Running Head: PHARMACEUTICAL DRUGS

Pharmaceutical Drugs:
Short Term Benefits, Long Term Consequences
Hannah Murphy
Ivy Tech Community College

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There are many different definitions used to describe a drug. Many of which see a drug
as an illegal substance, but according to the U.S. law, a drug is a substance intended for use in
the diagnosis, cure, relief, treatment, or prevention of disease or intended to affect the structure
or function of the body, (Merck Manual). In America, drugs are used as an aid to help with
many different illnesses. Within the last turn of the century, though, drugs have been on the rise.
The percent of people in the United States that have used prescription medication within the last
thirty days includes 48.7% of the population. Between physician office visits, hospital outpatient
department visits, and hospital emergency department visits more than three billion two hundred
fifteen million four hundred thousand prescription drugs are being prescribed on a yearly basis
(Therapeutic Drug Use). Although this may not seem like a high rate on a yearly calendar,
consider the fact that there are approximately 318.9 million people living in the United States
today (United States Census Bureau). This means that nearly 10.8 drugs are being prescribed per
person, yearly. These statistics continue to be on the rise due to the knowledge and investments
in medicine. Because of the increase in prescribed medications, more people are becoming
dependent on prescription drugs causing lifelong damage to internal organs. Doctors,
pharmacists, and the Food and Drug Administration need to make themselves educated of such
dangers and begin spreading more awareness of the effects of prescribed medication.
Due to the extreme increase in prescribed medication, experts are also beginning to see
an increase in the reliance of prescription drugs. Medication was initially created as a short-term
aid to those that physically were not able to fight off an illness on their own. But over the years,
this idea has been pushed to the side creating a new age of people reliant on medication. For
example, there has been an upsurge in the reliance on drugs that control blood sugar. Blood

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sugar and Type 2 Diabetes are diseases that have the potential to be altered with a healthy diet
and knowledge of the illness. If things do not take a turn from there, then medication should be
the next alternative. Although simply taking the medication to get blood sugar to a normal level
may not seem like an alarming issue, think about it in terms of health. Not only is the person
going to continue to live the lifestyle that got them into such a situation, they are also going to
continue to take medication daily to keep their condition under control. Over the years this will
cause higher doses of the medication to be prescribed due to the bodys immunity to the drug and
the fact that the persons lifestyle is causing more problems to arise (Deborah Kotz, 2010). If the
professionals in charge of prescriptions were to take an alternative and simply educate
individuals on their condition before writing them a prescription, such individuals would be able
to become aware and reverse their condition without taking medication.
The accumulative effects that medication causes can also be seen in younger people using
strong drugs to treat mild conditions. According to San Francisco Public Health Director
Mitchell Katz, millions of people regularly rely on proton pump inhibitors to cure mild
heartburn. Whereas these inhibitors were intended for the use of extreme cases of heartburn.
Not only are people misusing these drugs, but the more potent they are, the more likely the
medication is to cause other problems as well. In an article from the FDA, there was an increase
in hip, wrist, and spine fractures in those that relied on the proton pump inhibitors. About 60 to
70 percent of people taking these drugs should not be on them. This can be seen in
antidepressants as well. These drugs have migrated from useful, effective treatments for those
with major depression to unnecessary treatments for those who are just happen to be down in the
dumps (Deborah Kotz, 2010). Medicine is a serious substance and should be handled with
extensive knowledge.

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With the outbreak of unnecessary medications also comes the concern of higher risks of
health problems that come with age. This is a part of life that is seen throughout the world, but
one thing that sets Americans aside from the rest of the world is that most of the elderly
population has already been taking drugs for several years. Taking medications is something that
has been taught to the young and the old. As stated in The Real Truth magazine, People live
their lives putting out fires rather than addressing why those fires are occurring. (Medicated!).
If a person is not feeling well they go to the doctor and get an antibiotic, or if someone has
muscle soreness they take some pain reliever. This is not seen as an issue when Americans are
young, but after a while the doses of medication will rise and the dependency of the individual to
these drugs will do the same. This is where doctors and pharmacists need to step in and educate
the population on the long term effects of these short term medications.
Not only is the rate at which prescriptions are being written alarming, but so is the
influence that the media is having on the situation. Prescription and over-the-counter medication
are significantly highlighted on television and social media. Many commercials come onto the
television telling of a new medication that has many great benefits that will help anyone that has
the following symptoms listed. These commercials only tell of the benefits of the drug while the
life threatening side effects are listed at the bottom of the screen in an illegible font. The same
goes for medications that pop up on the side of the computer screen while scrolling through the
internet. The positive effects are the only thing being sent out to the public and is only in the
best interest of the pharmaceutical company. These companies are only out to make money off
these medications, whereas a persons life is worth more than the money coming from the
medication. Not only does the individual interested in the medication need to become more
educated on the positive and negative effects of the drugs, but the doctors and pharmacists need

