Healthcare

Healthcare

Referring to the scenario right after the CT scan the Prescription drugs have had medical and social uses since tincture of opium became popular.  Cocaine use flourished in the US until it was outlawed in the second decade of the 20th century. Both opium and cocaine are natural drugs, plant derivatives used by native cultures and traded by European colonists to exploit the vulnerable. Barbiturates were next introduced and used as sedatives and sleeping pills until they were mostly replaced by “new classes of tranquilizers. Most of the action centered around four drug classes: amphetamines, barbiturates, librium  and alcohol. (Bristow, O 2007)

Doctors' practices flourished on drug prescription, drug company profits were assured and, for a while at least, patients who survived seemed content with the mix of new and old drugs. The long-term results were not good, however, and problems of addiction, brain dysfunction (often called "nervous breakdowns" and "mental illness") accidents and suicide became increasingly prevalent. The combination of alcoholic beverages, “uppers” and “downers” produced chemical chaos in the brains of users, often with tragic results. Librium was replaced by a new class of drugs, the benzodiazepines. Valium was the best selling member of this class for many years until  problems associated with its use became well known. Other Valium-like drugs were developed as  tranquilizers and sleeping pills, to large extent, replacing barbiturates that were fatal in overdose. A common prescription for twenty capsules of secobarbital could kill. Valium as a sedative-tranquilizer has been replaced by related drugs with new names and no bad reputations but the same set of problems for the brain: some examples are Ativan, Xanax, Serax, Lorazepam and several sleeping pills such as Dalmane and Halcion.

With the increases in recreational and illegal drug use in the 70's, social and political upheavals and a general disillusionment with the adverse effects of medical psychotropics, laws and attitudes began to change; not intelligently and not consistently, but irrationally. The medical and research use of LSD was halted; stricter controls on the prescription of amphetamines and barbiturates were instituted. These drug prohibition policies were  opportunities for drug companies to make new, different drugs to fill the same market niches. Since then, a host of psychotropic drugs have been marketed and some of these newer drugs have proved to be very profitable. Antidepressants  were a hard sell until recently. Although many drugs in this class modified the “mood” and behavior of patients, their slow action and many side effects were negative features. (McKenna, H 2008)

The introduction of a “new class” of antidepressants, led by Prozac changed the market for psychotropic drugs. The effects of Prozac on “personality” were widely publicized and drug companies advertise directly to the consumer, relegating physicians to the role of middleman. The patient now demands the prescription and the doctor complies. The claim is that Prozac can increase energy, confidence and assertiveness in people who are depressed. “Shy” people were added to list of potential customers. Although writers such as psychiatrist Peter Kramer (Listening to Prozac) ...