A Proliferation of Drugs

When I was a kid growing up in the 50s and 60s you would go to a pharmacy/drug store and you would notice a soda fountain, an area dedicated to the mixing of various soft drinks such as colas and root beers, and Moxie and tamarindo. Many of them would have a long bar or counter with anywhere from 6 to 12 stools. I used to go to the drug store (Burdens) to get an ice cream soda or frappe or a vanilla drink with pinapple bits or whatever concoction the soda jerk would make. There was very little shelf space dedicated for the sale of non prescription drugs, maybe because there were so few of them.

You would go there to purchase cod liver oil, castor oil, Bayer aspirin, Anacin tablets, Brioschi and Alka-Seltzer for indigestion. Ace bandages and those rubbery hot water bottles were also a big seller. They would also carry liniments and ointments for various aches and pains. The biggest prescription drug back then was probably penicillin.

Fast forward to today and you will have a hard time finding an independent druggist. Most have been replaced by the CVS and Brooks and Walgreens of the world. Walk into any large supermarket and your likely to find a pharmacy area. Other than the early morning hours you will always have to wait in line to pick up your prescriptions. You will also find a 50 or 60 foot aisle dedicated strictly for ibuprofen type pain relievers, not to mention 7 or 8 additional aisles for other non-prescription type drugs.

What happened to the soda fountain? I don't remember when they started to disappear from the drug stores. I remember that there were always more people waiting at that counter than there were waiting for prescription drugs. Somewhere along the line a gradual and suble shift took place where now the prescription drug counter is always the busiest part of the store. How did such a healthy nation of people suddenly come down with so many maladies?

Many of the prescriptions back then were only temporary and were never issued with refills. A lot of medications prescribed now seem to be for a lifetime. Your cholesterol is at 220, no problem, you will be on Lipitor for the rest of your life. My mother, who is 82, is now on a regiment of taking 8 different types of pills a day and anytime she tells her doctor of a new ache or pain the doctor is ready to offer her another new drug.

These doctors who all started with good intentions have all become legitimate drug pushers. Between them and the illegal drug pushers, I'd say a high percentage of the people in this country are on drugs. As a kid growing up in the North End, the mob used to make their money by loan sharking and book making. Then somewhere in the mid 60's they decided (with much objection from the old timers) that more money could be made by diversifying and going into the sale of illegal drugs. I think some of the characters from the mob infiltrated the likes of Bristol Myers and Pfizer.

I thought only the Mafia had foot soldiers until one day while waiting to see a neurologist on Beacon Street I spotted a foot soldier from one of the drug companies. The guy was sharply dressed and a smooth talker. He went right up to the receptionist as if he had known her for a long time and said that he had something for the doctor. It reminded me of the days of hanging out on the corner in the North End when the loan shark would make his weekly rounds to collect the vig on outstanding loans. You sort of knew from the tone of his voice that you were'nt going to get rid of him easily. As a matter of fact you had better do what he said otherwise there would be trouble.

The receptionist tried her best to get him to leave but he persisted and waited until the doctor came out of his office. You would think that with a few people in the waiting area the salesman would have been more discreet. He went right up to the doctor and gave him a few gifts along with a box that contained samples of a fairly new drug that he wanted pushed. That transaction took place right in fron of my eyes and was probably repeated numerous times on Beacon street that day. With the shake of his hand the pat on his back and the wink, the doctor knew exactly what the foot soldier wanted. If he pushed these new pills, there would be a cut for him. What was illegal in the North End was now legalized in the doctor's office since it had the backing of the FDA, the Godfather of the drug companies. When the salesman left, I could swear that he was wearing a shark skinned suit. Boy was he slick!

What is different today that we have a nation of drug addicts? Knock on wood, thank God, my three boys have never needed to be put on medication other than the occasional antibiotic for an infection here or there. Go to any school in this country and you will see young children lining up at the nurse's office for their daily dose of Ritalin. I ask why? I don't see any difference in kids today than when I was growing up. Actually there is a difference in that there is definetly more affluence. Kids acted up then just as much as they do now but they weren't drugged. They were sent outside to run around and play and by the time they came home they not only had a good appetite but were also too tired to act up.

In 1932, Aldous Huxley wrote a novel, Brave New World (required reading at Boston Latin School), that depicted a "utopian" society, one that was insane and bent on control. It was a controlled civilization, using as he stated, "technique of suggestion - through infant conditioning and , later, with the aid of drugs." This has become a reality as evidenced by the 17 million children worldwide consuming mind-altering drugs. In the U. S. alone, 1.5 million children and adolescents on antidepressants are at risk of known, drug-induced violent or suicidal side effects.

Why is it that in the United States today, more than 6 million children are taking mind-altering psychiatric drugs for the learning and behavioral “disorder,” ADHD and two million children take antidepressant and antipsychotic drugs? Maybe it's to fatten the drug companies' bottom lines. They're certainly not doing it "for the children."

I'll leave you with a story from one of my favorite authors, Leo Buscaglia. He tells how his Mama believed that garlic was the cure-all for any disease. Every morning she'd line her kids up and she'd rub garlic on a little hankie and tie it around their necks. They'd say, "Mama, don't do that." She'd say, "Shut up." (She was a very loving woman.) She'd send them off to school with this garlic around their necks and they stunk to high heaven, But as Leo says, he was never sick a day. His theory was that no one ever got close enough to him to pass the germs. He got an award at the end of elementary school for never having missed a day.