There's a Pill for That

Waterfowl.

In October of 2011 the National Center for Health Statistics released a report which stated that the number of people in the United States with prescriptions for antidepressants increased more than 400% from 1988 to 2008.  Prescriptions for amphetamine-based drugs used to treat ADD and ADHD saw a similar increase just between 1996 and 1999. Over-prescription of antibiotics has led the Center for Disease Control to call antibiotic resistance a major health problem in the U.S.  The average American takes 12 prescription drugs a year, compared to seven twenty years ago.  We are taking enough prescription drugs that they are appearing in measurable quantities in our waste water.

Sadly, our health, mental or physical is no better.  We are overweight and unhappy, and choking in the cost of our own medical care.  We still love MacDonald's and beer and we still don't exercise.  Our use of prescription drugs has become a symptom of our greater illness.  Take pause. Take a walk.  Take care of yourself.  Sometimes there is no magic pill. 

References Cited:

http://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/astounding-increase-in-antidepressant-use-by-americans-201110203624

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/medicating/drugs/stats.html

http://www.chrt.org/publications/price-of-care/issue-brief-2011-02-antibiotic-prescribing-and-use/

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2011/jun/20/healthcare-drugspolicy

The Mexico City Policy

choice.

Today is the 36th anniversary of Roe v. Wade. My entire life experience is from within the context of the rights provided by this decision. I am probably not capable of correctly picturing the ways in which the lives of myself and my friends would be different had we lacked reproductive rights. But here are a few things I do know:

Worldwide, there are more than 200 million women who wish to avoid or delay pregnancy and who do not have access to modern contraception.

Every minute of every day, a woman dies from a pregnancy-related cause.

More than 33 million people are living with HIV/AIDS worldwide.

Worldwide, approximately 19 million unsafe abortions are performed annually.

The number of people, primarily women, living in extreme poverty worldwide is 1.3 billion.

Improved access to birth control, women's health services, and HIV prevention can improve gender equality, maternal health, and child survival; and reduce poverty worldwide.

For more information or to take action contact Planned Parenthood:

http://www.ppaction.org/network/join.html?qp_source=ppolweb

For a brief history of reproductive rights in the United States:

http://select.nytimes.com/2005/11/29/opinion/30timeline.html

(statistics courtesy of Planned Parenthood, 2008)