Are people taking too many unnecessary prescription drugs? Yes: prescription drugs are promoted for conditions that do not warrant them. Pharmaceutical companies push doctors to prescribe unnecessary drugs / Paul J. Rosch ; The pharmaceutical industry influences government, consumers, and medical professionals / Drugwatch.com ; So young and so many pills / Anna Wilde Mathews
No: many people do not take enough medication to protect their health. Insufficient or improper use of prescription drugs wastes billions of dollars / Christian Nordqvist
Giving drugs to healthy people can prevent them from developing serious illness / Dean Herbert ; Pharmacists key to improving mediocre medication adherence levels / Daniel Weiss.
Are prescription drug prices unjustifiably high? Overview: many factors influence the cost of prescription drugs / Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation
Yes: The prices of prescription drugs are excessive. Pharmaceutical companies make too much profit on expensive drugs / Mary Hiers ; Prescription drugs cost what the market will bear / Jessica Wapner ; Prescription drug prices are increased by unnecessary regulations / Devon M. Herrick
No: high prescription drug prices are justifiable. New drugs cost so much to develop that pharmaceutical companies make little profit / Derek Lowe ; Obamacare vs. drug innovation / William S. Smith.
How serious is the problem of prescription drug abuse? Many people are addicted to drugs that were prescribed for them in the past / Randy Turner ; One in four teens admits to having misused or abused a prescription drug / Cassie Goldberg ; A new prescription for fighting drug abuse / Ron Schachter ; Let's end the prescription drug death epidemic / Sanjay Gupta ; Fraud involving prescription drug abuse is a problem for employers / Jay Krueger ; The Federal Government is taking action to reduce prescription drug abuse / Executive Office of the President of the United States.
What other problems are occurring with prescription drugs? Children are being accidentally poisoned by adults' prescription drugs / Steven Reinberg ; Babies are being born addicted to prescription drugs / Associated Press ; Prescription drug residue harms wildlife and the environment / Sonia Shah ; Counterfeit prescription drugs are often sold and can be deadly / Richard Console ; Increasing shortages of prescription drugs put patients at risk / Jill Wechsler ; Doctors receive incentives for promoting untested uses of existing drugs / Kathleen Sharp ; Proposals to allow more drugs to be sold without a prescription are controversial / Robert Goldberg.
