No life without pills? The medicalization of everyday life
Medicines have become a new society drug. It is pretended that there is a remedy for and against everything. The shelves in the supermarkets and drugstores are full of performance-supporting pills and tonics claiming to strengthen the immunity defence system although the consumers of the small and multicoloured pills are usually not only old and ill people but an increasing number of healthy, most of them young, people. Never was the taking of pills so widespread as today. Even minor feelings of unease have to go - quickly, effortlessly and without complications: "Switch off the pain ", this is the motto of a well-known ad for aspirin. Often more or less effective drugs are taken instead of considering a certainly sometimes bothersome change of life style, just like a healthy diet, enough sleep and exercise. It seems easy and comfortable to solve every problem with drugs but it is to the expense of the consumer, and often it is useless if not dangerous. The pharmaceutical industry profits from this attitude and gains a lot: Germans spend approx. 4,5 billion euros on over-the-counter drugs for self-medication.
BUKO Pharma-Kampagne sharpens the consumer’s consciousness against lifestyle drugs, useless vitamin pills and psychopharmaceuticals which are often taken without hesitation. It promotes a rational use of drugs so that they are only taken if they really can help.
You can read more on this topic in: No life without pills? BUKO Pharma-News 1-2002 [PDF/ 258 kB]
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