The healthcare thread is too much of a clusterfuck, but if necessary this can be merged. I'll let someone else decide.


I advocate for something pretty radical in this department. I propose that prescriptions and the branch of the FDA that registers drugs be completely eliminated. I suggest that every drug should be available from the pharmacy freely. I think that in the internet age, those who wish to do their own research can and should be able to do this without being forced to have a doctor approve something for their ingestion. I think the prescription system in general is a severe infringement on personal liberty.

Clearly, the majority of people would still seek drug advice from their doctors. The main benefit of this proposal is it would vastly increase personal liberty over one's body. It would also eliminate a huge profit-motivated and deeply corrupt system of doctors being tied to drug companies. It would save many people a great deal of money. I might suggest that it would even be a lot safer in some cases, because doctors these days are not experts on the vast majority of drugs, and personal research into a drug is likely to give you a lot more information than a doctor would use to prescribe something.

As far as the FDA is concerned, I think that any drug should be allowed on the market. The key is that there is complete transparency in ingredients, side-effects, and interactions. The drug manufacturer would be held responsible for adverse effects not listed with their product. This is obviously a very strong market incentive to properly test drugs. I don't want to get rid of the FDA completely ( not necessarily at least, not as it pertains to this topic) because some of the testing they do such as restaraunt inspections I feel are worthwhile.

I'm not sure where to begin with this. You certainly didn't put in any thought process before hitting the submit button.

I've always thought a better idea would be to control the ability of drug companies to basically pay doctors to write scripts for certain drugs. I work in health care and am constantly disgusted by the amount of free shit given to physicians by drug reps. They shouldn't even be allowed into the clinics and hospitals where they push a large portion of the shit they're selling. Let the physicians choose the proper prescription based on sound medical findings.

edit: on second thought, I won't dignify sunny with a response.

Please go on. I would love to hear this explanation.

It probably has something to do with the Zeitgeist.

1st of all, ignore the obvious problems that would result in making controlled substances readily available.

Beyond that, the transparency you are requiring in regards to drug interactions is a total impossibiltiy. There are thousands of drugs, that all react differently. Drug A and Drug B together maybe fine. But throw seemingly harmless drug L and a glass of milk and you die instantly. There are literally Billions of permutations of drug combinations out there.

Also, you are thinking WAY too much like someone with knowledge and an internet connection. A good percentage of people still do not have the ability to use the internet for anything, much less something as potentially harmful as self medication. Not to mention the elderly, and illiterate.

I wholeheartedly disagree. There is a reason we train and pay our doctors. They may not know the specifics of every single drug, but they know the general risks and side-effects and are far more experienced to identify what people should/shouldn't be taking. There's a lot of dangerous shit becoming available, and the internet is too much of an unreliable source.

If people want that level of independence then fair enough...on the condition that if they self diagnose and almost kill themselves with some internet drug, they're no longer eligible to health care and advice that they have now claimed they know better than.

The internet age has not made people more knowledgeable, it has made them think they're more knowledgable.

Kinda the whole point is that there shouldn't be any controlled substances. We should be able to ingest whatever we wish.

You are right about drug reactions. A lot of times you just don't know what will react. However, you realize that the doctor certainly won't know about reactions any better than the pharmaceutical company, right? If a pharm company doesn't know it and doesn't put it on the label, the doctor certainly won't know it. By the way, it's usually the pharmacist himself that identifies or notices when there might be an interaction because they are the ones that are more familiar with specific ingredients and all the chemistry, etc. A pharmacist would still have the job they have now... they look at the drug when you get it and tell you if he thinks they would be any reactions with what you're already taking. Of course if you don't provide information on what you're already taking, it's your own damn fault.

Last paragraph is irrelevant. The point is, the information is available. More importantly, people should have the choice. Right now we are enslaved to a system that requires us to spend tons of money so a doctor can tell us what we can or can't do. Even once we know what medication we need, sometimes something we have to take for the rest of our life, we still have to pay to go get prescriptions refilled.

The bottom line is the responsibility should be in the hands of the individual. If you want to risk your life by testing out random drugs, you suffer the consequences. If you are smart, you will either research extensively or consult your doctor, or probably both. If you aren't smart, you will probably just ask your doctor anyway, but if you are reckless enough to take something without research or asking your doctor, that's your choice to make.

Your first paragraph just isn't true. Doctors are not trained and paid to know specifics OR general risks and side-effects of drugs. Ask any doctor and they will tell you it's impossible to keep up with all the drugs that come out. They aren't trained chemists.

Your second paragraph is exactly right. Since we are talking hypothetical systems, under my proposed system insurance would not cover any drug in the first place unless it was prescribed by a doctor and harmful effects from the negligent use of drugs would be treated the same way tabacco, obesity, or narcotic related illness would, they wouldn't be covered.

The internet age has made people more potentially knowledgable. We may not be smarter, but there is more information at our fingertips than any time in history. But really that is besides the point.

My roommate is a pharmaceutical sales rep and says she knows way more about the drugs in general than do the doctors. Doctors don't have required training or anything like that and there are heaps of new drugs coming out that are made to work for so many different situations and people...

deep in my heart, i am hoping this is just a jab at libratarians, and not something you actually think is a good idea.

People that fuck libraries?

Fuck.

We know bhed hates those deep dark perversions.

Way to make a better joke than me bart.

No, I'm actually very serious about this. If it weren't a contradiction by modern terms, I would probably call myself a libertarian socialist.

You know that's an actual political philosophy right? That's what Noam Chomsky is.

They're not quite as behind the times as that. GPs regularly have to attend lectures to keep up with modern drugs and techniques. They can't possibly know about the ins and outs of every new drug, but as someone said earlier they will recognise possible risky combinations. My dad and uncle are GPs and there's nothing that annoys them more than someone coming in who has 'found something on the internet'. It fills people with false information and diminishes trust.

But yeah if you're to concede they can take full responsibility and fill themselves up to the eyeballs then let them play. I don't care - their families might. It'll be good for the drugs trade too.

It's totally different though. Noam Chomsky is essentially an anarcho-socialist and they believe a lot of things that are different from what I believe.