Posted by med_empowered on February 7, 2007, at 15:05:57
In reply to Re: J+J and Janssen in trouble over Risperdal » linkadge, posted by Chairman_MAO on February 7, 2007, at 11:18:32
I agree. Think about it: the only reason a drug company can make $$$ off of something as unpleasant as Risperdal is b/c of the RX drug system. We're giving docs waaaay too much power here.
Consumers end up with all costs--some medication costs, doctor costs, costs of side effects, so on and so forth. We should be allowed to purchase and use (or NOT purchase and refrain from using) any drug(s) we see fit. Think about ADHD...amphetamines are old, and cheap. If they were over-the-counter, consumers would probably avoid Adderall XR and what not and go for generic versions...drug costs would be reduced, and we wouldn't have to pay doctors for visits that are solely designed to give us a permission slip("prescription") to have meds that would otherwise be illegal.
In mexico, a lot of pharmacies have doctors on hand--not for controlled rx's, but for basic stuff. So if you come in with minor problems--infections, allergies, colds, whatever--the doc will do a quick consult and recommend some meds to you, and you're done. That's it. Here, you have to make an appointment, pay lots of money to the doc, and then the prescription is likely to be for some expen$ive new drug that doesn't actually benefit the consumer, but does benefit the doctor and drug companies. Its a ridiculous situation.
poster:med_empowered
thread:730044
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20070207/msgs/730849.html