If I went to my doctor and told him that I think I suffer from an anxiety disorder because I can’t focus and I’m always concerned about everything under the sun, would you take a bet that I’d walk out that day with a prescription for benzodiazepines? I bet I would. I’ve watched people do it and there was nothing wrong with them. On the other hand, I’ve seen people with legitimate anxiety or depression get massive amounts of benzos prescribed to them - along the lines of 13 a day, including XANAX, Ativan, and Clonazepam. I could be crazy myself, but it seems to me that anyone requiring that kind of medication at such high dosages shouldn’t be walking the street.
All this chatter about prescription drugs and those who become addicted through legitimate and illegitimate means is giving me anxiety. But I’m not going to the doctor’s office. I’ve seen the damage these drugs do and I’m not going to fall under that spell. I don’t even like taking Tylenol.
So, now people who don’t look like your average drug addict can fool themselves into thinking they’re not addicts and not in need of addiction treatment because they have this prescription and it’s what the doctor wants them to do so they can be well. Soccer moms, middle school straight A students, corporate moguls, movie stars, socialites, and our idols of all kinds are popping pills and making it all feel better. From XANAX to Vicodin and Ritilan to Valium, a larger percentage of our society has at least tried these drugs without a prescription and many more abuse their prescriptions. I don’t know about anyone else, but this is ludicrous to me.
It’s not so much about treating the problem anymore as it about money. These pharmaceutical companies pay money to private clinics and doctors for prescribing these dangerous drugs, and that kind of incentive, I have no doubt, drives misdiagnoses and over-medicating. I won’t even get into the irreparable damage these drugs cause to the brain. I’m outraged and it seems like this epidemic is only beginning.
