Why is the U.S. Spending More Than $1 Trillion for Drugs?

The global market for pharmaceuticals was worth more than $693 billion in 2007. It is expected to increase to over $737 billion in 2008 and will top $1.0 trillion in 2013.

The market is divided into branded prescription drugs, generic prescription drugs and over-the-counter products. Branded prescription drugs have the largest share of the market, with more than $525 billion in sales during 2007.

The second largest segment, generic prescription drugs, will experience the highest growth rate over the next few years. It was worth $78.5 billion in 2007 and will nearly double, to almost $152 billion, by the end of 2013.

Sources:
a.. PharmaLive.com June 11, 2008

Dr. Mercola's Comments:
Unfortunately most of the population has been brainwashed to take a pill to feel better. I was reminded of this recently when I took a treadmill EKG for an insurance physical. The staff was in utter disbelief that I was not on any medications and questioned me several times on that.

Do You Have a "Drug Addict" Mindset?

There are times when drugs are necessary, but the bottom line is that most of the time they aren't. Unfortunately, when you buy into the mindset that you need a drug to "fix" you, two things happen that begin to feed on each other, creating a never-ending loop of deteriorating health.

First, and most obviously, you subject your body to a potentially toxic substance.

Second, and this is more on a subconscious level, it reinforces the idea in your mind that your body cannot heal itself. Each time you take a pill you're telling yourself that only these drugs can do that.

Which, of course, is a lie designed to empty your pocketbooks into drug company coffers.

Instead the drugs are invariably creating other problems, which will lead to yet another prescription to counteract the side effects from the first one, followed by another one, and another.

This is clearly shown in the statistics of prescriptions per capita, which has grown exponentially in the past 75 years. In 1929, the average American received less than two prescriptions per year. By 2006, the average annual prescription rate per capita in the United States was:

a.. just over 4 prescriptions per child (age 0-18)
b.. almost 11 prescriptions per adult (age 19-64), and
c.. a whopping 28 prescriptions per senior, aged 65 and over!
This is an insult to the immense and innate healing power of your body. There is just no way you would ever need that many drugs to stay healthy. These numbers are a sad reminder of just how successfully industry has turned our society into a "pharmacracy" where every twitch is deemed suitable for another prescription.

What's Your Drug of Choice?

I'm guessing most of you reading this would not take drugs like heroin or cocaine. After all, recreational drugs are responsible for an estimated 10,000 to 20,000 U.S. deaths each year.

Well, an estimated 106,000 hospitalized patients die each year from drugs that, by medical standards, are properly prescribed and properly administered, according to an article in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA).

Two million more suffer serious side effects.

Taking this a step further, consider the medical error and mortality rate of conventional medicine in this light:

1. The recorded error rate of ICU's is like the post office losing more than 16,000 pieces of mail every hour of every day, or banks deducting 32,000 checks from the wrong bank account every hour, 24/7

2. The recorded medical errors and deaths equate to six jumbo jets falling out of the sky each day, 365 days a year

3. Since 2001, a recorded 490,000 people have died from properly prescribed drugs in the United States, while 2,996 people died on U.S. soil from terrorism, all in the 9/11 attacks; prescription drugs are therefore 16,400 percent more dangerous than terrorism.

4. If deaths from over-the-counter drugs are also included, then drug consumption leaps to being 32,000 percent more dangerous than terrorism. And conventional medicine viewed as a whole is 104,700 percent deadlier than terrorism

With these kinds of odds, does it still make sense to take prescription drugs for problems that lifestyle changes can often resolve?

Most Drugs are Completely Unnecessary

As much as the drug companies want you to believe that it's normal to take medicine every day, it's NOT. It is the rare exception that you should ever need to take a drug.

Of course, you should work with your health care provider (preferably a holistic-minded one) in determining which ones are really vital, but I can tell you this: if you are suffering from any one of the following common conditions, drugs are not the answer:

1. Arthritis
2. High cholesterol
3. Cognitive decline
4. Depression
5. Diabetes
6. High blood pressure
7. Osteoporosis

And that's just for starters.

Inching Closer to the Tipping Point

Help spread the word as far and wide as you can; relying on drugs will never give you the healthy body and mind you desire. What will give you optimal health is a bit of work on your part, to eat healthy, to exercise, to relieve your stress -- all of the things I detail in my Take Control of Your Health program.

And there is light on the horizon. For the first time in history the drug cartel is slated to have negative growth in 2011. However, this means you and your children are in for more aggressive pharmaceutical advertising, as they're focusing more of their marketing efforts on direct-to-consumer advertising.

So let's keep the momentum going and not let up for even a second. One of the easiest things you can do is to regularly review this newsletter to keep current on the latest deceptions and frauds the drug companies are trying to get away with, and share it with all of your friends and family so that they're aware of the issues too.

from: http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2008/07/03/why-is-the-u-s-spending-more-than-1-trillion-for-drugs.aspx?source=nl