I was listening to a radio call-in show today on CJAD in the car and they were talking about the ease with which one can get prescriptions for anti-depressant drugs. A reporter went around undercover to 12 local clinics (Montreal, Quebec) and got a prescription within 5-7 minutes at 10 of these medical facilities. Within 5 days he had over 200 pills. One doctor didn't even write the prescription, just gave him a handful of samples. Now this reporter didn't say he was suicidal or about to axe someone to death. He told the people giving him the drugs that was feeling a bit "blue". And he got all these pills at all these places. There are millions of these drugs being prescribed here...and we're talking Quebec, Canada...imagine the scale of things in the US. There's a great deal of pressure put on doctors and medical facilities to prescribe these drugs. And pressure on people to take them. This is big business and the pharmaceutical companies have created the demand via the media, and work very hard to maintain and increase that demand, even though for many people these drugs may not be necessary, and may even be harmful. I realize these drugs do help some people, but soon half of adults will be in la-la land on anti-depressants and don't get me started on drugs like Ritalin for our kids. Mind you, maybe there's a lesson that we can apply to our little start-up business, IGotNewsForYou. (Voice inside head changes to evil entrepreneurial, money-grubber...) Create demand, massive demand, get people hooked, get them so addicted they can't stop using IGotNewsForYou. Interesting. In any case, if you take Prozac or any of the other anti-depressants, think about it. Do you really need them? In April, you'll be able to create IGotNewsForYou pages...they'll also cheer you up and may also become addictive and a difficult habit to break...but they'll be a lot easier on your brain, your body and your wallet than those pills. And please, take care of yourself... (The following public service announcement was not made by a trained doctor. It wasn't even made by a trained monkey. We respect the intelligence and experience of trained professionals in the medical field, and encourage people to listen to their doctors. Of course, that would assume you could FIND a doctor around here...Seriously, take care of yourself, be careful about over medicating...there I go preaching again...and enjoy a good laugh once in awhile...) (Technorati Tags: health care, anti-depressants, prescription drugs)