I am taking the liberty of posting this at this forum because it is dedicated to Andreas Moritz. At the same time I realize that some other forum may be more appropriate for this topic.

Dedicated to Andreas Moritz:
For your Satsang,
For your Wisdom and Healings
For being the person you are.

Ode to the Pharmaceutical Man

If one ever wondered about the future of Homo Sapiens, the NY Times has provided the answer. In a recent article the Times talked about the ?Pharmaceutical Man?. The Times did not say whether the ?Pharmaceutical Man? represents evolution or devolution of Homo Sapiens. But hey, we are living in the best country-in the best of all possible worlds! So the coming of the ?Pharmaceutical Man? has to be an evolutionary step of the Homo Sapiens!
The signs of this evolution abound. Nexium, Prevacid, Lipitor, Crestor and other such pills have become household words. Neighbors, friends, relatives are all taking at least one pill and more often several pills. Televi
sion, Radio and print media are full of ?life enhancing? benefits of these and other wonder drugs. And newspapers go even one step further. Not a day passes without an article or two, heralding the latest study ?demonstrating? the supposed benefits, and extended usefulness of one kind of pill or another kind of pill!
Last year we spent $ 163 billion dollars on pharmaceutical drugs. One way to put this in perspective is to look at our spending statistics! We are spending more on pharmaceutical drugs than on fruits and vegetables, all dairy products and all bakery products combined! And it is not surprising! Within a radius of 6 miles from my house, there are 20 pharmacies and 4 grocery stores! Clearly somebody wants to speed up this ?evolution?!

As we continue to indulge in pharmaceuticals, there are howls and cries from supporters and detractors of this ?evolution?! Let me first take the supporters. They have a number of arguments pertaining to health care, but they all fall in to two basic categories:
1 They are concerned about the high cost of prescription drugs. They are also incensed that these same drugs cost a lot less in Canada and Mexico. So they want our Government to provide prescription drug benefits and also allow importation of these drugs from Canada.
2 They are also concerned that some 44 million of us do not have any health insurance and to paraphrase president Bush, we should not leave any man, woman or child behind as we march forward. These 44 million people have no opportunity to evolve into Pharmaceutical Man! They have no access to expensive diagnostic procedures and the miracle of prescription drugs!
These well meaning people have valid points. As it is we are spending 15 to 18% more every year on prescription drugs. With 44 million more people joining our ranks, this ?evolution? would pick up additional momentum. But there are problems, almost unsolvable problems with their proposed solutions to this dilemma! I mean, every one has a right to evolve into ?Pharmaceutical Man? but it is not nice to have them break their bank just to be one of us! Importing drugs from Canada is at best a stop gap measure. More imports and the result would be that the Canadian drugs would become as expensive as US drugs; we will be where we are and poor Canadians will find it difficult to remain in the rank of Pharmaceutical Man and may have to opt out! Regarding comprehensive health plan and prescription drug benefits, the picture is equally grim. Where are the necessary funds to do this? Tax cut for our most deserving rich and continuing war on terror have depleted US Treasury! Of course, the Government can always print more money, but is that wise? That will only result in significant inflation and dollar will begin to slide into oblivion!
So we are back to rugged individualism, a trait we are justly famous for! We can decide to opt out of this ?evolutionary development? or we can scrape the bottom of the barrel, tighten our belts and pay homage to the ?pharmaceutical man? I observe that along with 20 pharmacies and 4 grocery stores in my neighborhood, there are over 40 restaurants and fast food Eateries. In addition there are some 10 gas stations that also provide snacks! That isn?t nice! I mean we have to sacrifice something! That ratio is all wrong! May be 10 Eating places are enough. Imagine the dollars saved! May be enough for some Lipitor or Nexium! The poor among us will still have a hard time, but you can?t take every one, can you?

There are some who oppose this ?evolution?. They decry the pill popping culture. They bemoan serious side effects and even deaths resulting from rightly and wrongly prescribed drugs and so on. I am afraid they don?t get it! That is the nature of the evolution! Natural Selection, at its best! There are those who can not adapt and it is unfortunate that they can not join the vast majority in this wonderful adventure. On a more optimistic note, just look at our success in correcting Nature?s mistakes. Past Evolution has given us unnecessary organs! We do not need Gall Bladder, Appendix, and Tonsils! And advances in Medical Science have made it easy to remove them! Soon, very soon we will be able to redesign Liver, so that it more readily accepts all these miracle drugs. The real ?Pharmaceutical Man? can not be burdened with a liver that can not handle a wide variety of life enhancing drugs! This oversight of Nature has to be corrected!

Think of the weapons in Pharmaceutical Man?s arsenal! There are pills for every acute as well as chronic illness! Isn?t that wonderful! And there is more! Are you depressed? There are pills for that! Does your child?s attention wander from time to time? There is a pill for that too! Do you have pre or post menstrual pains and aches? There are pills for that! Do you want to diet but are finding it difficult? There are pills to suppress appetite. You say, you have no appetite? There are pills for that too! There are pills for allergies and pills for drinking problem! You want to enhance your mood? There are pills for that too! You find life?s day to day stresses difficult to handle? Well, there are pills for that!

With these Weapons of Mass Enhancement (WME) and more and even better pills soon to come, there is no doubt that the Pharmaceutical Man is here to stay and is assured of a glorious future.

As for me, my prayer is this: ?Please stop the World, I want to get off!?