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to intervene on the situation. More attention needs to be put on the overall effect of the drugs,
positive and negative, in order for Americans to be well-educated on the medication.
Because of the increase in reliance and prescriptions for drugs, the Food and Drug
Administration is beginning to become even more involved. Overtime, the administration has
begun to create stricter laws and codes for pharmaceutical plants. This is a huge step in the right
direction. They are becoming aware of the significant impact that these drugs can cause on a
person and lifelong impacts. In the beginning the Food and Drug Administration was not nearly
as structured as they are today and would let drugs go out on the market merely weeks after it
was created. This caused severe consequences to society due to the lack of education on the
medication. For example, Heroin was one of the first prescription drugs to be put on the shelves
and was introduced as a non-addicting pain medication, but was later found out to be highly
addictive and laws were created to ban the use and distribution of such a drug (The History of
Prescription Drugs). During this time people were having to go through these highly addictive
phases because not enough information was gathered on the impact this drug had on individuals.
Many Americans were using this drug to help with their illness, when the long term effect of
such a drug was more devastating than the short term high. The Food and Drug
Administration is continuously learning from past experiences and making medications in
America safer and more reliable. As technology grows and the awareness of prescription drug
progresses, the FDA is making a more secure system of measurements.
With the involvement of the Food and Drug Administration needs to come the
involvement of other people of the higher power. More than half of the senior population have
been found to take three or more medications per day (Deborah Kotz, 2010). Many drugs are
being prescribed by doctors to only have three other drugs being prescribed as well to fight off

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the side effects from the primary drug. For example, doctors will prescribe Aricept for
Alzheimers patients and then treat a frequent side effect such as urinary incontinence with an
anticholinergic like Exablex or Ditropan whose side effects include delirium, confusion, and
memory loss, (Deborah Kotz, 2010). The side effects and impacts of these drugs continue to
grow along with their list of medications. After a while these drugs are no longer being
prescribed for the significant concern of the patient, but to fight off the side effects of the drug.
This causes the body to have to work overtime to metabolize and filter the handful of
medications being consumed.
Since prescribed medication can create such a large strain on the body, the
overmedication of patients can lead to fatalities. One of the greatest concerns among public
health experts is the use of antipsychotics in nursing homes to treat anxiety, confusion, and
irritability, which are all frequently triggered by other medications. By using drugs for this
inappropriate purpose of fighting off other drugs side effects has caused a significant rise in
fatalities, reports Janet Woodcock, director of the FDAs Center for Drug Evaluation and
Research (Deborah Kotz, 2010). This is just one of many examples that can be seen throughout
America of the negative effects of over prescription of such strong substances.
Along with major concerns amongst the elderly population and medication comes the
younger generation. Because children are being brought up in rapidly growing generation, they
are able to receive the newest and most advanced medication that the world has ever seen. Over
the years the most growing medications among teens and young adults are antidepressants and
medication to aid attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder. Many children in the United States
have known themselves longer on medication than they have off it. According to the National
Center for Health Statistics, 5% of Americans from 12-19 years old use antidepressants, and

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another 6% of the same age group us medication for ADHD-totaling nearly four million
teenagers (Katherine Sharpe, 2012). The use of medications such as antidepressants usually
become long term, only adding to the medication that adults take as stated above. In children
especially, it can become an issue of finding their identity. If children are spending their
childhood on such strong medications like antidepressants it could alter the way that they mature
into an adult. Psychiatrists need to spend more time talking with their patients and getting to
know them better before writing them a prescription. Sometimes all it takes is talking and
getting to know someone for them to open up and feel better about a situation.
Overmedication often occurs because a pharmacist is unaware of other medications a
patient is taking because of human error and undiagnosed medical conditions. It is extremely
difficult for a person to diagnose themselves as being overmedicated because the symptoms can
imitate those of other conditions; conditions that are being treated with a medication. As well as
the symptoms of being overmedicated are many because of an endless number of drugs are being
used, along with multiple combinations of drug interactions. Some of the most common signs of
overmedication include: abdominal pain, problems with motor and coordination skills, bodily
aches and pains, mental cloudiness or confusion, and impaired rational thought (Addiction Help).
It is important for anyone having these signs should seek guidance from their doctor or
pharmacist.
Due to the strength of medical substances, it is important to know how these drugs work
in the body. By becoming educated, Americans will learn why it is important to use medicines
safely and effectively. When medications are taken by mouth they move through the digestive
tract; taken up by internal organs such as the stomach and small intestine. Oftentimes, the drugs
are sent to the liver where they can become chemically altered and then released into the

