Prescription Drugs

With over half of all women and 40% of all men using prescription drugs, we have become a drug-dependent society. According to a report from Reuters on CNN  and Netscape, government statistics were published Thursday.

" This "snapshot" of information was based on a survey that found that 54 percent of white non-Hispanic women and 43 percent of white non-Hispanic men had used a prescription drug in the past month, the National Center for Health Statistics said in a statement."

Are we less healthy? Are we needier? Or is it just easier to answer our health issues with a prescription?

These are questions for society to ask and answer? What percentage of those taking prescription drugs might be better served by proper nutrition and nutritional supplements? Were they even tried first?

Every drug has side effects. In an effort to cure a specific problem, an artificial chemical introduced into a person's body with known and unknown side effects. The trade off is relief from a physical problem in exchange for potential cumulative toxicity. Often that is necessary and life saving. The question is whether or not it is neccesary as often as it is practiced

In a separate article, on Dr. John Grohol's Psych Central it is noted that 1.3 million Americans abuse prescription drugs.
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What alternatives do you see, if any, to this explosion in the use of prescriptions as a first line of defense in the quest for health?

Discuss it here.