Cautious decisions

When did we become so weak as a society that we have to blame anyone but ourselves for our actions?

Pharmacies and pharmaceutical companies exist to provide needed medications. Physicians prescribe medications based on their diagnoses.

Patients are expected to follow recommendations and to be honest about their needs. When they lie and manipulate to obtain unneeded medications, be it antibiotics or narcotics, therein lies the root of some of the crisis in medicine today.

Patients know when they are misusing drugs. They do not want to admit it, but denial is part of the addictive process.

Yes, marketing plays a role in prescribing. Yet narcotics are a very old thing, older than most medications. That they are addictive is no secret. Physicians know this. Patients know this.

Long-acting drugs were a blessing for patients with terrible pain. The word got out and people began to demand pain relief. Doctors obliged. But in the end, the demand is on the part of the consumer. It is time to face the hard truth as consumers that if you take narcotics for other than short-term acute pain you may become dependent on them, and abuse of them leads to addiction.

People make decisions every day with full knowledge of the risks. Cigarette companies do not make consumers smoke. Beer companies do not tell consumers to drink and drive. Pharmaceutical companies do not tell consumers to abuse medications. This blame game is only going to result in shortages and higher prices. CAROL SCHMIDT

New Brighton