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bloodstream. The bloodstream carries the medication through the body and the drugs begin to
interact with numerous tissues and organs. This process is where side effects can occur due to
drugs having unintended effects anywhere else in the body (Taking Medicines).
While the drug is being moved through the body, it is sent to the liver from either the
stomach or the small intestine. The protein molecules, enzymes, in the liver chemically modify
the drugs. When the drugs are metabolized by the body, it is converted into products called
metabolites that are not near as strong as the original drug. Although they are not as strong as the
original drug, they have the potential to have effects that are stronger than the drug and
unexpected. This process of chemically altering the medication occurs once again before they
exit the body. So, although the prescription only says one dose, the body is actually working
twice as hard to metabolize the medication. Imagine the work that the body is having to do if
Americans are taking three to five medications daily. Because the liver is seen as the
detoxifying organ, it is prone to damage caused by too much medicine in the body (Taking
Medicine). Is the Tylenol for a minor head ache or the proton pump inhibitors for minor
heartburn worth the work that the body has to go through in order to feel better?
There are numerous alternatives that can be done to aid in becoming healthier, rather than
consuming handfuls of medication. Getting exercise and eating a healthy diet can result in lower
numbers of Type 2 Diabetes, as well as heart disease, blood pressure, and cholesterol. A
maintained diet can also lead to less heartburns which will decrease the need for the proton pump
inhibitors. For issues such as muscle soreness, Americans should turn to apple cider vinegar
baths, or a chiropractor before Aleve and Tylenol. Americans need to understand their body
better and turn to the alternative ways to feel healthier before reaching on the shelf to pop a few

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more pills. Becoming educated and aware are just the beginning of a less reliant America of
prescription medication.
In order for a change to be made, Americans will have to start at the source. Doctors,
pharmacists, and the Food and Drug Administration need to begin working together to provide
more education on the significant impact prescription medication has on the body. Overtime
drug-drug interactions could become worse than the disease. Do not over look the long term
impact of these drugs for the short term benefit. More effort needs to be put in my pharmacists
and doctors to understand the health of each individual; there needs to be more effort to
understand the medication being prescribed to every patient on a personal level. Doctors need to
sit down and speak with their patients to help them sort through the medications going into their
bodies. Some of these medications have the potential to be cancelling each other out once they
are metabolized in the body causing the liver to work overtime on medication that is having no
effect in the body. America needs to follow in the footsteps of the Food and Drug Administration
and continue to educate and alter the world of prescription medications.

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References
How Do I Know If I Am Overmedicated?. Addiction Help Center. Retrieved from http://www.
addictionhelpcenter.com/how-do-i-know-if-i-am-overmedicated/
Drugs in the Body. Taking Medicines. Retrieved from http://nihseniorhealth.gov/takingmedicines
/ drugsinthebody/01.html
Drugs. Merck Manual. Retrieved from http://www.merckmanuals.com/home/drugs
Kotz, Deborah. (2010, October 7). Overmedication: Are Americans Taking Too Many Drugs?.
U.S. News Health. Retrieved from http://health.usnews.com/health-news/managing-yourhealthcare/diabetes/articles/2010/10/07/overmedication-are-americans-taking-too-manydrugs?page=2
Medicated! Societys Dependence on Prescription Drugs. Retrieved from http://realtruth.org/
articles/448-msdopd.html
Sharpe, Katherine. (2012, June 29). The Medication Generation. The Wall Street Journal.
retrieved from http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB100014240527023036495045
77493112618709108
The History of Prescription Drugs. Good Medicine, Bad Behavior: Drug Diversion in America.
Retrieved from http://www.goodmedicinebadbehavior.org /explore /history_ of_
prescription_drugs.html
The Roper Public Affairs & Media group of NOP World. (2005). Prescription Drug Use Among
Midlife and Older Americans. Retrieved from http://assets.aarp.org/rgcenter/health
/rx_midlife_plus.pdf

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