Pharmaceutical Companies Are to Blame for Overmedication - Research Paper Example

Task Pharmaceutical companies are to blame for overmedication Pharmaceutical companies are firms that invent, produce, and market and distribute legal drugs that are used to treat sick people. Millions of people around the globe today use variety of drugs that they swallow, inject, breathe in, spray, infuse, and rub on their bodied different types of prescribed medication every month. Overmedication is the wrong treatment, which occurs when patients take too much drugs than necessary or when the right drug is taken the wrong way. Pharmaceutical companies have contributed towards the over usage and over-reliance on drugs by many people in society. Overmedication has many negative effects on the health of individuals and may lead to sickness or death. The main symptoms and effects of overmedication may include lack of sleep, confusion, and blurred vision, dry mouth, hallucination, slowed reaction, lack of coordination of body functions, constipation, and becoming resistant to drugs that exist for treatment (Daniel). Pharmaceutical companies have contribution to overmedication deliberately or due to their careless aggressive marketing effort when promoting their manufactured drugs. They usually use marketing campaigns to influence people from all social groups to use drugs in their everyday life. This has led the entire society to become dependent of drugs. The companies have promised to treat almost any disease using both original and generic drugs. Excessive medication has therefore become so common problem in society as the companies have made variety of drugs readily available for patients to and the patients to medicate themselves. The aggressive marketing of drugs has influenced people to turn away from alternative sources of treatment and to prefer manufactured drugs, which cause money and leave chemicals in their bodies. The availability of drugs has created temptation to people to try different types of drugs at different times, without considering the side effects (Mackey & Liang, 4571–4579). The pharmacists who sell drugs of different companies are not keen in following the history of drugs that a patient may have used in the past, in order to consider the ingredients in their drugs. The drugs that a patient may already be taking if not considered before giving them another drugs may overreact and cause a much bigger problem. This may cause undesirable side effects may result in fatal or serious life threatening conditions. The wrong drugs which may overreact may end up harming the patient even if the drug given by the pharmacist is legal one. The pharmacists who are interested in making a sale in order to make profit have contributed to overmedication of people in every society (Gary). The pharmaceutical companies have adopted many channels of distribution to make their drugs available to all people at all times by adopting over-the-counter drugs. These drugs have been misused by the society out of ignorance and due to lack of strong warning by the manufacturers. These drugs are usually bought without any prescription and at any rate, leading to frequent use and serious abuse. The common ones include birth control pills and antibiotics, which have been taken by majority as harmless. However, these drugs contain same ingredients that may overreact with other with the over-the-counter drugs and if taken carelessly may lead to over medication of the patients. The marketing campaigns by drug companies have made many people to seek prescriptions but majority of people also prefer over- the-counter drugs that are taken without any prescriptions at all. This is due to convenience or because the patient may lack the money or the time needed to get a physician for prescription (Joan). The pharmaceutical industry has also contribution to overmedication by being driven by the greed to make huge profits from increased sale of drugs. The annual huge profits are made from patients who usually suffer and even die annually due to the wrongly prescribed and non-prescribed drugs that are promoted by the media in the society. In is the some countries like the United States of American, it has been estimated that the pharmaceutical industry is the fourth-leading killer after heart –disease, cancer, and stroke. Every society is becoming overmedicated by the pharmaceutical industry that promotes buying and taking of many drugs, by using aggressive advertisements though the mass media. The drugs have been fashionable and readily available and this leads to careless use. Pharmaceutical companies have been aggressively marketing their drugs in the media and at every turn some company is busy selling a drug. They have made the society so view drugs as integral part of everyday life (Naira et al, 5059–5068). The drug companies have used all forms of chemical mixtures to produce different drugs annually to treat even minor ailments. They have used even chemicals that leave permanent effects on the users of drugs. Instead of promoting health lifestyles, they promote all sorts of drugs for depression and headache as well of other things that