Do you know anyone taking prescription drugs? The odds are enormous you do. And they are likely taking drugs they don’t need because their doctors are too quick to fall under the influence of Big Pharma’s aggressive drug sales reps.
Consider these statistics: almost half of all Americans are currently diagnosed with a chronic condition and 40 percent of those older than 60 taking five or more medications. Is it possible that many people in the U.S. have illnesses that need to be treated with multiple drugs?
This question raises issues about the nature of the relationship between the expanding definition of chronic illness and the explosion of prescription drug use in the U.S. — issues Michigan State University anthropologist Linda M. Hunt, PhD., decided to research.