History Repeats Itself!

Can you believe, at one point, people were unknowingly medicated from alcohol, morphine and opiates?  I can!  It isn't too different from now though, is it?  While we might frown on the use of these particular substances, i think we live in an era where not only does this happen, but its even accepted… But should it be?  Before we speak of how horrendous it used to be, and shake our heads at the ignorance of the generations before us, take a look at the world we live in today.  Pharmaceutical companies are multibillion dollar corporations!  We live in a country that works on crisis care, rather than preventative!  And you don't think that the profit made from medications had any influence in this?  I do!

"Gullible America will spend this year some seventy-five million dollars in the purchase of patent medicines… In consideration of this sum, it will swallow huge quantities of alcohol, an appealing amount of opiates and narcotics, a wide assortment of varied drugs ranging from powerful and dangerous heart depressants to insidious liver stimulants; and, far in excess of all other ingredients, undiluted fraud." ~ Samuel Hopkins Adams

How are we different now?  Because alcohol and opiates and curtain narcotics have been made illegal?  But what about the ever growing number of individuals going on mood stabilizers, antidepressants, ADD/ADHD medications?  Are we a nation of the numb?  Yes, I believe some people benefit from these medications, but where is the benefit of prescribing these medications to the most mild of cases?  The benefit is held by the few who make these drugs possible.  So think about it, in a few generations, what will the people of that today think about us?  Just like Muckraker Samuel Hopkins Adams, who brought light to the problems that they faced in the early 1900's about the overuse of those particular "medications," maybe we should be looking into who we trust with our health.