Drug Commercials Send Wrong Message

Mary Rieser, CCDC and Executive Director of Narconon of Georgia drug rehab, had the following observations:

"How are you feeling today? Not so well?  Just plop down in front of the television tonight and you’ll soon be given the opportunity to diagnose yourself.  Double check with your doctor if you want to make sure you’re right.  Chances are your doctor is also familiar with the pharmaceutical commercials.

"Do restless legs keep you awake?  This can be fixed with a pill.  If the side effects of the pill cause you to gamble away all your money, you don’t need to feel depressed for long.  There are pills to fix this too, and a big bus will deliver them for next to nothing.

"Before you go to bed decide if you want to sleep or have sex.   There is a different pill for each.  (The commercials don’t tell us what happens if you take both at once.)   If you opt for the sex pill and notice at 2 am difficulty with your anatomy (if it lasts for more than four hours) the ad says to call your doctor. You might have to wait for a more convenient time for him to meet you at the office to fix the problem.

"Too fat?  Eyes watering or are they too dry?  Are you afraid you might wet your pants or worse, do you have to wear long sleeves in summer?  Don’t fret.  It can all be fixed.  Take a pill and enjoy life in living color.

"As our population is lulled into the safety and normalcy of fixing everything with medication is it any wonder that prescription drug abuse and subsequent addiction are on the rise at an alarming rate? 

"Young people are more addicted now to what they find in the medicine cabinet, than what they find on the street, and for the first time, in some parts of the country, more people are dying from overdoses of pharmaceuticals than street drugs.  Prescription drug abuse is the second most commonly abused substance now (excepting alcohol).  This didn’t use to be the case.  

"People are getting addicted and we are told that some brains are more apt to have a drug problem than others.  These brains apparently short wire and make the person crave drugs.  How did these 'brains' even learn about drugs- whether it be street or pharmaceutical?  Should we be educating our kids about drugs on TV?

"When I was a child, all my friends had Barbie dolls.  We saw her on TV and had to have one – some girls had a dozen.   We were obsessed.  Fortunately, most of us outgrew our “Barbie brain” and didn’t need rehab.  No one had to come up with a vaccine to make us not want Barbie.  Barbie apparently is non-addictive long term.  But today, in contrast, television ads are leading children to major drug addiction, not Barbie dolls.

"Most people understand that there are times when the proper medication is life saving and necessary.  Some ailments such as diabetes require long-term maintenance, but not everything can be treated with pill.

"Let’s get wise.  There is no pill to bring the dead back to life or to cure young people who have become addicted."
         
If someone you know has a drug abuse problem and you want answers, not theories, call Narconon.

Come over to the other side of life – one that is drug free, happy and productive.

Narconon is the New Life Program.

For more information on drug addiction rehabilitation or drug education, call Narconon of Georgia at 1-877-413-3073.
 
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