are preventable through good lifestyles. The pharmaceutical companies have become profit motivated, have become deceptive, and exploited the psychology of the society to sell drugs to them. They no longer take keen interest in life threatening situations but instead take keen interests in small ailments and they use aggressive selling approaches to make sales for their drugs, instead of promoting the natural ways that can be used to cure the same illnesses. The companies have therefore manipulated the society to be dependent on drugs instead of seeking alternative and other natural ways of curing common illnesses (OPPI in Media, 5-11). The companies have failed to warn people strongly about other poisoning that may result from drugs that are taken without the prescription by a doctor. But instead the companies seem to have encouraged the society to take drugs but only advise the patients to seek medical attention when their condition worsen. The companies spend huge amount of money in adverting every year just to make drug consumption a common habit in society in order to boost sales, such resources should have been spent n researching about the serious illnesses and the poisoning that occur to their customers as part of promoting the welfare of the society. The companies therefore contribute to overmedication by being careless and selfish by promoting mass usage of licensed drugs (Fincke & Miller & Spiro, 182-185). The drug companies have brainwashed the society by creating negative attitude towards alternative medicine and natural medicine that are better for the society because they have less chemicals. The pharmaceutical companies have persuaded the whole society that it is less enjoyable and more painful to seek natural cures but to use the drugs that are readily available. This approached has not helped in promoting the health of the population as the drugs that contain chemicals are increasingly being used. The side effects of medication are no longer highlighted at all in a meaningful way. The messages are produced to project that almost everyone needs a drug, and the companies promote mass consumption of drugs leading to huge profits. The industry have become the only main source of information regarding health, the society is therefore at the mercy of the pharmaceutical companies who only give the information that they know will lead to the sale of their drugs in order to make profits. The pharmaceutical companies also create advertisements that create fear in society that every household should even stock some drugs for use, hence the overmedication. The drug companies have adopted hidden tactics to inspire confidence in the society to use new drugs whose safety no one can verify. The drug companies often produce features and stories of people who give testimonies that the drug worked for them and as the best in certain treatments. Such confidence is meant to attract the whole society in adopting the use of the drug but after use the patients realize that they were given false information. Some marketing materials future children and this is used to make children become users of certain drugs, this is aimed at making such children to use the drug throughout their lifetime and to become dependent on the drug. They teach parents and children about diseases that they did not even know and create curiosity so that risk takers many try their drugs. This is meant to create a market for their drugs. This has led to excessive use of legal drugs to cure imaginable diseases (Miller& Algee, 733-736). The companies have also led to overmedication by promoting the use of supplements and sell them at very high prices without telling the people where to get the actual minerals that they are lacking. This is aimed at making the society to depend on the drugs produced by the pharmaceutical companies. Some pharmaceutical companies entrust doctors and health professionals to prescribe their drugs to the public. This is aimed at making a sale and making the society members to know the drug and to become regular buyers of a drug. The doctors have therefore become salespeople of the pharmaceutical companies indirectly and they promote the consumption of the drugs, which the individual buyers would not have bought had the doctor not prescribed them. The pharmaceutical companies at times do not try the drugs well and they circulate drugs whose side effects are not known and whose safety is not known (Van Der Steen). Some pharmaceutical companies organize for retreats and luncheons and they pay some doctors to give a lecture on how effective the drugs of the company are. This is meant to make other doctors to agree and recommend the drugs that are sold by the company to their patients. This aimed at increasing the sales and usage of their drug by the society the companies at times use literature to sell their product. They hire a marketing company to draft the selling message but they then look for a team of physicians to endorse -their names on the literature as if they researched about the drug. This is made so that the public confidence may be won ever the drug so that the public may use the drug without any question