Opinion
Are prescription drugs legal slavery?
- Details
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26 May 2011
- Written by Tri-State Defender Newsroom
Dr. Timothy Moore |
From my vantage point, I deduced that the scene at the pharmacy had to be a new form of slavery – albeit legal. Like a slave depending on his master for a handout, I could see how dependent the people were on prescription drugs, or “magic” pills, I should say.
What happened to us? Are we dependent on drugs to live? The ironic thing at the pharmacy was, not only did some people get one prescription filled, many of them left the store with five or more prescription drugs.
Sound absurd? Of course, it does. However, people tend to get angry if they can’t get more drugs to relieve their health problems.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 48 percent of individuals used at least one prescription drug a month between 2005-08. The CDC also reported that one out of every five children and nine out of 10 older Americans used one prescription the past month.
The United States has spent over $234.4 billion a year on prescriptions, the National Center for Health Statistics, a branch of the CDC, reported in September 2010. The number seems to jump each year, with more dependency and less attention to nutrition, and the role it plays in overcoming a lot of health-related issues.
The most common drug used by children was for asthma. Adolescents reportedly take more central nervous system stimulants; middle-aged adults, antidepressants; and older adults, cholesterol lowering medication.
Where did this madness start?
It started at the office of primary care providers, where 2.3 billion prescriptions were written. Outpatient prescriptions were 280.1 million and emergency room prescriptions were 238.3 million, according to the National Ambulatory Medical Care, a national survey that collects ambulatory medical data.
This has to stop; it must begin with you, however. Do you want a better quality of life? Have you forgotten about health prevention, choosing instead to focus more attention on your health problems? Or will you wait to decide if you should make the necessary changes to achieve optimum health?
Living healthy should be your immediate goal. Strive to live a pain-free life, free from prescription drugs, if you can. Too many people are afraid – for some reason or another, though – to eat vegetables and fruit because of what someone has said about eating them. Would you reconsider eating vegetables and fruit if they could reverse your health problems? Or should I say more pointedly, do you want to live a long, happy life?
My clients have chosen to live a long, happy life. They’ve decided to become drug-free and learned how to prepare foods that are nutritious and beneficial to the body. The most important advice I can give you is, eat leafy green vegetables, drink plenty of pure water, and exercise to help you overcome a lot of your health problems.
It’s time out for feeling bad about yourself. It’s time now to live as never before. Your dependence on prescription drugs has to stop. It’s just a mind game. Advertisers want you to believe there is hope in a pill bottle. The truth of the matter is that there is death in a pill bottle. However, I wouldn’t advise you to disregard the doctor’s order. Think logically and wisely.
Let’s go into the kitchen today and make some necessary changes. Start by discarding or removing some of the known foods that can cause you to be sick. Read the labels. Learn what those big words mean, such as gluten, high fructose corn syrup, trans fat, saturated fat, etc. They can wreak havoc on the body, so can fried foods, sweets, surgery drinks, and cakes.
A better quality of life and health should be your ultimate goal. I challenge you to eat more vegetables and fruit for a few days and start noticing the small changes. This is a must if you want a better quality of life and health. Make the first step – today!
(Dr. Timothy Moore teaches nutrition, heart disease and diabetes reversal through a plant-based lifestyle. He is a professional speaker, wellness coach and personal plant-based chef. He can be reached by email at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or visit him on the Web sites at http://www.cheftimothymoore.com or http://www.twitter.com/cheftimmoore.)
