We live in a medicated world. It really does seem that everybody is on some sort of medication: antidepressants, stimulants, pain-killers, etc. Why are so many people suddenly on multiple medications? What does this do to people? Why is this bad?

Well, let us first look at what prescription medications do. Prescription medications are "licensed medicines," prescribed to patients who have been diagnosed by a licensed professional. To most of us, licensed professional sounds reassuring, right? If they have a PhD, surely they know what they're doing. Or even an MD - they know how to diagnose people, right? Perhaps it sounds cynical to state right off-the-bat that in recent years, medical professionals have done a rather poor job of diagnosing people, specifically children. But this isn't just an opinion (or even just one opinion) - it's fact. This blog is going to look specifically at children, because this is where the problem lies.

Example: Quintn Rocafort began taking Adderall (a drug prescribed to those diagnosed with ADHD) at age 6. His brother Perry also took Adderall at age 6 for ADHD. They were given this drug because of disruptive behavior at school. The school suggested he see a professional, and after a diagnosis, was prescribed the drug for ADHD. At age 12, they both were prescribed Risperdal (an antipsychotic) because they began experiencing rare symptoms from Adderall that were psychotic. (See the full story at http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/09/health/attention-disorder-or-not-children-prescribed-pills-to-help-in-school.html?pagewanted=all)

Now, let's examine the setup: It's quite common. I just picked one example. You could probably find a million other cases with the exact same setup. The kid misbehaves. The school assumes something psychological is responsible. A diagnosis is done. Medication is prescribed. A SIX YEAR OLD. Think of any six-year-old you know - ANY. Or five-year-old. Or four. Or whatever. Do they misbehave sometimes? Most likely, yes. Do they act up? Sure. Do they have loads of energy and bounce off the walls and run around a lot? Absolutely. Every single kid I know does that. Does that mean they have ADHD? Um, no. Children already have a natural tendency to be hyperactive - look at any child's behavioral pattern if you don't believe me. But as a society, we've decided that it's far easier and much more profitable to give a child prescription medication. Now I'm not blaming doctors, because they don't have much of a choice. If we as a society force doctors to fork over a barrel of medications, they don't really have a say. The FDA approves a drug, it is released into society as a miracle drug, and society pushes it onto doctors so that it can be legally given back to the patients to solve whatever problem they believe they have.

Now, don't get me wrong, some people actually do have psychological problems. I believe that some people truly do have some problems that should require therapeutic care and medical help, but there is such a thing as overreacting. But who's going to stop them? The doctors are making big bucks, and the patients are getting the medications they are brainwashed into thinking will cure everything. There really are some kids out there who have gone through traumatic experiences and needs to go through therapy to help with their problems. But there's the keyword: therapy. Not drugs, not routine doctor-visits - therapy. Working out a child's problems by themselves. They are solving their own problems, not letting drugs solve it for them.

Here is just one danger with giving children prescription drugs, especially ones who have been falsely diagnosed: they are drugged to become incapable of coping with both major and minor problems themselves.

Let's go back to the example of young children being given Adderall for ADHD. The child misbehaves, and that is seen as "unusual," so drugs are given to help lessen these problems. (Notice I said lessen; drugs solve nothing, they simply control the problem.) But what if the side effects cause psychotic tendencies? Well, here's Risperdal. What about sleeping problems? How about Ambien to cure it. You're feeling sad? Take some antidepressants, it'll cure it.

See where this is going? We've created a generation who believes that every single problem put in front of them can be "solved" with drugs. Young kids go to doctors with the belief that popping a few pills every day can solve whatever problem they're dealing with. It's become so bad that the world we're living in now is dealing with prescription medication as the number one abused drug. Is that scary or what? Medication given to you by a trusted health system is the most abused drug in the world. And now, kids can't even deal with their own problems anymore. If they have even the most minor of problems, what are they recommended? Prescription medication, because they may "have a psychological problem." What happens when a child can't even cope with a friend moving away, or one night of restlessness without the help of drugs? These kids will grow up and be unable to cope with even the slightest of problems by themselves. They really will be children forever, because they cannot even deal with the loss of a friend by themselves. What will their kids do, and their kids' kids? It will just breed a new generation of sensitive, mindless zombies who rely on medication to react to every thought, action, and belief in this world. We won't be human anymore - we'll be robots, controlled by the evil, addictive world of drugs.

Many of today’s psychological problems can be solved with minor therapy. Keyword, again? Therapy – not drugs, not routine doctor-visits. Therapy causes kids to realize their problem, and understand the fact that this is life. They learn how to deal with the problem themselves, and when they can cope on their own, they are able to resume their normal lives, functioning completely normal. But with a prescription med out there for seemingly everything, kids turn minor problems into major problems, and pretty soon, they’re on five different medications because they have “problems.” Problems that, under normal circumstances in a normal society, could be easily solved with minor therapy. But now when a child sees in his or herself a “problem,” or when a teacher or parent sees in him or her a “problem,” it’s off to the doctor’s they go. See the pattern?

So is it just prescription drugs? But what about other, illegal drugs? What about marijuana and LSD and ketamine and heroin, to name a few? Why have they gotten so much more restriction than prescription meds? Did you know that LSD was originally created to be a therapeutic agent, given to soldiers and other people dealing with PTSD? Its abuse led to its prohibition. So why does it have so many restrictions on it, but not Adderall, or Ambien, or Xanax? Don’t they have nasty side effects as well? Aren’t they abused, too?

Get this into your heads: prescription drugs are just as dangerous—if not more so – than other illegal drugs. But this is the society we’ve created. We’ve become so dependent on these meds our doctors give us that it would be catastrophic if we banned them. “We need them to survive, to function,” you might hear them say. Coincidentally, you will hear people who take prescription medications regularly say that, as well as people addicted to other illegal drugs. They say the same things. What makes LSD different than Adderall? Why are both of them abused, have nasty side effects, and medicinally taken, when one of them is illegal and the other is not? The behavior-modifying drugs of this world have taken over, and everyone is addicted.

Can we stop this? Can we change this? Can we change the way society views drugs? Or do we want to? We have to decide: do we want “quick fixes” that are so easy to attain, but don’t actually solve anything, just lessen the problem to us and damper our ability to manually cope with the everyday traumas of this world? Or do we want to stop this dangerous path of prescription medication, and instead turn to natural therapy, and learn to cope with things ourselves without drugs?

Still need more proof, more examples? There are plenty more out there. Here are a few to check out:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/medicatedchild/
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7582787/ns/health-addictions/t/generation-rx-teens-abusing-prescriptions/
http://kidshealth.org/teen/drug_alcohol/drugs/prescription_drug_abuse.html