werth). Some drug company’s hike up the prices of medication due to so many people needing a certain medication. You will pay what ever it takes to make yourself healthy, and drug company’s know this and will make the medication more expensive just so they can make a profit off of the people .
Getting addicted to prescription drugs is a serious issue. “Research shows that combining addiction-treatment medications, where available, with behavioral therapy is the best way to ensure success for most patients. Treatment approaches tailored to address each patient’s drug abuse patterns and co-occurring medical, psychiatric, and social problems can lead to sustained recovery and a life without drug abuse. It is important to remember, however, that drug addiction is a chronic, relapsing disease – like diabetes, asthma, or heart disease – that can be managed successfully”(HBO addiction project). Drug addiction runs your life because it “is a chronic, relapsing disease that affects the brain and causes compulsive drug craving, seeking, and use despite harmful and often devastating consequences”(HBO Addiction Project) to the users body and mind. This can happen to anyone, on purpose or by mistake. You may think you can get better with out treatment but that is not the case. Many people need to hear the horror stories of others to make them selves realize how bad being addicted to prescription drugs really is. Not many people know that “Abuse of prescription drugs can be even riskier than the abuse of illegally manufactured drugs” (Why Do people Do Drugs) because home made drugs have not been tested and proven to work for what ever the issue may be. The prescription medication gets years of testing to make sure it works, and some times it works to good. If you take the prescription medication when it is not prescribed to you, you are in more danger than taking street drugs.
So many people wake up in the morning and think about their next high, and no one knows how they got to that point. Most people use drugs that were once prescribed to them for an injury or illness then could never get off of them. Some people are just peer pressured into doing drugs, by there friends. A lot of people feel they need the drugs to be able to live a happy life when in reality they don’t. Kids do it to fit in, as an escape from life, to seem grown up or just to see what it is like to try a new drug (Why People do drugs). One drug has can have a different effect on a different person “a small amount acts as a stimulant (speeds you up). A greater amount acts as a sedative (slows you down). An even larger amount poisons and can kill”(Why do people do drugs). People don’t understand that even if its your first time trying a drug it can kill you, “Drugs block off all sensations, the desirable ones with the unwanted. So, while providing short-term help in the relief of pain, they also wipe out ability and alertness and muddy one’s thinking” (Why do people do drugs). After long term drug abuse, you cannot just stop using. For some it is more dangerous to stop using than to continue, the effects of withdrawal can kill you just as using the drug will. If you want to stop, weening down along with treatment is the only way to do it safely.
Advertising for drugs makes people want them. Who would not want to get drugs for all their problems? If they didn’t see them on television or hear about them on the radio would they even think they really had a problem? Almost all Advertising “provokes a subtle shift in our culture — toward seeking a pill for every ill. While there are many for whom stimulants and other medications can be a godsend, the case of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder is a prime example of how, too often, a pill substitutes for more human responses to distress”(Stange). Doctors don’t care, most just want to make money. They would rather write the prescription then lose a patient, which leads to losing money. People see the advertising and then start to believe they have that problem. The pharmaceutical drug companies believe that “If the industry can convince essentially normal people that minor complaints require long-term drug treatment, its market will grow”(Angell). This will continue to happen until advertisement for prescription drugs get banned.
Angell, Marcia. “Should Prescription Drug Ads Be Reined In?” New York Times Room for Debate Should Prescription Drug Ads Be Reined In Comments. N.p., 4 Aug. 2009. Web. 03 Apr. 2014.
Jogalekar, Ashutosh. “Why Drugs Are Expensive: It’s the Science, Stupid.” Scientific American Global RSS. N.p., 4 Jan. 2014. Web. 27 Mar. 2014.
“HBO Addiction Project.” National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA). N.p., Mar. 2007. Web. 01 Apr. 2014.
Ogbru, Omudhome, Pharm. D. “Drugs: Why Drugs Cost So Much – Medications: Prescription Drugs and Over the Counter Drugs on MedicineNet.com.” MedicineNet. Ed. Jay Marks, M. D. N.p., 9 Feb. 2002. Web. 10 Apr. 2014.
Stange, Kurt C. “Consumer Drug Advertising Should Be Banned.” New York Times. N.p., 16 Dec. 2013. Web. 1 Apr. 2014.
Simpson, Stephen D., CFA. “It’s No Accident That Drugs Are Expensive.” Investopedia. N.p., 30 Aug. 2013. Web. 03 Apr. 2014.
