Advantages and Disadvantages of Drugs in Market

It is a matter of great debate whether drugs present in the market are really a better option or they shouldn’t be present at all.

This debate is raging in not just physician fraternity or medical practitioners but also among ordinary people like you and me who are the end-users of certain drugs present in the market.

Many believe especially pharmaceutical companies that the government should go full throttle and legalize all kinds of the drug while others are strictly against the legalization of any type of drug. But few of them are in the middle.

In this article, we try to ascertain the pros and cons of drugs present legally in the market. So before you draw any final conclusion do read the following article.

To make things simpler I haven’t used any medical jargon in this article.

Pros

Let us start with some of the advantages of drugs in the market.

1. The first and foremost advantage of drugs present in the market is it can help to reduce the demand for illegal narcotics for treatment which can prove very detrimental otherwise. Drugs in the market can surely decrease the number of accidental painkiller overdoses which are the number one reason for so many deaths in the USA and other parts of the world.
2. Drugs definitely help in treating fatal diseases like cancer which other medicine can’t. It cures cancer-patients who are suffering from vomiting, nausea, loss of appetite, pain, depression, insomnia, etc. There are drugs that are anti-nausea and helps increase patient’s appetite considerably. These drugs also go well with chemotherapy. Treating cancer wouldn’t be possible without drugs in the market.
3. Drugs can also help in curing severe chronic pain that no other medicine can do it. Moreover, these drugs are less lethal and with minimal drug interaction can be dosed easily via oral digestion. This means you don’t need any professional practitioner to administer the use of these kinds of drugs.
4. Certain types of drugs like inhaled marijuana vapors work faster than other ordinary medicine. The patient can inhale them and get quick relief. You can’t do the same thing with other types of conventional medicine.
5. Most of the drugs don’t carry any risk of true addiction. Over time you may become dependent on them but there is no chance of addiction. I’m specifically talking about marijuana here. Medical marijuana has lower chances of addiction.
6. The last point is when drugs are legal and available in the market then there is a lesser chance of people using other illicit drugs. They would be more willing to use legal one rather going for other illegal drugs.

Cons

Now you also need to see the other side of the picture.

1. Usage of drugs can lead to loss of productivity, apathy, addictive disease, deterioration in intellectual function, motor vehicle accidents, psychosis, etc. These are general symptoms of using any kind of drug for medicinal purposes.
2. Not all drugs treat ailments 100%. They surely lack consistency and at times can’t cure fatal illness like cancer. Their track record is not that good.
3. They can produce short-term CNS (Central Nervous System) euphoria, which does alleviate some pain in the shorter term but can cause euphoria leading to drug abuse later in your life. There is no scientific evidence that a particular drug can treat chronic pain for a longer-term. Initially, they may prove effective but later the effect taper off.
4. A drug is basically an unstable mixture of more than 400 chemicals including many toxic psychoactive chemicals. Hence they can have an adverse effect on your nervous system.
5. Longer-term usage of certain drugs can definitely lead to addiction. There is a survey that claims that 1 out of 6 teenagers became addicted to drugs. Although they started taking it for medical purposes but ended up being a junkie.
6. Drugs use is correlated with alcohol use, cigarette use and illegal drug use like cocaine and methamphetamine. People who are addicted to drugs are 3 to 4 times more likely to use other lethal psychotropic substances also.

So these were my 6 points in favor of drugs and against it.

Whether it is a pharmaceutical company or an end-user you have to decide what is good for you. Now you can decide after reading the following conclusion.

Conclusion

You can’t say anything with certainty about the presence of drugs in the market. It can be good at times and sometimes really bad.

Take Aspirin, for example, it can reduce inflammation, ease headache and reduce the chances of a heart attack. But the negative effect could be stomach irritation and even bleeding.

Aspirin also prevents blood clotting and reduce the risk of death from a stroke. But on the other hand for some people, it can increase the risk of death because of low platelet count.

So the advantage or disadvantage of a drug depends upon the situation the patient is in. The immune system of the patient also determines whether the drug is going to have a positive or negative effect on his/her body.

Finally, I would conclude by saying pros or cons depending on the kind of drug you are using, the dose quantity and the patient himself.