4 ms·

If prescriptions were not necessary, drug advertising would be even more heavily targeted at average consumers, addiction problems would be more widespread, and

If prescriptions were not necessary, drug advertising would be even more heavily targeted at average consumers, addiction problems would be more widespread, and anyone could operate a doctor's office without a license or proper education. You should have the right to put whatever you want into your body, but drug companies and pharmacies should not have the right to sell whatever they want to you. Fundamentally, you have not "done the research and weighed the risks" unless you went to medical school.

darkerside 10y ago
I disagree that medical school makes anyone more of an expert on my body than me. Not to discount years of experience and training physicians have, but it's just one leg of the stool. By over-weighting it, you become just another patient who is not staying informed and involved with their own treatment. Doctors know a lot, but you can ask any doctor if they know everything about the human body, and they'll sure tell you they don't. I think sensible people can choose to procure FDA approved treatments through conventional providers. It's a jump to assume that, just because alternative treatments are available, everybody will be lining up to purchase them.
- burkaman 10y ago
  I'm not talking about alternative treatments. If prescriptions are not necessary, anyone can buy opiates without understanding the risks of addiction. Anyone can open a doctor's office, charge half as much as a real doctor, and recommend whatever drugs they feel like. Anyone can buy some heart medication they saw on TV because they've been having chest pains. Doctors absolutely know more about your body than you do. Obviously they don't know everything, and patients should be active and involved, but that doesn't mean you can cut out the doctor because you read a few papers. Letting drug companies sell anything to anybody would be immensely damaging to society.
  - darkerside 10y ago
    I agree doctors know a lot, but they are human. Most specialize in a narrow subset, and that is the lens through which they will treat you. That's not always a bad thing, but I will respectfully disagree and say that I know more about my own body than a doctor I'm meeting for the first time (i.e. most specialists). Legalization of drugs, including opiates, has been successful (or at least not disastrous) in many societies. What makes you think it would be a disaster here? Also, it's a straw man to argue that random people would be opening up doctor's offices. I'm not advocating that we remove the MD from anybody's name.
    - burkaman 10y ago
      Legalization of drugs is "successful" in that it's a lot better than jailing people, but addiction is still a huge problem for society. If someone really wants to get high, there's not much we can do to stop them, and that's an acceptable consequence of drug legalization. But what we can stop is someone in a lot of pain who buys way too much Oxycodone and gets addicted because they didn't understand the risks. Right now, they'd have to go see a doctor first, who could prescribe an appropriate amount and/or recommend less dangerous treatment options. When I talk about unlicensed doctor's offices, I don't mean someone posing as an MD, I mean a well-meaning individual opening a cheap clinic and offering medical advice for non-emergency issues. Or maybe more likely, WebMD adding links to order drugs on their results pages. Why go to the doctor if you can just look up your symptoms in 5 minutes and have pills arrive at your door the next day?
      - stagbeetle 10y ago
        > but addiction is still a huge problem for society. If someone really wants to get high, there's not much we can do to stop them, and that's an acceptable consequence of drug legalization. But what we can stop is someone in a lot of pain who buys way too much Oxycodone and gets addicted because they didn't understand the risks. But what part of the pain management patients actively abuse their meds. It's a real issue, but is it a commonplace issue where we absolutely have to devout resources to solving it?
        10y ago
  - vonmoltke 10y ago
    > Anyone can open a doctor's office, charge half as much as a real doctor, and recommend whatever drugs they feel like. Yeah, medical licensing does nothing to prevent that.
    - burkaman 10y ago
      Yes, but prescriptions do. Anyone can "recommend" vicodin right now, but it's hard to get some without a prescription from a real licensed doctor.

darkerside 10y ago

I disagree that medical school makes anyone more of an expert on my body than me. Not to discount years of experience and training physicians have, but it's just one leg of the stool. By over-weighting it, you become just another patient who is not staying informed and involved with their own treatment. Doctors know a lot, but you can ask any doctor if they know everything about the human body, and they'll sure tell you they don't. I think sensible people can choose to procure FDA approved treatments through conventional providers. It's a jump to assume that, just because alternative treatments are available, everybody will be lining up to purchase them.

burkaman 10y ago
I'm not talking about alternative treatments. If prescriptions are not necessary, anyone can buy opiates without understanding the risks of addiction. Anyone can open a doctor's office, charge half as much as a real doctor, and recommend whatever drugs they feel like. Anyone can buy some heart medication they saw on TV because they've been having chest pains. Doctors absolutely know more about your body than you do. Obviously they don't know everything, and patients should be active and involved, but that doesn't mean you can cut out the doctor because you read a few papers. Letting drug companies sell anything to anybody would be immensely damaging to society.
- darkerside 10y ago
  I agree doctors know a lot, but they are human. Most specialize in a narrow subset, and that is the lens through which they will treat you. That's not always a bad thing, but I will respectfully disagree and say that I know more about my own body than a doctor I'm meeting for the first time (i.e. most specialists). Legalization of drugs, including opiates, has been successful (or at least not disastrous) in many societies. What makes you think it would be a disaster here? Also, it's a straw man to argue that random people would be opening up doctor's offices. I'm not advocating that we remove the MD from anybody's name.
  - burkaman 10y ago
    Legalization of drugs is "successful" in that it's a lot better than jailing people, but addiction is still a huge problem for society. If someone really wants to get high, there's not much we can do to stop them, and that's an acceptable consequence of drug legalization. But what we can stop is someone in a lot of pain who buys way too much Oxycodone and gets addicted because they didn't understand the risks. Right now, they'd have to go see a doctor first, who could prescribe an appropriate amount and/or recommend less dangerous treatment options. When I talk about unlicensed doctor's offices, I don't mean someone posing as an MD, I mean a well-meaning individual opening a cheap clinic and offering medical advice for non-emergency issues. Or maybe more likely, WebMD adding links to order drugs on their results pages. Why go to the doctor if you can just look up your symptoms in 5 minutes and have pills arrive at your door the next day?
    - stagbeetle 10y ago
      > but addiction is still a huge problem for society. If someone really wants to get high, there's not much we can do to stop them, and that's an acceptable consequence of drug legalization. But what we can stop is someone in a lot of pain who buys way too much Oxycodone and gets addicted because they didn't understand the risks. But what part of the pain management patients actively abuse their meds. It's a real issue, but is it a commonplace issue where we absolutely have to devout resources to solving it?
      - 10y ago
- vonmoltke 10y ago
  > Anyone can open a doctor's office, charge half as much as a real doctor, and recommend whatever drugs they feel like. Yeah, medical licensing does nothing to prevent that.
  - burkaman 10y ago
    Yes, but prescriptions do. Anyone can "recommend" vicodin right now, but it's hard to get some without a prescription from a real licensed doctor.