Just write another prescription, Doc.

Here are a few interesting tidbits about the worldwide rise of pharmaceuticals from a recent Forbes.com article:
In 2005, prescription drug sales broke the $600 billion mark for the first time in history - a leap of 7% over the year before.
Sales in the nine biggest markets (the U.S. included) grew by 5.7%, while sales in developing nations like Russia, Mexico, China and South Korea averaged a blistering 81% growth year over year!
Approximately 2,300 purely experimental drugs are currently being tested on humans worldwide, while 212 more are in late-stage human trials.
So-called "biotech" drugs (protein-based, injected) grew 17% to more than $50 billion in sales.
Think drugs are taking over medicine, or what?

No wonder control of the FDA is such a pivotal advantage for either political party. Holding the reins to the domestic approvals of tomorrow's prescription medications spells hundreds of billions of dollars into the pockets of drug companies - and into the government's coffers...

Only one thing is missing: Any kind of objective oversight or accountability.

You go to see the doctor, and what do you usually get? Another prescription! My mother was feeling drugged out, so she went through her prescriptions and sidelined all but one drug per ailment. Now she's starting to feel human again. It's a lot easier for a doctor to write a prescription than it is to really listen to the patient.