I see the discussion of assumptions falling along the same lines of stereotypes, I’m guessing that’s why they were assigned back to back. A Venn diagram showcasing stereotypes and assumptions would have a very large overlapping area.  From the two assigned readings, I think it’s fair to say that both topics, health and immigration, are often shrouded with assumptions any time that they are brought up. I was guilty of creating immediate assumptions about the Flanigan article after only reading the title. Why and when would prescription requirements be bad? That’s not something that I ever think about, so I immediately assumed that prescriptions are inherently good, after all, they are made to give medicine to help people. It turns out I only needed to read half of the first page before the example scenarios overrode my previous assumptions.

I generally agree with the argument made by Flanigan that prescription drug laws violate patients’ rights to self-medication. That was the explicit argument, but I almost felt as if it turned into saying that all drugs should have open access to all in any amount. That’s basically what would happen if the prescription part of prescription drugs was eliminated. This is of course, an assumption made by me. I think the elimination of prescription drugs and respecting of self-medication is a very idealist stance and will be nearly impossible to achieve given how manufactured our society is. We can get make progess by decriminalizing drugs like Oregon has done, which I think is great. However, without the proper allocation of subsidies, funds, and infrastructure in place to provide things like free drug rehabilitation services, I fear that more issues will come. Luckily Oregon is accounting for these things, offering those with addictions and criminal charges the opportunity to go to rehab instead of jail. On a seperate note, I find it ridiculous and abhorrent that there are so many people that are unable to get the prescription drugs they need, whether it be because of cost of supply, but usually because of cost. The cost barrier of those individual medical needs must be broken down, otherwise removing the prescription part would only make a small dent.