You bet they are!

Just visit the Journal of the American Medical Association website to see the advertisements for Viagra. As the only nation (US) that allows direct-to-consumer advertising of drugs, doctors aren't the only people under the drug industry's influence. Drug companies spent $905 million on consumer ads during the first half of 1999 alone.

That figure will increase to $2 billion this year. A University of Mississippi survey found that five patients a week ask physicians for an advertised drug and the doctors prescribe it 30% of the time. I feel this figure is extremely conservative and that doctors actually prescribe the requested drugs 84% of the time.

It's in the news:

* The New York times, May 7, 2000, "New Questions on Drug Plans As Costs Soar." Americans took home some $2.8 billion prescriptions last year, obtaining some of the newest, most heavily advertised and most expensive drugs.

* The Los Angeles Times, April 4, 2000, "Slight Heart Risk Found in Estrogen Use." A new study shows that estrogen replacement drugs, often prescribed to menopausal women to prevent disease may actually cause heart problems.

* Washington Post, April 21, 2000, "Risk Posed by Heart Disease Medication Noted: New Blood Thinning Drug Can Cause a Potentially Fatal But Uncommon Disorder, Report says."

Even the Wall Street Journal and USA Today have done articles on the subject that cite the problems that arise from medicating an entire nation. Drugs cause over 230,000 deaths yearly, and at least 11 million Americans are prescription drug abusers. Fortune Magazine ranked the pharmacutical business as the most profitable of all industries last year. In 1998 Americans spent $120 million on drugs. We pay the highest drug prices in the world, "...about one-third more for prescription drugs than people in other wealthy nations" according to USA Today.

Following are excerpts from another timely article about drugs. Even though this one focuses on seniors, this could affect everyone of us:

Medication Costs for Seniors Soar
By Greg Toppo, Associated Press, August 1, 2000

"Older Americans are paying twice as much for their prescription drugs as they did in 1992, and prices are expected to soar over the next decade, says a group that advocates drug coverage by Medicare. In a study released Monday (July 31, 2000), Families USA argued that unless national policy-makers get these costs covered by Medicare, prescription drugs will be even less affordable for people over 65, many of whom have to get a dozen prescriptions filled a week.

Families USA released a study saying that Americans 65 and older pay an average of $1,205 a year for prescriptions - up from $559 in 1992 - and will shell out $2,810 apiece by 2010. Prescription drugs now account for about 10% of seniors' health costs - and will probably rise to 13.3% in 2010 it said. The study said the average senior's cost per prescription has risen dramatically, from $28.50 in 1992 to $42.30 now, and is projected to jump to $72.94 in 2010."

Alan F. Holmer, President of the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA), said much of the increase in seniors' drug spending is driven by advanced drugs that are more effective. "That's good news for patients, for whom medicines are the most cost-effective form of health care," he said. "They keep patients out of the hospital, off the surgery table, on the job and in the home."

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Sure Mr. Holmer! What else is he going to say. The fallacy here is that alternatives cost substantially less than the high-cost drugs the industry would have a person take, but if everyone demanded this, their industry would literally go down the tubes. Naturally derived medicines cannot be patented. The drug industry does not want you to know that there are alternatives. And, these alternatives are often more effective and certainly less costly than the drugs industry would have us take. Why do you think the drug industry comes out with more new drugs aimed at specific health problems? To attempt to keep their industry intact.

Are you one of those who takes prescribed drugs to get rid of "symptoms" or other aches and pains? Has your doctor really looked at what is the cause of your symptoms instead of prescribing costly drugs? Has your doctor suggested alternatives to taking drugs to get rid of symptoms? What can you do?

Ask your doctor to prescribe alternatives to drugs, something natural, something that your body can assimilate easily. Ask your doctor if he earns anything for prescribing certain drugs. If he does, then your chances are that he probably will not prescribe anything else. If that happens, if I were in that situation, I would get another doctor, one that is into natural and alternative health. I would also research alternatives. Much information exists on the Internet, and some of it in these pages.

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