since such medical professionals are featured in the advertisements and in the sales literature. This has made the members of the society to ignore all the dangers involved in using drugs and they view the drug as safe. This is common foe common ailments line flu, migraines, headache, Some drugs are sold for more functions than the drug can perform, this is by claiming that one drug can treat a number of ailments and that the drug is safe for different types of users. This has made majority of people in the society to adopt the drugs but they risk (Daniel). The companies sell legal drugs to the members of the society who are not authorized by the law. Certain drugs that are used as drugs for subduing others are often found with criminals and other criminal groups who use them against other innocent members of the society. The sale of licensed drugs to minors and youths and teenagers has led to serious health problems. The companies often fail to control the flow of their drugs through the society and this cause health risks to those who are unaware of the dangers of using drugs that are not compatible with their age. Such drugs have been used by teenage girls are means of preventing pregnancy but since they are not of the recommended age, their bodies may overreact to the drugs as they may not be sexually active constantly like the married who should have used the drugs. The teenage boys have also used drugs that enhance sexual performance of people of advanced age, but the abuse of the drug has led to death or serious health risks (Mackey & Liang, 4571–4579). Many people also die each year from the drugs that have been prescribed by the doctors, the industry never give statistic on the wrong prescriptions or on those who took too much and anywhere at which something went wrong. The accidents in the pharmaceutical industry are kept secret and the overmedication cases are rarely reported. The awareness of the dangers is therefore lacking for all people. The result is that any people are overmedicated in society and they are never given chance go sue or to get competition for the suffering and the losses that such people face in the society form the pharmaceutical companies. The disasters that are caused by aggressively promoted drugs over the years are ignored. The companies are focused on making profits and do not want to wake the society up to take more care when using the drugs (Marcie, 2002). Conclusion The drug companies have led to a serious problem of overmedication in society and have created a society that is dependent on drugs. The aggressively promote the use of all sorts of drugs and they give people more reasons to be ill. They instill fear and make people to imagine that they are sick and should test their heath condition to try the new drug, which they see being promoted. The marketing companies have failed show genuine concern in promoting the good health of the people and them never apologies for their misdeeds and mistakes in their practice. They generally control the government indirectly and influence the policies and other legislations so that their drugs are adopted by the government heath institutions. The drug companies also control medical schools and other educational seminars that they organize to influence the opinion of heath professionals. The make huge profits and dodge the appropriate research that might reel the dangers of overmedication in society. The international trade laws are also influenced the drug companies to avoid revelation of their practices. The pharmaceutical industry is therefore appearing happy with a drug filled society in which everyone is sick and depending heavily on drugs. Works Cited Daniel, Levinson. Overmedication of Nursing Home Patient. Troubling. 2011. Web. December 11, 2011. Available at: Fincke, Benjamin, and Miller, Donald and Spiro, Avron. The Interaction of Patient Perception of Overmedication with Drug Compliance and Side Effects. Journal of General Internal Medicine. 1998. Vol. 13(3). DOI:  10.1046/j.1525-1497.1998.00053.x. Pp. (182-185) Gary, Null, et al. Death by Medicine. Web. December 11, 2011. Available at: Joan, Abraham. The Pharmaceutical as as a Political player. 2002. Web. December 11, 2011. Available at: Mackey, Tim & Liang, Bryan. The global counterfeit drug trade: Patient safety and public health risks. Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences. 2001. Vol.100 (10) DOI: 10.1002/jps.22679. Pp. (4571–4579). Miller, Russell, and Algee, John. Noncompliance and Drug Toxicity in Black, Poor, and Aged Patients. Journal of the National Medical Association. PMCID: PMC2537088 1978. Vol. 70(10). Pp. (733–736). Nair, et al. Are counterfeit or substandard anti-infective products the cause of treatment failure in Papua New Guinea? Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences. 2010. Vol. 100(10) DOI: 10.1002/jps.22691 Pp. 5059–5068. OPPI in Media. MNCs Move SC Over Drug Price Control. 2011, The Times of India. Web. December 11, 2011. Available at: Van der Steen, Wim. Assessing overmedication: Biology, Philosophy, and Common sense. 2003 Web. December 11, 2011. 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